A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lāo: An AutobiographyMcGilvary, Daniel
History
A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lāo: An Autobiography
McGilvary, Daniel
Lao (Tai people); Missions -- Lao (Tai people); Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. -- Missions
And so we argued till light seemed to gleam for once into his mind. But
the image of the dear old man pointing up and then down with the sad
confession, “I know not whither I shall go,” is a vision that has
saddened me many a time since.
The other case of special interest I state as it occurred, with no
attempt at explanation of the dream involved in the story.—On the
morning after our arrival, Nān Inta and I started out to visit
monasteries or houses, wherever we might find listeners. I was dressed
in white clothes, and Nān Inta had on a white jacket. We had made a
number of calls, and were about to pass by a house in which we saw only
an elderly woman and some children, presumably her grandchildren. We
were surprised to see her come down from her house and run out after us,
and prostrating herself with the customary salutation given to priests
and princes, she begged us to stop and come in. We accepted her
invitation, though surprised at her evident demonstrations of joy.
Sitting down on the mat, we began to explain that we were teachers of
religion, pointing out the sure way of happiness both in this life and
in the life to come. Our message was one from the great God and Creator
to all races and nations, inviting them to return from all other
refuges, and He would give them an inheritance as His children in the
life to come. She listened with marked interest as we explained to her
our religion, and urged her to accept it. We were surprised at the
explanation she gave of her intense interest.
Not long before our arrival she had a dream that two men dressed in
white came to her to teach her. What they were to teach her she did not
know; but when she saw us walking up the street she said, “There is the
fulfilment of my dream!” She had watched us as we entered other houses,
fearful lest we should omit hers. Now she was so glad we had come. It
was at least a strange coincidence, for she affirmed that the dream was
before she had ever heard of us. Whatever may have been the cause, it
was a delight to instruct one who seemed to receive all that we said as
a direct message to her. This at once attracted Nān Inta to her, and she
listened to him with frequent exclamations of delight, while he, in his
earnest manner, explained the Gospel message of pardon and life eternal
through Him who liveth and was dead, and behold He is alive for
evermore. She said her one great desire had been to escape from the
punishment of her sins; but she never before had known that there was
any other way but to suffer for them herself. She, too, was a Ngīo. We
visited her frequently during the week of our stay in Mûang Pāo, and to
the last she interpreted our coming as the fulfilment of her dream. This
was the last that we knew either of her or of the aged monk. Before we
visited the place again she was dead, and he had moved away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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