VIII
SIAM OPENS HER DOORS—MORE
WORKERS ENTER
The accession of King Mongkut so completely changed the attitude of the government towards foreign nations that the danger of a clash with England disappeared over night. In due course of time Queen Victoria sent a note of congratulations to the new Siamese sovereign and expressed her desire to send an envoy for the purpose of revising the existing treaty. Upon receipt of this letter the king despatched it to Dr. House with the request to “transcribe it in a plain, legible hand”; for though the king could read and write English fairly, he preferred to have letters from abroad transcribed in a handwriting with which he was familiar, to avoid misunderstanding. In this connection, Mrs. Leonowens, who acted as his English secretary some years later, says that at times the king would insist upon his own diction in English in spite of warning of its turgidity, and when his communications of this character were misinterpreted he would lay the blame on his amanuensis.
In March, 1855, the English embassy arrived. The special envoy was Sir John Bowring, Vice-Admiral and Governor of the English colony at Hong Kong. Dr. House had, some years before, received a friendly letter from Sir John through his son John C. Bowring, for whom Dr. House was collecting specimens of Siamese insects; and he looked forward with great pleasure to a personal meeting with the noted English diplomat. Again the king sent to the doctor a succession of notes received from Sir John announcing his arrival, requesting a private audience, etc., desiring these notes to be transcribed; by which means Dr. House was kept informed of the progress of affairs.
The reception of this embassy was in marked contrast with the treatment of Sir James Brookes. The ceremonies were aglow with friendliness, and the negotiations were undertaken with the least possible delay contingent upon the courtesies of the occasion. The prince who was chief commissioner for the Siamese sent for Dr. House for an interview; he said that the Siamese had proposed the missionaries as interpreters on their side, but this had been declined by the ambassador on the ground that the missionaries were Americans.
“Soon after [the prince] sent for me, to accompany him to the conference of the commissioners with Sir John to discuss the treaty. Found the prime minister there, who joined in urging me. But I felt constrained to decline the honour they would do me, feeling my incompetence to do justice in interpreting such important matters as might come up; then—‘Mr. Mattoon must go’—so the prince himself went over for him and carried him off as a ‘kind of companion,’ he said, not as translator;—as he did not trust in ** but in the missionary he did trust. ‘He must be as ears for him’—I understood him that the king said this last night.”
While negotiations were under way both Mr. Mattoon and Dr. House were frequently summoned to assist the Siamese in the official translation of their counter proposals into English, even working all night on the final draft.
DR. HOUSE AND SIR JOHN BOWRING
The confidences were not all from the Siamese side. Sir John Bowring told Dr. House privately that he had “come with an olive branch in my hand, but behind me—!” and that he had been reluctant to undertake the mission but had received letters from the king urging him to come. The Siamese officials were so ready for negotiations that they readily acquiesced in the English proposals; and, apart from the preliminary ceremonies, the complete negotiations were accomplished within a week.
In his book, The Kingdom and People of Siam, which gives a detailed account of his mission, Sir John includes several lengthy memoranda which he attributes to a “certain foreign gentleman long resident in Siam.” Many of these are to be found recorded in Dr. House’s private journal at various dates preceding the arrival of the British envoy. His narrative of the scenes attendant upon the choice of Mongkut is almost verbatim from the doctor’s account. He highly praises the progressive spirit and the keen mind of the prime minister, contrasting him with the usual Oriental diplomat, and adds:
“I learned that on one occasion he sent for a foreign gentleman whose opinion he greatly valued, and in the presence of many persons entered upon a dialogue in which the foreign gentleman was to impersonate J. Bowring in a discussion of the expected proposals.”
Thereupon follows the dialogue in full. The original of this unique rehearsal in diplomatic combat is found in the doctor’s journal as a record of his interview with the prime minister after it was learned that England was to send a mission. Sir John also accredits the minister with a confession of belief in one supreme Divine Being, ascribing his information to a “certain gentleman”; this confession, Dr. House says, was made to him personally and acknowledges in a letter that he had reported it to the British envoy. The number and extent of these and still other quotations shows that Sir John Bowring had gleaned much of his knowledge of the Siamese from Dr. House.
During his sojourn in Bangkok Sir John Bowring attended service at the mission one Sunday. Dr. House records the visit, noting that in alphabetical order it was his turn to preach, and confesses that he felt a little secret trembling in the presence of the august visitor. Sir John, in his account of the visit, adds that the “congregation very sweetly sang one of my hymns”—for he is the same Sir John Bowring whose name ranks high in hymnology, being the author of these hymns, among others: “God is Love, His Mercy Brightens,” “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night,” and “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.”
As a broad and deep student of human affairs and one obviously sympathetic with missions, Sir John’s estimate of the work in Siam at that period and of the peculiarly obstinate nature of Buddhism is noteworthy. Concerning Buddhism he says:
“Buddhism by habit and education is become almost a part of Siamese nature; and that nature will not bend to foreign influence. The Siamese, whether or not they have religious convictions, have habits which the teaching of strangers will not easily change.”
Concerning the influence of the missionaries he says:
“Much influence is really possessed by the missionaries. They have rendered eminent services in the medical and chirurgical fields; they have lent great assistance to the spirit of philosophical inquiry; many of them have been councillors and favourites of king and nobles, admitted to intimate intercourse and treated with a deference which could not but elevate them in the eyes of a prostrate, reverential and despotically governed people.”
But concerning the prospects of success for the Gospel the diplomat is not so optimistic:
“I know not what is to impede religious teachings in Siam, but at the same time I fear there is little ground to expect a change in the national faith. Neither Catholic nor Protestant speaks hopefully on the subject.”
The significance of that statement, written for the year 1855, lies chiefly in its contrast with the fact of the certain if slow growth of Christianity in Siam and the record of attainment to date. Even the keenest human observer cannot forecast the fruits of the Spirit’s work.
TREATIES WITH OTHER NATIONS
In 1856 a diplomatic mission from the United States reached Bangkok, seeking a revision of the existing treaty. The mission was headed by Hon. Townsend Harris, who, it is interesting to note, came from Sandy Hill, New York, the home of Mr. Mattoon and Mr. Bush. The Siamese government was quite ready to negotiate, for they had the recent experience to guide them and the English treaty for a model; and a new treaty was speedily effected. Had Dr. House been in Bangkok at this time, the Foreign Minister assured him later that the Siamese government would have asked to have had him appointed first consul under the new treaty.
In the same year a French embassy negotiated a treaty similar to that of the English and American. In one point, however, the French advanced a step. Sir John Bowring could secure the right for the English to own lands or build houses only within twenty-four hours of Bangkok (a very extensible limit, as time has shown), and Mr. Harris accepted the same provision. The French, however, demanded and secured the provision that “French missionaries may travel to any part of the kingdom and build houses, churches, schools, hospitals, etc.”; a privilege which immediately accrued to the Americans by reason of the “favoured nation” clause in their treaty.
When the ratifications of the American treaty were exchanged, a year later, King Mongkut issued the following memorandum:
“We now have embraced the best opportunity to have made and exchanged the treaty of friendship and commerce with the United States of America, and we shall be very glad to esteem the President of the United States at present and in the future as our respected friend, and esteem the United States as united in close friendship, as we know that the government of the United States must ever act with justice, and is not often embroiled in difficulties with other nations.
“And if the treaty of friendship between the United States and Siam has been (shall be?) long preserved in harmony and peaceful manner it will ever be the occasion of the highest praise among the Siamese people.
“(Signed) Supremus Rex Siamensiium,
“S. P. P. Mongkut.”
The influence of the missionaries in bringing about the treaty relation of Siam with the Western world has been testified by several. The king himself sanctioned the following statement of esteem towards the missionaries for their influence on the country:
“Many years ago the American missionaries came here. They came before any Europeans, and they taught the Siamese to speak and read the English language. The American missionaries have always been just and upright men. They have never meddled in the affairs of government, nor created any difficulties with the Siamese. They have lived with the Siamese just as if they belonged to the nation. The government of Siam has great love and respect for them and has no fear whatever concerning them. When there has been a difficulty of any kind, the missionaries have many times rendered valuable assistance. For this reason the Siamese have loved and respected them for a long time. The Americans have also taught the Siamese many things.”
In the same line spoke the Regent, during the regency over Chulalonkorn, to United States Consul General Hon. George F. Seward:
“Siam has not been disciplined by English and French guns as China has, but the country has been opened by missionaries.”
The recognition of the indirect influence of the missionaries in facilitating the treaties was acknowledged by Dr. Wm. M. Wood, late surgeon-general in the United States Navy, who accompanied Mr. Harris on his diplomatic mission; stating in his book, Fankwei, that the
“... unselfish kindness of the American missionaries, their patience, sincerity and truthfulness, have won the confidence and esteem of the natives, and in some degree transferred those sentiments to the nation represented by the missions, and prepared the way for the free intercourse now commencing. It was very evident that much of the apprehension they felt in taking upon themselves the responsibilities of a treaty with us would be diminished if they could have the Rev. Mr. Mattoon as the first United States Consul to set the treaty in motion.”
A VISIT HOME
The first decade of Dr. House’s service was drawing to a close without any apparent need for a furlough, as need was then understood. He had become acclimated, accustomed to conditions of Siamese life and was apparently contented with his bachelor state. That the tropics had proved to be more friendly than he had expected, is implied in his frequent expressions of surprise at continued good health, even assuring his friends at home that his physical condition was better than before he left America. But this was not the common lot of missionaries in the early days. On the tenth anniversary of his departure from New York he wrote:
“Of the company of the Grafton two already are dead and three compelled to return home from broken health. Mr. Mattoon and I alone are left on the field—besides Mrs. Mattoon, the eighth of the party.”
The enervating conditions of life in Siam are described with good understanding by Mr. George B. Bacon in his volume on Siam:
“It is when we remember the enervating influence of the drowsy tropics upon character that we learn fitly to honour the men and women by whom the inauguration of this new era in Siamese history has been brought about. To live for a little while among these sensuous influences without any very serious intellectual work to do or any grave moral responsibility to bear is one thing; but to live a life among them with such a constant strain upon the mind and heart as the laying of the Christian foundations among heathen must necessitate is quite another thing.
“This is what the missionaries of Siam have to do. The battle is not with the prejudice of heathenism only, nor with the vices and ignorance of bad men only; it is a battle with nature itself.... The fierce sun wilts the vigour of his mind and scorches up the fresh enthusiasm of his heart.... Therefore I give the greater honour to the earnest men and to the patient women who are labouring and praying for the coming of the Christian day to this people.”
When Dr. House parted with his parents in the New York harbour, it was with the mutual expectation of never seeing each other again. The separation was intensified in its realism by the slowness of communication. His message announcing safe arrival in Siam did not reach his parents until thirteen months after his departure. Their response to this message was one which stirred his emotions to the depths and made him oblivious of all around him; it told of his father and mother and cousins kneeling together upon receipt of the news and offering thanksgiving for the beginning of his missionary work. The many friends who wrote letters to him doubtless never understood what joy they gave him by their messages. After receiving a consignment of mail he writes: “Their letters do cheer, do strengthen, do inspire new resolves, and make me ashamed of my unworthy service.” He records with expressions of esteem the names of those from whom he receives communications by each mail; and to one who knows something of the home church these names stand as a roster of zealous workers, names of families that continue to the present day.
The affectionate interest of the people was more than individual; it came to be almost a community interest. The “monthly concert of missions” saw the old session house filled with people eager to hear the latest letter from their own foreign missionary. On his part he kept in mind the day of these church gatherings and, allowing for the difference of time, he estimated that his Monday morning hour of devotions corresponded with the Sunday evening at home, and surmised “in our little session room at Waterford many a fervent prayer was going up for me and my fellow labourers from those whose prayers will prevail at the throne of grace.”
It is not surprising that the home church grew mightily in the grace of giving and developed a generosity which, long before forward movements, attained a standard of giving more to beneficence than to their own work and led the Presbytery in their gifts to the foreign work. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., who served the church as pastor 1863-9 and later became one of the most powerful public advocates of missions, bore this testimony to their zeal, on the occasion of the church’s centennial in 1904:
“I owe much of my own enthusiasm for missions to my six years in this church. It was most active and aggressive in this department of service. It had its own missionary in the field, and kept in living contact with him by correspondence, gifts and prayer. This missionary atmosphere I breathed with immense profit, and I was compelled either to lead my people in missionary work or to resign my pastorate. My real missionary education began here in a church far ahead of me in intelligence and enthusiasm for God’s work.”
No mention of home-going appears in Dr. House’s journal or correspondence till a letter from his mother, in 1852, shows her sternly-repressed desire to see her son:
“The Lord has a work for you to do in Siam, and much as I long to see you I would not call you home from it. But if health or benefit of mission require it, I would say ‘Come at once—come home that we may embrace you once more; and then return with new vigour to help forward that glorious work which is yet to be accomplished in Siam.’”
More than a year later a joint letter from the parents enlarges upon the subject. First the father writes:
“When your health should make necessary that you should have the invigourating influence of a sea voyage and our climate, you may tax me for the expense, if I should be spared. If not, I hope to leave sufficient at your disposal to relieve your mind from any anxiety on the subject. I am anxious only for you to be wise and to adopt the course most likely to prolong your life and to serve your Master as a missionary. Whether we shall be permitted to meet again on earth is a small matter (although there is nothing here that would offer me more happiness) when compared with the magnitude of the work in which you are engaged. Therefore I can say with your dear mother that I cheerfully submit to the disposal of Him who has crowned our lives with loving-kindness and who will order all that concerns our children and ourselves for His own glory.”
His mother then adds:
“I hope that you will not think because I do not ask you to come home that we do not desire to see you—we do indeed long for your return that we may see you in the flesh. But we cannot, dare not ask you to desert your post which we feel is one of great honour and responsibility; and we trust you may be made an instrument in the hand of God for doing much for the interest of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”
Just at this juncture occurred the beclouding of friendship on the part of King Mongkut. As the mission work came to a standstill, the missionaries held a conference to determine their course of procedure. Dr. House was ready to carry out his long-cherished plan to transfer his labours to Lao, but the decree forbidding travel rendered this impossible. The letter of his parents had insinuated into his mind the alternative of a visit to America. When he casually mentioned this to his fellow missionaries they gave cordial and earnest approval. The expectation of the early arrival of a recruit to their force removed the objection of leaving the Mattoons alone. Then came the visit of Sir John Bowring, with his eventual offer of a free passage to Singapore. Availing himself of this offer, Dr. House left Siam in April, 1855, and sailed for America via England, reaching home in midsummer.
WELCOME HOME
It was indeed a joyous homecoming. The son had come again to the embrace of loving parents after an absence of nine years. He had returned to his native land after many adventures in a strange country, little known to the Western world. He had returned to a church that keenly felt the solemnity of her commission to preach the Gospel and had high reverence for her servants that carried the banner. He had brought back first hand knowledge of pagan lands and vivid memories of personal experiences and observations. Then a returned missionary was more rare than even a departing missionary. The Church at large was eager to see through the missionary’s eyes the strange peoples to whom they were sending the Gospel message.
Numerous opportunities came to Dr. House to tell his story. Large audiences greeted him wherever he appeared. These opportunities he used especially to awaken the Church to the importance of the work in Siam. The periods of obstruction were past. The treaty with England had just been completed, and the American government was about to send an envoy to ask for a treaty. The glowing promise of the sunrise inspired the hearts of people at home to listen with a ready mind to his appeal. With great joy he secured two ready recruits to go back with him, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Morse. Following this visitation to the churches a new interest in Siam is manifest through the reports, and there began a series of reinforcements checked only by the Civil War.
BELATED MARRIAGE
During this sojourn in America Dr. House was married on November 27, 1855, to Miss Harriet Maria Pettit, formerly of Waterford. The marriage came as a surprise to most of his friends. He had so frequently declared that he would never marry that his change of mind came without warning. His missionary friends had frequently twitted him on this subject, but in good part he defended his position. Usually after these banterings he would enter in his journal the reason why he chose to go out single and why he thought best to remain unmarried.
His argument was that it would have been an imposition upon a woman to have led her into a strange world, into a primitive state of civilisation, afar from kin and friends. He persuaded himself that the care of a wife, the anxiety for her safety and the responsibility of rearing children would seriously interfere with his one great purpose, an undivided attention to the propagation of the Gospel. The Siamese, among whom polygamy was practised, could not understand why this one missionary had no wife. Several of the princes suggested that he take a Siamese woman in marriage, and one nobleman even offered to provide a wife for him.
However, there are indications that his arguments were as much to repress his own idea as to confute the bantering. During those years he was a permanent guest at the family of the Mattoons. He frequently expresses generous appreciation of sharing the home comforts of his friends, and confesses that he did not know how he could have gotten along without this domestic care of Mrs. Mattoon. Thus while stoically denying the need of a wife he gratefully accepts the ministrations of the wife of his colleague.
Then, after having married and having fully settled in a home of his own, his real feelings assert themselves, for he writes, upon return to Siam:
“And mine, too, is a pleasant home, the one to which four weary months voyaging have brought me, a pleasanter home than once—for it has a new inmate. Taking such a partner into the concern is indeed a great addition to a bachelor establishment.”
And a year later:
“You don’t know how nicely we are jogging on in the good old road of domestic felicity. And when you hear me say at the end of fourteen months that I am more fully than ever of the opinion that I have as my companion in my journey the most suitable one for me that could have been found had I tarried seven months or seven years longer in the States, you will allow that, at least, I am contented with my choice.”
He shows the reversal of mind on this subject complete when, in 1871, he writes:
“I must confess that I feel this wholesale sending out of unmarried women into the field just now so in vogue in our church is an experiment.... And I do not think much better of the sending unmarried young men to some fields. ’Tis a pity the secretaries of our Board who ought to know the wisest way do not guide opinion on this subject and more strongly impress upon candidates who apply to them the desirableness of making their arrangements before they leave home—not but what Providence may bless some favoured mortals more than they deserve.”
ORDINATION AND RETURN
Another event of personal moment to the doctor was his ordination to the Christian ministry. Before his first departure for Siam he had been licensed to preach, a Presbyterial authorisation necessary to give the seal of approval to the preaching which it was expected would be incidental to the medical profession. But now, having given himself exclusively to the Gospel work he sought full ordination with its authority to administer the sacraments and perform the rites of the church. In January, 1856, he was duly ordained by the Presbytery of Troy.
Accompanied by the new recruits, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Morse, Dr. House and his bride sailed in March, 1856, by way of England and Singapore, and arrived at Bangkok in July. The reception accorded Dr. and Mrs. House was an evidence of the position which the missionary had attained in the esteem of the Siamese. He was the recipient of many gifts from the Chinese and Siamese servants and attendants at the mission; while a period of two weeks was largely occupied with calls from the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs, several of the princes, many of the old friends among the nobles, the old teachers and a multitude of native friends at large. The welcome was so spontaneous that it gave evidence of a genuine honour, and of an appreciation of the years of service rendered by the doctor higher than he had imagined the people felt.
But perhaps the most signal token of esteem on this occasion was shown by King Mongkut. No advance notice of the arrival of Dr. House and party having been received, their appearance at the customs house some miles below the city was a surprise, which in some manner was quickly heralded to the king, so that when the party approached the city, officials were waiting to receive them:
“Before we got to our own landing our friendly neighbour, H. R. H. Prince Kromma Luang Wongsa, hailed us, and we must needs land at his place. Shaking of hands was not enough, but his arm was offered in English fashion ... and thus escorted by the leading prince of the kingdom was Harriette conducted to her future mission home, Mr. Mattoon and I following.... And soon our native church members and teachers and the school children came flocking around.
“But the king had heard of my arrival and the prince had a message from him for me that he was waiting to see me at the palace. So, thither I must go—the prince took me in his own boat. Some public ceremony was going on, and the whole court was assembled at the river house in front of the palace. The king, on a lofty platform handsomely roofed over, by the water edge; while yet at a distance he saw me and called out my name, inviting me to ascend the steps that led to his pavilioned seat, when he shook hands cordially. His Majesty spoke of the letter he had received from me while away. Then he said, ‘Your wife has come with you!’—and then turning to his courtiers added, ‘Formerly Maw House declared he would not have a wife, and now he has taken one.’ ‘Oh, your majesty,’ I replied, ‘wisdom has come to me and I have changed my heart in that matter,’ which made them all smile.
“He then said my wife must come and visit the royal palace. He had missed me very much. I must come and live near him. Turning to one of his ministers he said, ‘He guessed they must build a house over there’ (pointing out a spot near the palace). I must take an office under the government. The prime minister told me I must become a Siamese nobleman.”
Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon were sent for again by the king a few days later, and availed themselves of this occasion to present to His Majesty several useful presents sent out by American admirers.
TOURS WITH MRS. HOUSE
While in America, in 1855, the Sunday school of his home church provided funds for the purchase and outfitting of a boat for touring. The result was a boat equipped for the work, affording more comfort than possible in the native boats. Along the side of the small cabin, lockers were fitted, serving both as seats and place for storage. A removable table between afforded space for writing or eating. For the night an extension bridged the space between the lockers, and this, covered with cushions, made a comfortable double bed. In December of 1856 Dr. House made the first tour with Mrs. House. Customs, and scenes in Siam had by this time grown so familiar to him that his letters home do not contain details as did his earlier letters. Their first tour together, in company with some of the other missionaries, was up the Meklong River in western Siam as far as the town of Kanburi amidst some fine mountain scenery. Several other trips occurred; one of them to Petrui:
“A fortnight or more,” he writes, “exploring some of the totally unvisited districts of the eastern portion of the plain which constitutes central Siam—you know my passion for penetrating into remote and unexplored regions and out of the way places.”
If perchance this enthusiasm conveys the impression that these journeys were of unmingled pleasure and simple romance it is well to have that fancy checked by some material facts; for, continuing the narrative of this trip, the doctor writes:
“Upon review of the tour I can recall but few that I remember with more satisfaction. But for pleasure—I cannot say much for a tour. Our confined quarters (cabin five by seven), the rocking of the boat with every movement of ours or of the boatmen, the hot sun upon the roof and sides by day and the myriads of mosquitos as the evening comes on (and such ravenous merciless mosquitos, too), the monotony of the scenery on the lower stream and absence of all that is pretty or picturesque in the villages and houses of the natives, and last but not least the universal uproar among all the dogs whenever one steps ashore anywhere in their villages—all detract largely from the romance and not a little from the comfort of a mission tour in this country.”
MARKS OF GROWTH
Dr. House continued to be superintendent of the mission school after his return in 1856, and although he makes very few references to this work in his journal from now on, yet there are occasional items which mark the growth. From this period Mrs. House appears as a factor in the educational work, but her achievements will occupy a separate chapter. In August after the return the doctor writes:
“Our school is much enlarged—many applicants to learn English. The eldest child of the son of the Prime Minister now comes regularly to Mrs. Mattoon, a very bright lad of seven. At the request of the king I am teaching two princes; one of sixteen, his grandson, the other a grandson of the late king, a boy of eleven. And by order of H. M. a dozen of the sons of his servants are now learning English in our school as day scholars.... There is a spacious bamboo school house going up in the back part of our lot.”
This growth, however, was in the educational work. While the workers did not belittle the importance of the school, they were well-nigh sick of heart with deferred hopes, a feeling that is reflected in their report to the Board for the year 1856:
“It requires no little faith to conduct, day after day and year after year, these patient labours; especially as they have not resulted in the conversion of those on whom time, talents and prayers of the missionaries are spent.”
This increase in school was so rapid that shortly after they had established themselves on the site granted by the king it became evident that this lot in the city would not allow for the expansion commensurate with the growth. With the awakening of a desire for education and of an interest in the foreign religion the earlier necessity of having a location within the city itself had passed, for what the mission had to offer was being sought after. Accordingly, a parcel of ground, the gift of Mr. D. O. King, was obtained on the west bank of the river in the lower suburbs known as Sumray. There new buildings were erected, and in November, 1857, the transfer of the mission was effected to that site, which became the scene of the most notable achievements of the mission in Bangkok and continues to the present day the center of a pervasive Christian influence.
At the end of the first year in the new location, Dr. House wrote home: “School occupies me much of the time. We have a new Siamese teacher, a most respectable old gentleman; may he get good from us, saving good.” This teacher was Nai Chune, who, a year later, became the first Siamese convert. The significance of this addition to the teaching force is that the pupils are no longer predominantly Chinese lads, but that the demand for teaching the Siamese language requires a native teacher.
The winter season, being free from rains, was the time best suited for touring in the country. In February of 1858 Dr. and Mrs. House started up the Meinam to revisit the scenes of their former tour. Finding the river alive with pilgrims going to Prabat for the annual veneration of Buddha’s footprint, they decided to join the pilgrimage as affording an excellent opportunity for distributing tracts. On this visit to the shrine the visitors did not experience the same opposition to entering the sanctum as Dr. House had on his first visit.
A PRESBYTERY ORGANISED
The recruits to the mission force so far had been temporary additions only. Owing to the death of his wife, followed by the failure of his own health, Mr. Bush was compelled to resign after four years. Mr. Morse, who went out upon Dr. House’s return, was forced to give up within two years by reason of health. At the end of ten years there had been only one net increase in the mission force, Mrs. House. In 1858 two men arrived who became important factors in the work, Rev. Daniel McGilvary and Rev. Jonathan Wilson, with his wife. When the announcement was received that these two men had been commissioned, Dr. House wrote home:
“These two friends became interested in Siam mission at the time of my visit to Princeton. If they reach us, I shall have new reason to bless the heavenly Guide who led me almost unwillingly back to my native land.”
The doctor’s estimate of the reflex benefit to Siam from that trip to America was all too modest; for that visit was the beginning of an ever increasing interest in that country on the part of the church and of a constantly enlarging supply of men and money. Concerning this visit to Princeton, Dr. McGilvary says in his Autobiography:
“I was entering upon my senior year when it was announced that Dr. S. R. House, of Siam, would address the students. Expectation was on tip-toe to hear from this new kingdom of Siam. The address was a revelation to me.... My hesitation was ended....
“The call found Jonathan Wilson and myself in much the same state of expectancy, awaiting for a clear revelation of duty. After anxious consultation and prayer together and with Dr. House, we promised him that we would give the matter our serious thought; and that if the Lord should lead us thither we would go.”
With the increase of ordained men on the field, the time seemed ripe to associate themselves together in the official relationship of a Presbytery. At an informal meeting in the summer of 1858 the following call was issued:
“Whereas, in the providence of God there are now in the mission a sufficient number of ordained ministers to constitute a Presbytery and as it seems expedient that we, cut off as we are from the privileges and oversight of our respective Presbyteries, should meet together from time to time in a formal public capacity as a judicatory of the Church of Christ to consult for her best interests in this our field of labour; and hoping that it may be beneficial to ourselves and the Church at large,
“Therefore, Resolved, That in accordance with the resolutions of the General Assembly held in Baltimore in May, 1848, making provision for ‘the formation of Presbyteries by the action of missionaries in foreign fields’ a Presbytery be constituted at Bangkok on the first day of September next, to be called the Presbytery of Siam and to be composed of the following persons, viz.: Rev. Stephen Mattoon and Rev. S. R. House, of the Presbytery of Troy, New York; Rev. J. Wilson, of the Presbytery of Beaver, Pennsylvania, and Rev. Daniel McGilvary, of the Presbytery of Orange, North Carolina; and that said Presbytery be opened by a sermon by Rev. S. Mattoon, the oldest of the ministers of the mission; and
“Resolved, second, That the day of the opening of the Presbytery be observed by the members of the mission as a day of special prayer for the blessing of the Spirit of God upon us, and that a special meeting for prayer be held at 9 A. M.”
At the appointed time the Presbytery of Siam was formally organised, Rev. Samuel R. House being chosen first Moderator and Rev. Daniel McGilvary being elected Stated Clerk. Mr. Mattoon, who was about to take a furlough in America, was appointed the first commissioner to the General Assembly, to meet in Indianapolis the following spring. Here, again, as in the organisation of the first church, the missionaries were taking a step in anticipation of the fruit of faith more than in actual need. Two of the very important functions of a Presbytery are to oversee the churches and to ordain candidates for the ministry. But there was only one church in Siam at the time and there were only two “native” members on the roll; and a Presbytery could add little to the fellowship of the missionaries except the formalities. However, the workers in the field were certain of the harvest and in simple faith they went about setting up the organisation for the proper care and nurture of the native churches that were yet to be established.
In December of 1858, when the dry season had returned, Dr. House, accompanied by Mr. McGilvary, made a twelve-day tour up the Meinam, commencing labours at Angtong and continuing as far as Bansaket. The results of the tour were unusually hopeful:
“In two or three instances it did seem as if the Spirit had prepared their hearts to welcome the doctrine of Christianity.... I could not but say to my good Brother McGilvary, who as well as myself was struck with the deep interest manifested, ‘Surely there must be much prayer going up for us here in Siam.’ Tears would come in my eyes as I solemnly urged them to leave their refuge of lies and trust in a living Saviour, ready and mighty to save. And on their part they desired to know, not how they might make merit (the usual question of Siamese), but what they were to do to secure the salvation, the news of which then for the first time reached their ears. It seemed like the dawning of a better day.”