A half century among the Siamese and the Lao : an ... - Khamkoo

CHIENGMAI 79
the great God and Saviour. We were come with a
revelation of our Heavenly Father to His wandering
and lost children. While the mass of our visitors
came from curiosity, some came to learn; and many
who came from curiosity went away pondering whether
these things were so. Friendships also were formed
which stood us in good stead afterwards when we
sorely needed friends. During our time of persecution
these persons would come in by stealth
to speak
a word of comfort, when they dared not do so openly.
As the annoyance of those days fell most heavily
on the nerves of my wife, it was a comfort to learn
afterwards that possibly the very first convert heard
the Gospel message first from her lips, while she was
addressing a crowd of visitors very soon after our arrival.
Reference will be made to him later, but it
may be said here that from the day when he first heard
the news, he never again worshipped an idol.
Whatever was their object in coming to see us, we
soon gave every crowd, and nearly every visitor, to
understand what we had come for. We had come as
teachers — primarily as teachers of a way of salvation
for sinners. And we never addressed a crowd of
thoughtfiil men or women who did not readily confess
that they were sinners, and needed a saviour from sin.
But we were not merely teachers of religion, though
primarily such. We could often, if not usually, better
teach religion—or, at least, could better lead up to it
by teaching geography or astronomy. A little globe
that I had brought along was often my text.
I presume that most Christian people in America
have a very crude idea of the method of preaching the
Gospel often, or, perhaps, generally, used by missionaries,
i)articularly in new fields. If they think that