AT THE TRACT HOUSE
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.”