Chapter XVI: Preface (10)

Of the fact that he was face to face with a state of things that promised tremendous changes he was fully conscious. No man could have been more alive to his environment during these last years of his life. May 2, 1905, he wrote to a generous friend in the United States: “The state of things in China to-day presents a great contrast with what it was when I arrived here forty-one and a half years ago. Then everything was dead and stagnant; now all is life and motion. It is just fairly beginning, it is true, but there is the promise of great things in the near future.” September 1, 1907, in another letter to a friend, he says: “This great and massive people, so long below the horizon of the western world,—a misty, unknown land,—is looming large in the east, and the eyes of the west are on it. China is awakening from the sleep of ages. Her senses are still dull, benumbed by the traditional customs and conservative follies of the past, but her eyes are opening more and more, day by day. It is true she still wants to sleep on, but she cannot. The clamor of the world’s progress dins in her ears. Giant hands are shaking her. Specters fill her imagination and groundless fears make her troubled. She essays to rise, but has no strength. She is growing frantic at the realization of her own weakness and incompetence.”

Facing the new China he, while gladdened on the whole by the outlook, yet saw grave dangers in the way. Some of these are due, in his estimation, to characteristics that have rooted themselves very deeply in the spirit of the people at large. In his article on “Education in China” he said:

It is a peculiarity of the Chinese character that they are
very hard to convince of the utility of a new thing, and must
always be doubly sure before they decide to act; but as soon as
the decision is made, they at once grow recklessly impatient
for the consummation. The old educational methods and ideals
are now abolished and the government is rushing headlong
into new and hitherto untried measures. They issue commands
to their subordinates without providing the means of carrying
them out. The result is a chaos of more or less futile effort,
attended by burdensome taxes and illegal exactions that produce
disaffection and rebellion. The lack of competent teachers
handicaps the whole movement. To the eye of a western educator
most of their primary and secondary schools are little short
of a farce. Mission schools have trained a large number of
competent teachers, but in most cases the prejudice against
Christianity is so strong that heathen schools will not use
them. This prejudice is much stronger in the secondary schools
than it is in the provincial colleges and universities. The
high officials generally take more liberal views, and they are
free from the social ostracism that prevents a small official
or a private gentleman from employing a Christian teacher.

On account of the characteristics just described, while he rejoiced in the immense progress which Christianity was making both in the conversion of increasing thousands and also in its indirect influence over multitudes more, he had anxieties as to the near future of the church in that land. Writing to one of the secretaries of the American Bible Society, in January, 1906, he said: “If I understand the signs of the time in China, it will not be many years—I put it at ten to fifteen—until the Chinese church will declare her independence of the missionaries, pay her own expenses, and make her own creed.... What this creed will be, will depend very much on the kind and number of preachers we train in the meantime.” The speeches made at the Chinese Students’ Alliance, held at Hartford, August 24, 1910, both by the Chinese and by Americans, indicate a very strong tendency in this direction.

In view of the entire situation, national and religious, he iterated and reiterated that the most imperative duty of missionaries in China at present is the training of native preachers and teachers on a scale and in a manner that will fit them to meet the emergency, and to take advantage of the opportunity for the evangelization of the land and the starting of the church that soon must be, on a voyage that will not, through lack of chart and compass and proper guidance, wreck itself on the way. Here are some of his deliberate utterances within the last three years of his life:

Allow me to say that at the present time in China I regard
schools and the training of teachers and preachers as the chief
thing,—much more important than the founding of new stations,
with expensive buildings, in order to cover new territory. This
is not a passing thought, but is said advisedly. The time for
training these teachers and preachers is limited; before many
years the native church will declare her independence, when all
will depend on the intelligence and soundness of her leaders.

Again taking a view that includes the church, but that is so broad as to sweep over the entire national situation, he said:

“China is fascinated by the power, skill, and knowledge of the
west. She covets these things, and clamors impatiently for
them, but they do not come at her call. She has caught up the
idea that education will solve the problem and speedily lift
her into the family of nations. She issues edicts to annul
the old and inaugurate the new. She commands the opening of
schools in every county, not realizing that without teachers,
or methods, or money efficient schools are impossible. True to
her character, she is deceiving herself with a sham; a mere
pretense of knowledge. The old is passing faster than the new
is coming, and there are ominous signs of danger ahead. There
are already a good many competent Christian teachers in China,
and very few others; but Chinese conservatism hates and fears
Christianity, and will not employ Christian teachers if it can
possibly be avoided. China has still one great and fundamental
lesson to learn, namely: that Christianity is not her enemy,
but her friend; that faithful and honest men are not made by
simply teaching them geometry and chemistry. She will presently
learn, however, that Christianity holds the only patent there
is for the construction of high moral character. She resents
the idea now, but sooner or later she will be compelled to
admit it. In the meantime she needs men to teach her, and to
show her the way. Never perhaps in the world’s history was the
saying of Christ more conspicuously exemplified: “The harvest
truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.”

Ever since he set foot on the soil of that country he had kept on pleading for reinforcements in his work,—now a physician, then a teacher, again a man capable of overseeing mechanical operations, and always more ordained missionaries. He entertained very common-sense notions as to the sort of reinforcements that are desirable. He says in an old letter directed to theological students in the seminary where he was trained: “I might add more especially that missionaries should not be men of one idea, unless perchance that idea be a zeal for saving souls. The men needed are those who have well-balanced, practical minds.... The man of vivacious temperament, pleasing address, ready wit, and ready utterance, other things being equal, will make the best missionary.” The language he did not regard as at all beyond the acquisition of any person with fair ability and faithful application, though he recognized more than a moderate measure of these as essential to the writing of books. As the new China loomed up before him, his cry for help became, if possible, more earnest; it came from the very depths of his soul, and with an intensity which words could not adequately express.

Before proceeding to relate the story of his death, can I do better than to give the last of these appeals of which we have the records? The letter from which I quote is dated Wei Hsien, September 1, 1907, just a year before his Master called him home. He said:

Tell the young men of America for me, that China now presents
to the church the greatest opportunity of the ages. God has
opened the door,—opened it wide. Three hundred and fifty
millions of people are ready to hear the gospel message. This
door has not been opened without great strife and effort. In
the face of steady and persistent opposition, and through much
suffering and bloodshed, a large and lasting impression has
been already made. The dark and discouraging days are over and
the future is bright with promise. As I look back over the
first twenty-five years of my missionary life, it seems like a
troubled dream. The last fifteen years have wrought wonders in
China. Old customs and prejudices are giving way. The bright
dawn of better things is upon us. The most conservative and
immovable people in the world, persistently wedded to the
old ways, are getting used to new things, and are ready to
accept whatever promises profit and prosperity. All ears are
open, and the preaching of the gospel is nowhere opposed or
resisted. I often wish I were young again, just ready to start
in on the bright opening campaign. In a large sense the future
of the church and of the world lies wrapped up in this great
people. Why in the providence of God the gospel of salvation
has not long ere this reached this oldest and greatest nation
is an unexplained mystery. These unconverted millions of the
Mongolian race will presently come into their inheritance of
truth and grace, and then who shall say what they will become,
and do? Their fecundity, their physical stamina, their patient
persistence and intellectual vigor, are factors that will count
in the world’s future history.... As I look at the situation
in the light of the past, and forecasting the probabilities
of the future, a more inviting field for the exercise of
consecrated talent has rarely, if ever, presented itself in
the history of civilization. Very few people in the church in
the west understand and appreciate the present condition of
things in China. The political forces and problems are better
understood than the moral and religious. It is still true that
“the children of the world are wiser in their generation than
the children of light.” The faith of the long, old centuries
is passing rapidly away, but what shall the new faith be? This
is the great Christian question of the hour. The young men of
China are mad to learn English, because there is money in it.
With English come books and newspapers, sowing the seeds of
agnosticism, and skepticism, and rationalism, and so forth.
The cry is, Who will champion the truth? Who will administer
the antidote? Who will uphold the cross? Who will testify
for Christ? The call is urgent. Satan is in the field. The
opportunity is passing. The time is strategic. The changes of
many years are now crowded into one. Young men, it is time to
be up and doing! The march of events will not wait on your
tardiness. Who will hear the Master’s trumpet call?

XVI

CALLED UP HIGHER

“I have given my life to China: I expect to live there, to die
there, and to be buried there.”—FROM HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS IN
THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Allegheny, Pa., 1862.

“I expect to die in heathen China, but I expect to rise in
Christian China.”—ANOTHER FAREWELL ADDRESS.

In the chapter on the Mandarin revision we left the committee on the Old Testament, in the summer of 1908, at work on Genesis and the Psalms, down at Chefoo, with the Goodrich and the Mateer family keeping house together. Dr. Goodrich had been the dean of the Union Theological Seminary at Peking, and so was thoroughly versed in the educational phase of missions, still occupying so large a place in the heart and mind of Dr. Mateer. These two men also had served together on the revision of the New Testament, from the beginning to the end. They were in many features of their character very different from each other, and yet in their common labors and in their convictions they were in thorough harmony. Mrs. Goodrich and Mrs. Mateer had come out on the same steamer in 1879, to join the forces of the American Board, as unmarried missionaries; and the subsequent years had served to cement their friendship. The house in which they resided at Chefoo during that summer looked out on a charming scene: the “island,” the bay, and the passage, with craft of all kinds, Chinese junks and sampans, and steamers, small torpedo boats, and big battleships of every nation, either riding at anchor or coming up into the harbor. From the back windows the eye rested on a jagged range of hills, crowned at the top by a curious wall, so like the views of the Great Wall shown in pictures that ignorant sailors imagined it to be that famous structure. One can easily understand that under such circumstances the two families greatly enjoyed the earlier part of the session of the committee. Dr. Goodrich, in the following quotation from the article which he published in the January issue of “The Chinese Recorder,” in memory of Dr. Mateer, had in mind his entire acquaintance with him, extending over thirty-five years, but it is tinged especially with the recollection of the preceding summer. He says:

Much of the time we have been together in the protracted daily
sessions of the committee, as well as in the long evening
walks, when we talked on everything between the zenith and the
nadir; for then his thoughts were “ready to fly East as West,
whichever way besought them.” If he were not widely read, he
had thought widely and deeply, being at once conservative,
progressive, and original. He had strong opinions, and was
at times severe and stern in maintaining them. But he loved
those of a contrary opinion with a true and deep affection.
From first to last he was a royal friend. Dr. Mateer thought
naturally in terms of logic and mathematics, but not without a
side in his nature for poetry and sentiment.

Dr. Mateer’s character, especially during the later years,
was constantly mellowing, and the past summer, which our two
families spent together in our own “hired house” at Chefoo,
must ever be remembered as one of the happiest periods of our
lives, without a break or jar to mar its enjoyment. Was it a
sort of unconscious preparation for the sweeter joys and more
perfect fellowship in the dear upper home?

Dr. Mateer worked on with his usual untiring faithfulness,
during the last summer, though not quite well at times. How
he lived in the Psalms, upon which he bestowed loving labor!
Sometimes he would look out from his little study to the room
which held all too closely his beloved wife, who has followed
the Bible revision with an interest scarcely less intense than
his own, and consult with her on some difficult phrase, or tell
her of some beautiful figure he had succeeded in translating.

In the early morning we took a dip in the sea—he was a good
swimmer—and after he had “talked with Him,” at six o’clock he
was ready for his teacher. In the evening his walks were less
regular and shorter than in other years.

In explanation of one sentence of the preceding it needs to be stated that by an accident Mrs. Mateer was then so disabled that she kept her room.

During the summer he suffered from a chronic tendency to dysenteric diarrhea, yet it was not until well toward the close of the session of the Committee that he remained in bed for the entire day. At first he worked on there, upon the translation of the Psalms, which he was especially anxious to give to the people in such language that they could readily catch it with the ear, and that the Psalms might be to the Chinese church the rich heritage they are to the English-speaking race. At length it became evident that his case was fast becoming so critical that if medical aid under the most favorable conditions could save his life, the very best that could be had must be secured at once. So it was decided that he ought to go on a steamer down to Tsingtao in the German concession. It would require twenty-four hours to make the trip; but when asked whether he was able to endure the journey, he replied: “I must. I shall die if I remain here.”

The necessity for the change was not due to any lack of medical care or friendly ministrations at Chefoo; it was made in order to secure the superior advantages which a good hospital affords. Fortunately the voyage was quiet. His wife went with him; and Dr. and Mrs. Goodrich also accompanied them. It was Tuesday night when they reached Tsingtao, and friends were at the landing; and, supported in loving arms, he was carried at once in a carriage to the Faber Hospital, where Dr. Wunsch, a skilled physician, exhausted his efforts to save him. Dr. Hayes was already there, and at Dr. Mateer’s request spent each day in the hospital.

Friday of that week was the anniversary of their marriage, but it was impracticable for his wife to be brought to his bedside. Saturday it became evident that the end was not far away, and she was permitted to see him; and he seemed so comforted by her presence, though he was too weak to talk much, that they allowed her to stay. In response to a telegram, his brother Robert and Madge, his wife, came at once. Saturday afternoon his mind wandered, and seemed to run on the affairs of the college. Sunday morning he asked Robert to pray with him; and in connection with this one of the great passions that had long possessed him manifested itself. As on the journey down on the boat he lay exhausted, he had said to Dr. Goodrich: “They must do their best to cure me at the hospital, so that I can finish the Psalms. That is all I have to live for now”—meaning, of course, by this, only the work to which he had given himself. Now, when his brother in his prayer asked that the sufferer at whose bedside he knelt might be given an abundant entrance into the heavenly rest, Dr. Mateer cried out: “Raise your faith a notch higher, Robert. Pray that I may be spared to finish the translation of the Psalms.” Then he asked that Dr. Hayes be called in, and he requested him to pray for this; and when this was done he added, “O Lord, may this prayer be answered!”

On Sabbath when some of his “boys,” alumni of the Shantung College, who were living in the town came to see him, he was so weak that he could only say to them, “Good-by.”

All those last days he took great comfort in prayer. As he gradually went down into the shadow of death, his faith continued firm and bright. To an inquiry by his wife as to his trust in Christ, he replied: “Yes, I have nothing to fear.” Some time before the end he said to his brother Robert, “I have laid up all in my Father’s keeping.” The very last words which he was heard distinctly to articulate were indicative of a passion that possessed his soul even far more strongly than his desire to complete his work on the Scriptures. Those who knew him most intimately recognized in him a man of extraordinary reverence for God,—for him whom, from his childhood’s memorizing of the catechism on to the end, he believed to be infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He was one of those who in the public services of a house of worship always stood in prayer, though about him all might be sitting in their seats. He thought no other posture except kneeling or standing appropriate in this act of social worship. His whole conception of religion, theoretical and practical, was saturated with a holy fear of God. To him God was his heavenly Father, who has manifested himself above all else in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and unto whom he constantly turned with holy boldness; but whenever he came consciously into the divine presence he was devoutly reverent. It was in keeping with his whole religious life, therefore, that his last audible words, were “Holy! Holy! True and Mighty!” Then—not long afterward—he fell asleep. He died at 10:25 in the morning of September 28, 1908.

Among his papers a little book was found which when it was opened proved to be a collection of private prayers recorded in 1863, the year in which he went to China. The last of these prayers is the following:

Permit not the great adversary to harass my soul, in the last
struggle, but make me a conqueror, and more than a conqueror
in this fearful conflict. I humbly ask that my reason may be
continued to the last, and if it be Thy will, that I may be so
comforted and supported that I may leave testimony in favor of
the reality of religion, and thy faithfulness in fulfilling
thy gracious promises, and that others of thy servants who
may follow after, may be encouraged by my example to commit
themselves boldly to the guidance and keeping of the Shepherd
of Israel. And when my spirit leaves this clay tenement, Lord
Jesus receive it. Send some of the blessed angels to conduct my
inexperienced soul to the mansion which thy love has prepared.
And oh, let me be so situated, though in the lowest rank, that
I may behold thy glory!

This prayer, which in his young manhood he had recorded in that little book, was fulfilled so far as its petitions concerned his end upon earth; and who doubts that equally fulfilled were also those petitions which looked forward to his entrance upon the eternal life?

At Tsingtao a funeral service was held in the little Chinese Presbyterian chapel. Among those present were Rev. Dr. Bergen and Rev. W. P. Chalfant, from the Shantung Presbyterian Mission, then holding a meeting at Wei Hsien, representatives from the Basel and Berlin Protestant Missions, and a large number of Chinese. After the casket was placed in the church, former students of the Shantung College came in with long wreaths of immortelles, and so festooned these about the coffin that they could remain on the journey yet to be taken. Addresses were delivered in both English and Chinese, and were full of appreciation for the missionary just gone up higher. The Chinese speakers were some of his own “boys,” who then testified to their appreciation of their “old master,” as they were accustomed to call him. After the service the casket was taken to the same steamer on which he had been brought down, and thus was removed to Chefoo, in care of his brother Robert and Mr. Mason Wells. That evening the casket was escorted by a number of Chinese Christian young men to the rooms of the Naval Young Men’s Christian Association; and the next morning to Nevius Hall, on Temple Hill, where it remained until the time of burial, covered with flowers provided by loving hands.

During this delay the missionaries up at Tengchow had, in response to a telegram, exhumed the remains of Julia, and caused them to be transferred to Chefoo, where they were placed in the vault prepared in the cemetery. Her monument, however, was left standing in the original burial place, and the name of Dr. Mateer has also been inscribed on it.

The funeral service was at 2.45 P.M., on Sabbath; and the large, new church on Temple Hill was filled to overflowing. The conduct of this service was in the hands of the Chinese, Pastor Wang of the Temple Hill church presiding, and Pastor Lwan of the Tengchow church assisting. In a sermon based on Revelation 14:13, Pastor Wang spoke of Dr. Mateer’s long and active life, of his power as a preacher who addressed himself straight to the hearts of the people, and of the enduring character of the work he had accomplished. Rev. Lwan followed in an address in which he dwelt upon the large number of people who would mourn the death of Dr. Mateer, and the many different places where memorial services would be held; on his adaptability to all classes of men in order to win them to Christ, and on his unfailing assurance that the gospel would finally triumph in China.

The English service followed immediately afterward in the cemetery; but on account of the large number of foreign missionaries who had come, and the limited space, announcement had to be made before leaving the church that of the many Chinese who were present, only those who had been Dr. Mateer’s students could be admitted. One of the great regrets incident to the burial was that Dr. Corbett, who had come out to China with him on that long first voyage, and who had been his close associate on the field in so much of the work, and who cherished for him the warmest regard, could not be present. He was away in a country field when death came to Dr. Mateer, and the news did not reach him in time for him to return to the funeral. In his absence Rev. Dr. W. O. Elterich, of Chefoo, conducted the service. After he had spoken, Rev. J. P. Irwin, of Tengchow,—who had been associated with Dr. Mateer in the same station, and who as a consequence knew him intimately,—bore his testimony especially to the unceasing activity of the life of him whose body was about to be lowered into the grave, and the impossibility that his work should have been finished even if he had lived to be a hundred years old; to the warm heart hidden beneath an exterior that did not always reveal it; and to the purpose now fulfilled, but formed nearly half a century before by him and by her whose remains now rest at his side, to spend their whole lives in giving the gospel to China, and to be buried in its soil.

Their graves are in a very beautiful spot, directly in front of the upper walk leading in from the gate, and in close proximity to those of Dr. Nevius and of others of their missionary friends and associates.

The tributes paid to his character and work were so numerous, both out in China and in the United States and in other Christian lands, that all that is practicable here is to make some selections that may serve as representatives. That of Dr. Corbett deserves the place of precedence. Their strong attachment was mutual. In an article filling several columns of “The Presbyterian Banner,” Dr. Corbett paid his tribute to his deceased friend. Much of this is of necessity a condensed rehearsal of his life and of the leading characteristics therein revealed. He concludes by saying:

Personally I shall ever esteem it one of the greatest blessings
of my life that it has been my privilege to have enjoyed
the friendship, and of being a colaborer with this great
man for nearly fifty years. More than forty years ago it
was my privilege to spend with him weeks and months on long
itinerating journeys, preaching daily to hundreds who had never
heard the gospel, and at no place finding Christians to cheer
our hearts. Often after a long day of exhaustion, preaching in
the open air at great markets and on crowded streets, in the
evening we would kneel together at the inn and earnestly pray
for God’s richest blessing upon our efforts to bring men to a
saving knowledge of the truth. Often the thought came into our
mind, Can these dry bones live? Shall we live to see Christian
churches established and shepherded by Chinese pastors? His
unwavering faith in the ultimate and universal triumph of the
gospel in China was a tower of strength to all associated
with him. When the news of his death reached me at our inland
station, the thought rushed into my mind: “Know ye not that
there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”

The world will ever seem more lonely without him. His sympathy
and help could always be counted on in every kind of true
missionary work. His labors were crowned with success and honor
continuously, until he was summoned by the Master to a higher
and wider sphere where his saints serve him.

It seems to me that the man who is entitled to be heard next is the Rev. Dr. W. M. Hayes, now of Tsingchow fu, but formerly—after the resignation of Dr. Mateer—the head of the Tengchow College. There is no one of his associates on the mission field in whom Dr. Mateer had greater confidence; and for years they were in such constant contact that they knew each other most thoroughly. A few days after the burial a memorial service was held at Wei Hsien, and at this Dr. Hayes made an extended address before an audience including the students of the college. The respective lines of thought which he first elaborated were his faithfulness to Christ’s service, his resolution, his attention to great matters, and his industry. In the conclusion he said:

Let us strive to make his strong spiritual qualities our own.
Of these, the most conspicuous were three: First, his faith.
The morning he died, replying to an inquiry of his brother,
he said, “I have left those things long ago in the hands of
my Father.” Later, and only a few hours before his death, he
said, as if speaking to himself, “We are justified of the
Lord Jesus.” It is not strange that with such a faith he fell
asleep as a little child would in its mother’s arms. Second,
his reverential spirit. Though he did not fear the face of
man, and was outspoken in his convictions, yet, especially
in his later years, as one who had served with him on the
Translation Committee from the first remarked, his reverence in
approaching the divine presence was apparent to all. This was
characteristic of him to the end. The last distinct utterance
which he made was, “Holy! Holy! Holy! True and Mighty.” Lying
prone on his couch, it seemed as if he saw the King in his
beauty, and the vision filled his soul with godly fear.
Third, his forgiving spirit. Being a man of decided views, and
disapproving of what did not seem to him wise and good, he did
not always approve of the course taken by his colleagues; yet
if convinced that a man was working with a single heart for the
interest of Christ’s kingdom, he was ready to forgive, and to
hope for the best. He loved the Lord who had forgiven him, and
so loved those who had offended against himself. This extended
both to those with whom he labored, and to those for whom he
labored. One of his marked characteristics was not to give over
any man who had fallen away, and he was always ready to give
him another chance.

I have already noticed the intimacy of Dr. Chauncey Goodrich, of Peking, with Dr. Mateer. The tribute which he paid his long-time friend, and his associate and captain on the Mandarin Revision Committee through the many years of their labors, is perhaps the most comprehensive of all that have been published. It filled fourteen pages of “The Chinese Recorder,” and touches all the leading features of the life and work of Dr. Mateer. What he says as to the Mandarin version has especial weight. His testimony was:

In the interest of truth it must be added that no man gave
so much time and hard work, or dug quite so deep. His effort
to produce a translation which should match the original,
to translate the figures and preserve their beauty, was
extraordinary.... At these sessions Dr. Mateer by his strong
and masterful personality, as well as by the thoroughness of
his preparation, did much to set the style of the work.

Turning to some of his leading characteristics, he proceeded thus:

First, his personality. In the Conference of 1890, Dr. Wright,
secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was
with us. He remarked that “of all the men present at that
conference, there were two whose personality most impressed
him.” One of these was Dr. Mateer. He bore himself like a
sort of prince among men, _facile princeps_. He was born to
lead, not to follow. Having worked out his own conclusions, he
was so sure of them that he expected, almost demanded, their
acceptance by others. Yet he was not arrogant and was truly
humble. Moreover, he could ask forgiveness for words that he
felt had been too hasty or too harsh, feeling much broken by
giving pain to a friend. In this he showed his greatness. He
could also forgive and forget. But he was still a leader by the
very force of his personality.

He had the quality of perseverance in a large degree.
Having undertaken a work, he held to it with unwavering and
unconquerable persistence to the end, ... and that not only
because he gripped the work, but because the work gripped him.
Had his life been spared, he would have worked steadily on
through the Old Testament till the last verse of Malachi was
finished, and the whole was carefully reviewed. Of Dr. Mateer’s
habit of working till the end was reached Dr. Hamilton writes:
“Not many months ago, at a meeting of the Shantung Board of
Directors, we had a considerable amount of unfinished business,
and the week was hastening to its close. No one had more work
awaiting him at home than the Doctor. Yet when the question
of the time of our dispersion was raised, he said: ‘I have
always made it a rule, when I attend meetings of this kind, to
finish up the business in hand, no matter how long it takes.’”
United to this quality of perseverance was a kindred quality of
thoroughness, that appeared in everything he attempted.

Dr. Mateer possessed a rugged strength of character. He was
almost Spartan in his ability to endure hardships, and in his
careless scorn for the amenities and “elegant superfluities”
of modern life. Yet “beneath a rugged and somewhat austere
exterior” he had a heart of remarkable tenderness. He was a
block of granite with the heart of a woman.

Rev. Mr. Baller also had been associated with Dr. Mateer in the revision of the Scriptures since 1900. He says of him:

He has left behind him an example of strenuous toil that it
would be difficult to parallel; of iron constitution, he was
able to do an amount of work that would have killed most men.
His devotion to the cause of Christ was beyond praise. His
recreation consisted in change of occupation, and he made all
tend to the one end.

Ada, who in the last eight years of his life stood nearer to him by far than any other, and knew his innermost life, puts on record this supplement as to some of his traits not so fully brought out by the testimony of his friends:

Next to his reverence, the most noteworthy feature of his
character was his love of truth: truth in the abstract,
scientific truth and truth in the common conversation of life,
but especially in matters of religion. He had no patience with
the popular maxim that it does not matter what a man believes,
so long as he is sincere. “Is there no such thing as truth?”
he would say. “Does it make no difference to a man whether the
bank in which he invests is broken? Men are not such idiots in
the ordinary affairs of life.” If it came to a choice between a
polite lie and the impolite truth, he would choose the latter.
He exalted truth above every other virtue. His love of it freed
him from that trammeling of conventionality which binds so
many. He would be the slave of no man-made custom.

Associated with this characteristic, perhaps a result of it,
was the kindred love of freedom. One of his favorite texts was,
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free.” This sturdy independence he sought to impress on all
minds coming under his influence. He had no patience with that
kind of education that simply trained the Chinese to become
“lackeys of the foreigners.” How his lips would curl as he
muttered that phrase! He would waste money often in trying to
help some one to assertive, manly work in independent lines,
rather than as an employee. This sturdy force in his character
was like the magnetic crane, which lifts pieces of iron, even
though they have been hidden in the ground. It compelled the
manhood in other men to assert itself; though hidden from view,
yet to burst from its covering, and to be drawn up higher.

As already noted, the West Shantung Mission was in session at Wei Hsien when the tidings of Dr. Mateer’s death came; and before they adjourned they adopted a highly appreciative minute concerning him. In it they said, among other equally strong tributes to his worth:

No one ever went to him in trouble without finding sympathy
and help. Frugal in his style of living, he gave generously
of his personal means to many a needy man; and he made many
considerable gifts to the college and to other departments of
the work he so much loved. His name will long be a fragrant
memory in our midst, and the Chinese will more and more, in the
years to come, rise up and call him blessed.

The English Baptist Mission at their first meeting after his death adopted resolutions expressive of their deep sense of loss. One of these will serve as an example of all:

Combined with great strength of will and an enthusiasm which
overcame all difficulties and opposition which stood in the way
of the accomplishment of the great and arduous tasks, he was
endowed with much tenderness of heart and a devoted loyalty to
the gospel. He was a successful educator, a fine administrator,
a powerful preacher, and a distinguished scholar; and his
removal from amongst us has left a gap which will not soon or
easily be filled.

The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, under whom he had served for forty-five years, adopted an extended and highly appreciative paper. In one of the paragraphs, they say:

Dr. Mateer was a man of unusual ability and force of character;
an educator, a scholar, and an executive of high capacity....
The Board records, with profound gratitude to God, its sense
of the large usefulness of this great missionary educator.
It mourns that the work is no longer to have the benefit of
his counsel, but it believes that he builded so wisely and so
well that the results of his labors will long endure, and that
his name will always have a prominent place in the history of
missionary work in the Chinese Empire.

Secretary Brown, of that Board, in a letter to Rev. Robert Mateer, of Wei Hsien, said: “I regarded him as one of the great missionaries not only of China, but of the world.”

Scores upon scores of personal letters, and a large number of articles published in newspapers and periodicals, are available as tributes to his work and character. Necessarily, they repeat what is said in the quotations already given, though almost every one makes some valuable addition. Few of them were meant for publication, and it is not because of a lack of appreciation that any of them are omitted here.

Shall his biographer add his own estimate of the work and character of Dr. Mateer? If the writing of this book has been at all what it ought to be, this cannot be still needed; for, if he has revealed the inner and the outer life of this great Christian missionary as it deserves, and as he has aimed to do, then to turn back now and rehearse his characteristics would be a superfluity. Besides, if I begin, where shall I end? I must tell of his personality; his individuality; of his physique and of his psychical nature; of his peculiarities of intellect,—its vigor, versatility and vision; of his great heart, and the tenderness of it that was not always externally manifest enough to command recognition; of his will that yielded never to numbers or force, but only to truth and duty; of a conscience whose voice would have made him defy anything that man could do to him; of a piety that rooted itself in the sovereignty and in the grace of Almighty God, and in the redemption which Christ finished on the cross; of a consecration that laid himself and all that he could bring upon the altar of divine service; of the preacher, the teacher, the scholar, the man of science, the man of business, and of the son, the husband, the brother, the fellow-disciple and associate in Christian service; of his economy of time and of money, and of his generosity; of his conservatism and his progressiveness; of his singleness of purpose, his courage, his persistence, his efficiency; of his weaknesses as well as of his strength; of his many successes and his few failures; and of how much more I cannot enumerate. I would be justified in comparing him with the very foremost of the servants of Christ, living or dead, who during the past century have consecrated their lives to the evangelization of China; or with Verbeck of Japan, or Duff of India. However, I will here venture further, only to invite as many as may to look well into the story of his life; and I am confident that they will join with me in saying: “This was a Christian; this was as distinctively a missionary, and as efficient as anyone of our age; and at the same time this was as manly a man as our generation has seen.”

In the “Pilgrim’s Progress” we read: “After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-for-truth was taken with a summons by the same post as the other; and had this for a token that the summons was true, ‘That his pitcher was broken at the fountain.’ When he understood it he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then, said he, I am going to my Father’s; and though with great difficulty I am got thither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I had been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that succeeds me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that may get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battle who now will be my rewarder. When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the river side, into which as he went he said, ‘Death, where is thy sting?’ And as he went down deeper, he said, ‘Grave, where is thy victory?’ So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

INDEX

Aground off coast of China, 63

Algebras, 164

Anglo-Chinese college, 216, 218

Anniversary of graduation, 39

Apparatus, 209, 211, 244

Apprehensions as to China, 308, 313

Arithmetic, 162

Baller, Rev. Mr., 182, 258, 333

Baptism, infant, tract, 160

Beaver Academy, 43, 239

Bergen, Paul D., 225, 229, 325

Birth, 15

Birthday, seventieth, 273, 295

Books in preparation, 160, 166

Boyish traits, 17, 25, 237

“Boxer” uprising, 264, 284, 286

Brown, Arthur J., 9, 12, 336

Brown, Julia A., 53

Brown, Margaret, 54, 123, 143, 153, 168

Business capability, 154

Canal, Grand, 169

Candidate for ministry, 42, 44, 48

Capp, Mrs., 54, 123, 143, 144, 153, 168, 276

Caring for converts and churches, 123, 126, 174, 178, 183, 192, 193,
194, 201

Catechism, 161

Chalfant, W. P., 325

Chapel at Tengchow, 110

Characteristics, personal, 25, 28, 45, 82, 83, 90, 91, 101, 148, 170,
171, 236, 320, 324, 330, 332, 333, 335, 336

Characters written, Chinese, 165, 253

Chefoo, 67, 203, 264, 265, 273, 281, 299, 300, 320, 326

China, appointed to, 57

China as a mission field, 70, 317

China, the “new,” 150, 286, 305, 311, 317

Chinese characteristics, 308, 312

Chinese language, 105, 108, 165, 252, 269

Chinese Presbyterian church, 199, 200, 204, 205

Chow Yuen, 123, 184

Christianity in China, 173, 310, 313

Classmates, 37, 38

Coal press, 75

Coffin, making a, 242

College student, 34, 93

Conference, first missionary, 252, 255

Conference, second missionary, 252

Conference, third missionary, 266, 267, 272

Controversies, 151, 170, 197, 203, 290

Conversion, 92

Converts, early, 123, 142, 143, 176, 177, 192

Corbett, Hunter, 59, 62, 67, 76, 102, 116, 119, 144, 176, 239, 300,
327, 328

Country school, 29

Cumberland valley, 15

Curriculum of Tengchow school, 136, 138, 144

Dangers, 63, 121, 122, 124, 280, 281, 283, 284

Death, 324

Delaware, Ohio, 52, 58

Delay after appointment, 51, 54, 99

Discipline, church, 142, 175, 200

Discipline, school, 140, 141

Diven, grandfather, 20

Doctorate of Divinity, 293

Doctorate of Laws, 293

Duffield, James, 30

Dunlaps creek academy, 32

Dwelling houses, 80, 228

Education and missions, 129, 159, 312, 315

Education, the “new,” in China, 244

Electrical machinery, 214, 248

Elterich, W. O., 328

Employment for converts, 246, 334

English Baptist mission, 225, 335

English in school and college, 203, 216, 218, 230, 292

Entertainments, 245, 250

Experimentation, scientific, 213

Faber hospital, 322

Famines, 287

Farm life, 22

Father, 16, 18

Field, Cyrus W., 213

Fitch, G. F., 157, 163, 170

Funeral services, 325, 326

Furloughs, 145, 298, 299, 300

General Assembly, 206, 303

Generosity, 171, 172, 287

Geometry, 163

Goodrich, Chauncey, 91, 165, 166, 258, 259, 266, 271, 272, 319, 320,
322, 323, 331

Graduates of college, 144, 145, 149, 233, 295, 323, 326

Grier, Margaret, 82

Hamilton, W. B., 332

Happer, Andrew P., 216

Haven, Ada, 299

Hayes, Watson M., 147, 164, 179, 210, 214, 225, 240, 322, 323, 329

Hays, Isaac N., 93

Hebrew at Chautauqua, 299

“Hermitage,” the, 22, 238, 304

Home life, 23, 41, 79, 82

Honors and distinctions, 38, 293

House-building, 76, 78, 228

Hunterstown academy, 31

Hymn book and hymns, 161

Illness, last, 321

Inns, Chinese, 68, 116

Invitations declined, 43, 52, 218, 294

Irwin, J. P., 328

Itinerations, 112, 116, 119, 123, 124, 125, 127, 184, 186, 329

Japanese bombardment of Tengchow, 284

Jefferson College, 33, 238

Kiao-chow, 195, 286

Kirkwood, Mrs. Jennie, 17, 23, 40

Korean expedition, 297

Kwan Yin temple, 73, 129, 135, 210

Language, learning the, 105, 108, 109

Licentiate, a, 49

Licentiates, Chinese, 201

Locomotives and Baldwin Works, 239, 243

Lwan, Pastor, 327

Maker, a, of “new” China, 309

Mandarin Dictionary, 165, 166

Mandarin Elementary Lemons, 170, 300

Mandarin Lessons, 167, 169, 172

Mandarin version, 252, 255, 256, 259, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 271,
319, 321, 322, 331

Manufacturing, 240

Marriage, 53, 299

Martin, W. A. P., 167, 249, 306

Mateer, Ada Haven, 82, 170, 241, 248, 250, 266, 299, 303, 319, 321,
322, 324, 333

Mateer, Horace N., 17

Mateer, Jennie W., 17, 23, 40

Mateer, John L., 17, 156, 278

Mateer, Julia A., 53, 62, 78, 108, 114, 123, 126, 129, 134, 137, 147,
169, 170, 192, 194, 276, 280, 298, 299

Mateer, Lillian, 17, 146, 147

Mateer, Robert M., 17, 146, 323, 324, 326

Mateer, William D., 17, 240

Mechanical ability, 155, 236

Medical work, 86, 298

Mercer, S. B., 32

“Methods of Missions,” 151, 196, 292

Miao, 123, 184

Miller, J. R., 44

Mills, Rev., 72, 114, 126, 167, 174, 179, 194, 199, 243, 276, 291, 298

Ministry, a Chinese, 161, 200, 314

“Mission,” the, 196

Missionary, a foreign, 40, 42, 49, 51, 54, 57

Missionary qualifications, 316

Moderator of Synod, 203

Mother, 16, 20, 40, 50, 299, 304

Museum, 245

Nanking, 169, 294

Nevius, J. L., 71, 145, 151, 196, 256, 259

New Testament revision, 258, 260, 264, 266

Ningpo, 203

Observatory, 209, 214

Old Testament revision, 272, 273, 319, 322

Ordination, 53

Parentage, 16, 18

Pastorate, 179, 180, 192

Pecuniary affairs, 171, 172

Peking, 264, 278, 285, 294

Periodicals and contributions, 150

Persecutions, 187, 195

Policy of college, 230

Preacher, as a, 91, 102, 181

Preaching in Chinese, 109, 204

Premises of school and college, 129, 135, 147, 209, 210, 229

Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 335

Presbytery of Shantung, 199, 200

Presidency of college, 179, 214, 229, 231

Press, the mission, 152, 155, 157, 278

Profession of religion, 33

Provincial college, 215, 247, 309

Publications, 150, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170

Pupils, 129, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 146

“Rebels,” Tai-Ping, 71, 280

Religious life, 33, 89, 93, 101, 104

Removal to Wei Hsien, 226

Revisers, Mandarin version, 256, 258, 264, 272

Sabbath School letters, 133

School-Book Commission, 159

Science Hall, 228, 229

Science teaching, 212

Shanghai, 62, 152, 202, 252, 278, 282, 285

Shantung, province, 71, 111, 284, 289

Shantung college, 128, 207, 220, 253, 303

Shantung Christian University, 222, 234

“Shen,” 151, 170, 291

Siberian trip, 243, 300, 302

Social life, 82, 193

Southern Baptist mission, 70, 220

Stated supply, 178, 179

Stereotyping, 155

Stove, making a, 75

Student visitors, 108, 245

Students converted, 142, 143, 149

Superintending the mission press, 152, 153

Surgery, 86

Synod of China, 152, 201

Tai An, 124

Tengchow, 68, 70, 84, 108, 208, 215, 264, 280, 281, 304

Tengchow church, 72, 174, 177, 192

Tengchow school, 129, 132, 135, 138, 140, 146, 149, 153, 277

Tengchow station, 71, 73, 81, 223

Terms, ecclesiastical, 204

Terms, technical and scientific, 159, 160

Theological student, a, 46, 96

Theology, teaching, 212

Tientsin massacre, the, 281

Tours and travels, 68, 112, 114, 116, 119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 169,
171, 192, 193, 296, 298, 299, 300, 322

Translating and its lessons, 269, 271

Travel, modes of, 68, 112

Tributes, 327-338

Tsinan, 125, 226, 234, 289

Tsingchow, 119, 120, 125, 226, 229

Tsingtao, 233, 322, 325

Tsou Li Wen, 259, 260

Type-making, 155

Union in Shantung Christian University, 226

Union of Presbyterians in China, 204, 205

Voyage, first, 58, 99

Walker, Mrs. Lillian, 17, 18, 146, 147

Wang Yuen Teh, 259, 327

War, Chino-Japanese, 284

Wedding journey, 303

Wei Hsien, 119, 226, 228, 285, 295, 330

Wei Hsien, at, 228, 243, 248, 250, 295

Welcome at Tengchow, 145

Wells, Mrs. Margaret G., 82

Wells, Mason, 82, 285, 326

West Shantung mission, 325, 334

Western Theological Seminary, 43, 46

Wilson, Samuel, 33

Workshop, 240, 241

Yangtse, the, 169, 171, 253

Yuan Shih K’ai, 215, 284