The larger object which Dr. House had in view in abandoning his
profession was to devote himself more directly to the propagation
of the Gospel. His observation of the physical ailments of the
people disclosed that a large portion of the cases was attributable
to sensualism, brutality or ignorance. This brought him to the
conviction that however merciful and needful was the work of
healing, the Gospel was of primary importance to remove the
infection of sin which was largely responsible for the bodily
sufferings. When others arrived who with greater relish took over
the medical work, he was eager to give himself to the Gospel.
But he found himself sorely handicapped for this work. The urgency
for opening up the dispensary had allowed him no time for careful
study of the language. After two years of constant practical use
of Siamese he was afraid to undertake public address, for fear his
blunders would bring ridicule upon his purpose. When he terminated
his medical work entirely at the end of four and-a-half years he
was inclined to reproach himself for his defective pronunciation
and faulty diction, a shortcoming which he never wholly remedied
because the tongue had acquired its tricks through lack of early
discipline. During these years the Gospel fervour in his heart
consumed him with a fury because he could not give vent to his
passion for evangelising. In the arguments with himself concerning
the relinquishment of medical practise, he always came back to the
imperative need for time to gain facility in the language. So, as
soon as Dr. Lane took over the work of the dispensary, Dr. House
gave himself to a diligent course of study under the tutorship of
Kru Gnu.
The three missions maintained jointly a Tract House in the bazaar.
Upon arrival of Drs. Bradley and Lane, Dr. House was sufficiently
relieved from the stress of medical work so that he promptly took
his turn at the tract house.
“Today I commenced going over to the tract house in the
bazaar to distribute books. It will be long before I shall
feel at ease in this necessarily hurried, confused mode of
trying to do good, but I trust to be enabled to go through
with it. The crowd not particularly unruly, but Satan put it
into the heart of one of them to attempt to impose upon the
newcomer again and again; now as a Siamese, now as a Chinese,
now with and now without a hat,—to see how many books he
could get from me. This is disheartening.”
An example of another kind of trial in this street work, Dr. House
relates concerning Dr. Bradley:
“A Siamese nobleman told Dr. B. that he had watched him these
many years, had seen him imposed upon every way by the
Siamese, yet he did not get angry; ‘there must be something
in your religion different from ours.’”
The distribution of books in the bazaar had a manifold value. It
not only put the printed word in the hands of those who did not
come to the mission compound, but it also served to advertise
the mission, resulting in daily calls of a score or more seeking
additional books. The free distribution of tracts in the bazaar had
the advantage of opening the way at once for a public explanation
of the contents of the tracts; and as these conversations were
carried on in the hearing of a large circle, the propagation of the
word was multiplied beyond the readers.
The men of the mission had devised a unique method of economising
and at the same time assuring that the distribution should be as
effective as possible. The printed matter was arranged in series.
When any one applied for a book, he was asked if he had previously
had one. If he had not, he was given the first in the series, but
if he had, he would be catechised to see whether he had read it.
If he showed that he was familiar with the contents, he was given
the next in the series; but if he had not, he was advised to read
the one he had. In many cases the applicant was able to give a very
detailed account of the Bible story he had read, and frequently
asked questions. This scheme made sure that the printed matter was
being judiciously distributed and that there was being slowly but
surely implanted in the minds of many people the simple facts of
the Bible, preparing them for fruitful attention to preaching in
after years. Just recently a missionary magazine told the story
of a woman of Bangkok who made a profession of Christian faith;
and upon being asked where she first heard the Gospel story,
replied that she first heard of Jesus from a street preacher in her
childhood in the early fifties. The reach of faith in which those
early missionaries sowed beside all waters was greater than the
reach of our imagination to estimate the harvest.
Dr. House enters in his journal the story of several conversions
which illustrate the extraordinary fruitage from these tracts
carried away by visitors to the capital. The first of these cases
came under his own personal notice, and the other was related to
him by Mr. Jones, of the Baptist mission:
“A copy of the Chinese gospel of Mark had been given months
ago to a boy in one of the Chinese schools. He took the book
home; it was given to the children to play with, till only a
few leaves remained. A relative of the man who had married
this boy’s sister came from China, and was visiting in the
home of this boy when he chanced to pick up the tattered
book. Reading, he became interested, and wished to know if he
could get more. The next morning the brother of the boy fell
in with the native assistant of the mission on his rounds
distributing tracts, and invited him home with him to see the
visitor. The inquirer was supplied with the book he wished
and invited to come to the preaching at the station. He came,
grew deeply interested, attended regularly and two weeks ago
was judged a fit subject for Christian baptism, and received
into the Church [Baptist]....
“At the Baptist mission there appeared one day a man of sixty
years. He had come a six-day journey from the north. He had
never seen a Christian missionary, but five years ago he
came upon a Christian book. Becoming interested he gathered
here and there several parts of the Old and New Testaments.
From these alone he was led to forsake idols, and became
well versed in scripture—better even than the servants in
the mission compound. He came to Bangkok and sought the
missionaries for further instruction. When asked, ‘Who has
been your teacher?’ he replied: ‘Jesus; He has said, Ask and
ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find.’ Within ten days
after his appearance at the Baptist mission, he fell a victim
of cholera.”