CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN SIAM--THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE
No account of the present condition of Siam can be at all complete which
does not notice the history of missionary enterprise in that country.
Allusion has already been made to the efforts of Roman Catholic
missionaries, Portuguese and French, to introduce Christianity and to
achieve for the Church a great success by the conversion of the king and
his people. The scheme failed, and the political intrigue which was
involved in it came also to an ignominious conclusion; and the first era
of Roman Catholic missions in Siam closed in 1780, when a royal decree
banished the missionaries from the kingdom. They did not return in any
considerable numbers, or to make any permanent residence until 1830. In
that year the late Bishop Pallegoix, to whom we owe much of our
knowledge of the country and the people (and who died respected and
beloved by Buddhists as well as Christians), was appointed to resume the
interrupted labors of the Roman Catholic Church. Under his zealous and
skilful management, much of a certain kind of success has been achieved,
but very few of the converts are to be found among the native Siamese.
There is at present on the ground a force of about twenty missionaries,
including a vicar apostolic and a bishop, with churches at ten or a
dozen places in the kingdom. Their converts and adherents are chiefly
from the Chinese, Portuguese half-castes, and others who value the
political protection conferred by the priests.
The religious success of the Protestant missionaries, which has not been
over-encouraging, has also been in the first place, and largely, among
the Chinese residents. A few Siamese converts are reported within the
past few years, and their number is steadily increasing. The first
Protestant mission was that of the American Baptist Board, which was on
the ground within three years after the arrival of Bishop Pallegoix,
though several American missionaries of other denominations had been in
the country and translated religious books before this. The Baptists
were followed within a few years by Congregationalists and Presbyterians
from the United States. But "as time passed on one agency after another
left the field, until to-day the entire work of Christianizing the
Siamese is left to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States," which began work in Bangkok of 1840.
At first sight their efforts, if measured by a count of converts, might
seem to have resulted in failure. The statistics show but little
accomplished; the roll of communicants seems insignificant. And of the
sincerity and intelligence even of this small handful there are
occasional misgivings. On the whole, those who are quick to criticise
and to oppose foreign missions might seem to have a good argument and
to find a case in point in the history of missions in Siam.
But really the success of these efforts has been extraordinary, although
the history of them exhibits an order of results almost without
precedent. Ordinarily, the religious enlightenment of a people comes
first, and the civilization follows as a thing of course. But here the
Christianization of the nation has scarcely begun, but its civilization
has made (as this volume has abundantly shown) much more than a
beginning.
For it is to the labors of the Christian missionaries in Siam that the
remarkable advancement of the kings and nobles, and even of some of the
common people, in general knowledge and even in exact science, is owing.
The usurpation which kept the last two kings (the first and second)
nearly thirty years from their thrones was really of great advantage
both to them and to their kingdom. Shut out from any very active
participation in political affairs, their restless and intelligent minds
were turned into new channels of activity. The elder brother in his
cloister, the younger in his study and his workshop, busied themselves
with the pursuit of knowledge. The elder, as a priest of Buddhism,
turned naturally to the study of language and literature. The younger
busied himself with natural science, and more especially with
mathematical and military science. The Roman Catholic priests were ready
instructors of the elder brother in the Latin language. And among the
American missionaries there were some with a practical knowledge of
various mechanical arts. It was from them that the two brothers learned
English and received the assistance and advice which they needed in
order to perfect themselves in Western science. At a very early day they
began to be familiar with them; to receive them and their wives on terms
of friendly and fraternal intimacy; to send for them whenever counsel or
practical aid was needed in their various philosophical pursuits and
experiments. Through the printing-presses of the Protestant missions
much has been done to arouse the people from the lethargy of centuries
and to diffuse among them useful intelligence of every sort. The late
king was not content until he established a press of his own, of which
he made constant and busy use. The medical missionaries, by their
charitable work among the rich, in the healing of disease and by
instituting various sanitary and precautionary expedients, have done
much to familiarize all classes with the excellence of Western science,
and to draw attention and respect to the civilization which they
represent. It is due to the Christian missionaries, and (without any
disparagement to the excellence of the Roman Catholic priests), we may
say especially to the American missionaries, more than to any enterprise
of commerce or shrewdness of diplomacy that Siam is so far advanced in
its intercourse with other nations. When Sir John Bowring came in 1855
to negotiate his treaty, he found that, instead of having to deal with
an ignorant, narrow, and savage government, the two kings and some of
the noblemen were educated gentlemen, well fitted to discuss with him,
with intelligent skill and fairness, the important matters which he had
in hand. Sir John did his work for the most part ably and well. But the
fruit was ripe before he plucked it. And it was by the patient and
persistent labors of the missionaries for twenty years that the results
which he achieved were made not only possible but easy.
Hitherto the Buddhist religion, which prevails in Siam in a form
probably more pure and simple than elsewhere, has firmly withstood the
endeavors of the Christian missionaries to supplant it. The converts are
chiefly from among the Chinese, who, for centuries past, and in great
numbers, have made their homes in this fertile country, monopolizing
much of its industry, and sometimes, with characteristic thriftiness,
accumulating much wealth. They have intermarried with the Siamese, and
have become a permanent element in the population, numbering, in the
coast region, almost as many as the native Siamese, or _Thai_. For some
reason they seem to be more susceptible to the influence of the
Christian teachers, and many of them have given evidence of a sincere
and intelligent attachment to the Christian faith. The native Siamese,
however, though acknowledging the superiority of Christian science, and
expressing much personal esteem and attachment for the missionaries,
give somewhat scornful heed, or no heed at all, to the religious truths
which they inculcate. The late second king was suspected of cherishing
secretly a greater belief in Christianity than he was willing to avow.
But after his death, his brother, the first king, very emphatically and
somewhat angrily denied that there was any ground for such suspicions
concerning him. For himself, though willing to be regarded as the
founder of a new and more liberal school of Buddhism, he was the steady
"defender of the faith" in which he was nurtured, and in the priesthood
of which so many years of his life were passed. He seldom did anything
which looked like persecution of the missionaries, but contented himself
with occasionally snubbing them in a patronizing or more or less
contemptuous manner. This attitude of contemptuous indifference is also
that which is commonly assumed by the Buddhist priests. "Do you think,"
said one of them on some occasion to the missionaries, "do you think you
will beat down our great mountains with your small tools?" And on
another occasion the king is reported to have said that there was about
as much probability that the Buddhists would convert the Christians, as
that the Christians would convert the Buddhists.
But there can be little doubt with those who take a truly philosophical
view of the future of Siam, and still less with those who take a
religious view of it, that this advancement in civilization must open
the way for religious enlightenment as well. Thus far there has come
only the knowledge which "puffeth up." And how much it puffeth up is
evident from the pedantic documents which used to issue from the facile
pen of his majesty the late first king. A little more slowly, but none
the less surely, there must come as well that Christian charity which
"buildeth up." Even if the work of the missionaries should cease to-day,
the results accomplished would be of immense and permanent value. They
have introduced Christian science; they have made a beginning of
Christian literature, by the translation of the Scriptures; they have
awakened an insatiable appetite for Christian civilization; and the end
is not yet.
[Illustration: HALL OF AUDIENCE, PALACE OF BANGKOK.]