Samuel Reynolds House of Siam, pioneer medical missionary, 1847-1876Feltus, George Haws
History
Samuel Reynolds House of Siam, pioneer medical missionary, 1847-1876
Feltus, George Haws
House, Samuel Reynolds, 1817-1899
“Among the four young persons who kneeled one after another
to receive the solemn ordinance which made them church
members was our dear Ooey, who has long in her heart been
persuaded of the truth of our religion and the importance of
attendance to it, and who a few weeks before came out bright
and clear and decided, in her determination to serve the
Saviour. Again it fell to my lot to administer the ordinance;
and a privilege unspeakable it was to stand up and in the
name of the Lord to apply the seal of the covenant to the
dusky brow of that child of many prayers, and to others I had
helped teach the way to heaven.
“That Sabbath evening Ooey told me with beaming eyes that her
heart was full of happiness. And yet only the day before the
poor child had been told by her heathen father—who was angry
with her for forsaking the old religion—that she ‘must never
call him father, nor her mother, mother again’....
“The fifth is Ah Keo, for over twenty years a servant in the
different mission families. I recollect talking and praying
with him the first year I was in Siam. But his besetting sin,
intemperance, made all exhortation lost on him till this
spring—a miracle of grace has been wrought.”
This religious interest increased with the days, so that the
semi-weekly meeting for prayer gave way to a daily meeting, in
which the young Christians exhorted their fellow students and
friends to believe on Christ, and their hearts were poured out in
intercession for the conversion of their families and of Siam.
Then, in September, Dr. House records another confession from among
the student group:
“Delia made our hearts very glad the other day by coming to
us and saying her mind was made up to become a Christian,
and wished to be baptised. Her mother and brother would be
very angry with her, but she felt she must take up her cross.
She is a girl of a great deal of decision and energy of
character.”
The fall meeting of the Presbytery of Siam for 1867 was marked by
items of unusual interest. Dr. House was installed pastor of the
church, as a successor to Mr. Mattoon. The formal call for his
pastoral services (signed by thirteen members), the charge to
the pastor and people, the prayers and the sermon were all in the
Siamese language—an index of the development of self-government
in the native church. At the same meeting A. Klai, of Petchaburi,
was licensed as a native local preacher, apparently the first to
be fitted for that rank. Dr. House jocularly refers to him as a
“graduate of the McFarland Theological Seminary of Petchaburi,”
as he had been under the instruction of Mr. McFarland. At the
communion in the Bangkok church this same autumn occurred the
ordination of the first native elder of the local church, the
congregation having elected the young man Naah already mentioned.
THE NOTABLE TRIP TO LAO
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account