When one of the early missionaries explained to a nobleman that
their purpose in coming to Siam was to supplant the native religion
by Christianity, the nobleman replied: “Do you then with your
little chisel expect to remove this big mountain?”—referring to
Buddhism. How this mountain began to crumble during Dr. House’s
twenty-nine years of service will be best understood by giving a
sketch of the work previous to his arrival.
The early treaty with Great Britain gave first entrance for
Protestant missions. In 1828 Karl Gutzlaff, M.D., of the
Netherlands Missionary Society, and Rev. Jacob Tomlin, of the
London Missionary Society, went up to Bangkok to spy out the
land. Before that date the Siamese had been the distant object
of interest on the part of Ann Judson, of Burmah, who, as early
as 1819, having met some Siamese at Rangoon, became interested
enough to prepare in their language a catechism and the Gospel of
Matthew—the first Christian books in the Siamese language. While
Gutzlaff and Tomlin found the doors of Siam open and discovered
that there was a considerable Chinese population there, they
were not encouraged by their supporters to effect a permanent
occupation. For this reason they issued an appeal to the American
Church then newly awakened to missionary zeal, sending one copy of
the appeal to the American Baptist mission in Burmah and another
to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in the
United States. This message was taken to America in 1829 by Capt.
Coffin, of the American trading vessel which at the same time
brought the famous Siamese Twins.
The A. B. C. F. M. was the first to respond. In 1831 they directed
one of their men located at a Chinese treaty port, Rev. David
Abeel, M.D., to proceed to Siam and make a survey. At Singapore
he was joined by Mr. Tomlin, who had returned thither for
recuperation, and the two reached Bangkok just a few days after Dr.
Gutzlaff, disheartened by the death of his young wife, had sailed
away to China. Mr. Tomlin this time remained only some six months,
but Dr. Abeel continued until November, 1832, when he was forced
to leave on account of health. His survey of the field resulted
in a report to the A. B. C. F. M. which induced them to attempt a
permanent work. In the meantime, in 1833, the Baptist mission in
Burmah responded to the appeal by sending two of their number, Rev.
J. T. Jones and wife, to establish a mission. Two years later Rev.
Wm. Dean was sent out from America by the Baptists as a co-labourer
of Mr. Jones but to devote himself particularly to the Chinese.
In pursuance of Dr. Abeel’s report the A. B. C. F. M. sent out two
men, Rev. Stephen Johnson and Rev. Charles Robinson, who reached
Bangkok July, 1834, and these were joined the next year by David
Bradley, M.D., and wife. Both the Baptists and the A. B. C. F. M.
at this time regarded their work in Siam largely as a point of
vantage for China proper on account of the large number of Chinese
here accessible. The work among the Chinese was so fruitful that in
two years’ time Mr. Dean was able to organise a church among them,
the first church of Protestant Chinese Christians ever gathered in
the Far East.
Siam was the first field to be taken up as a new enterprise by the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions after its establishment by
the General Assembly. Until 1831 the Presbyterians in America had
functioned chiefly through the A. B. C. F. M. in their foreign
work. In that year a few presbyteries west of the Alleghanies
organised the Western Foreign Missionary Society, to conduct their
own foreign work. Beginning with missions to the Indians (then
regarded as “foreign”) they established work in India and Africa in
1833. The direction of its own foreign work by the church was one
of the points involved in the division of the Presbyterian Church
into the New School and the Old School in 1838. The Old School took
over the Western Foreign Mission Society in that year as a nucleus
for a new Board of Foreign Missions which their General Assembly
established; and that Board has been in continuous operation ever
since. In its first year the new Board directed Rev. R. W. Orr
to proceed to Bangkok and report on the eligibility of Siam as
a field for operation. Mr. Orr reported, recommending not only
work among the Chinese but also advocating work for the natives.
Accordingly the Presbyterian Board sent out Rev. Wm. Buell and
wife, who reached Bangkok in August, 1840, the first missionaries
to be sent out by the new organisation. These two remained for some
three years, when on account of ill health of Mrs. Buell they were
obliged to withdraw; and thereupon the mission was suspended for a
time.
When, as a result of the opium war, the doors of China were
opened, in 1846, both the A. B. C. F. M. and the Baptist society
transferred their Chinese workers from Siam to China. The
difficulty of getting response from the Siamese had caused their
workers to devote their energies largely to the Chinese; and now
when this Chinese work was terminated their missions in Siam
were greatly weakened both in numbers and in effectiveness. The
A. B. C. F. M. retained its Siamese workers until 1849, when it
transferred its enterprise to the American Missionary Association,
an organisation distinctly of the Congregational Church; but
this Association abandoned the field in 1874. In 1868 the Baptist
Society gave up all except its work for the Chinese in Bangkok,
leaving the Siamese wholly to the Presbyterian Mission. Thus Siam
was freed from sectarian rivalry long before modern “comity” was
brought into practise.
It was at the juncture of withdrawing the major portion of the
force to China and leaving the Siamese missions undermanned that
the Presbyterian Church undertook to establish anew its mission
in Siam, having the native population as the primary objective.
To that end it sent out Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon who, together
with Mrs. Mattoon, may rightly be regarded as the founders of the
permanent work of the Presbyterian Church in Siam.