EARLY MISSIONS
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.