The stricken band in the Presbyterian mission were greatly cheered and strengthened two months after by the return (September 15th) of Mr. Mattoon and family, and with them the Rev. N. A. McDonald and the Rev. S. G. McFarland and their wives.
Up to this time the Presbyterian mission had been dependent for its printing upon sister-missions, but now a press of its own, sent out by the Board, was set up and soon in successful operation. A year or two later it reported an issue of more than half a million of pages annually.
In December, Mr. McGilvary was married to Miss Sophia R. Bradley, eldest daughter of Rev. D. B. Bradley, M. D., of the American Missionary Association. This cool season Messrs. Wilson and McFarland accompanied Mr. Telford of the Baptist Board on a trip for distribution of Siamese and Chinese tracts down the east coast of the gulf as far as Chantaboon.
With such an accession to the members of the Presbyterian mission as they had lately received, it was now deemed that the time had come for them to establish a new station somewhere outside of Bangkok, and Petchaburee was fixed upon as its location. This is an important inland town, some eighty-five miles south-west from the capital city, situated in the midst of charming scenery in a fertile and populous district of country. The acting governor of the province favored the having a station there, and offered every assistance; and this in a place where the authorities treated very uncivilly the first missionaries who visited it, and arrested those who received books at their hands. Ground having been purchased and the house they had secured made ready for them, in June, 1861, Messrs. McGilvary and McFarland, with their families, removed to Petchaburee. Another dwelling-house was soon under way, and a school opened on the premises, with the sons of the governor and lieutenant-governor enrolled among the pupils.
The name Petchaburee signifies the “city of diamonds,” and soon after their arrival the missionaries found there, in the midst of the rubbish of heathen superstition and idolatry, a gem, a living stone of priceless value, that has since been taken to shine doubtless in the Redeemer’s crown. It was a native Siamese, Nai Kawn by name, from a village near, who called upon them to place his son under their instruction. The lad already knew the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. The father himself surprised them by his facility in quoting Scripture, repeating whole chapters of Romans; and on conversing with him it appeared that, though he had never seen a missionary, from some two or three portions of the Scripture and a few Christian tracts that had fallen in his hands, taught by the Spirit of God, he had gained, and accepted too, a wonderfully clear view of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Gladly he received other portions of the New and Old Testament, and, further instructed, he became a fearless and efficient witness for the truth before his countrymen of high and low degree.
The brethren at Petchaburee, with the freest access to the Siamese everywhere, found a peculiarly inviting field of labor among a colony of Laos numbering ten thousand or so, settled near them. These people, adherents of a prince who had failed in his struggle for the throne, had fled in a body from their own land in the far north-east some eighty years before, and, seeking refuge in the dominion of the king of Siam, had been assigned a home and lands in this fertile province. They were made serfs of the king, however, and much of the time had to work for their new royal master. A preaching-place was secured in one of their villages, and these toiling exiles seemed to be interested hearers of the word.
But to return to Bangkok. In December, 1861, Esther, a young native woman who had been brought up in the family of Mrs. Mattoon, was baptized,—the first native female member of the Presbyterian mission-church of Siam.
On February, 2, 1862, the Rev. S. C. George and wife, who had been sent out by the Presbyterian Board, arrived in Bangkok. Mrs. George was a sister of Mrs. Johnson, one of the noble company of martyred missionaries put to death by Nana Sahib’s orders at Cawnpore. Much faithful colporteur work in the city and suburbs was done this year by Mr. Wilson, and mission-tours were made to Camburi and Prabat by him and other missionaries. A neat mission-chapel which had been built on the mission premises without drawing upon the funds of the Board was opened for divine service in May. In December, Messrs. McDonald and House, with Mr. Telford of the Baptist mission, made a coasting-trip to Chantaboon, distributing many Siamese and Chinese books and tracts there and at other places visited on the way.
The first fruit of the labor of the Petchaburee missionaries was gathered in February, 1863, when Kao, a young Siamese of much promise, was baptized. He had entered Mr. McFarland’s service that he might acquire a knowledge of English, but he was instructed also in the way of life, and learned that which made him wise unto salvation. One short month, and he left his dying testimony to the excellence of the new religion he had embraced. Called away by sudden and severe illness, his last words were, “Why do you weep? I am not afraid to die. I love the Lord Jesus. I am going to heaven. My heart is happy.” There were others in Petchaburee who soon after had the courage to renounce Buddhism and publicly avow themselves Christians. May 10, 1863, a Siamese man and his wife, who had been long in Mr. McGilvary’s employ, and a young Siamo-Chinese in Mr. McFarland’s, were baptized and a church organized in Petchaburee. It was an occasion of great and joyful interest to the brethren there.
In May the Rev. Robert Telford and wife of the Baptist mission, after nine years’ labor among the Chinese of Siam, were obliged to leave Siam in quest of health, embarking for China.