“The need of the hour in China is not more new stations with expensive buildings and wide itinerating. It is rather teaching and training what we have, and giving it a proper development. Most of all we should raise up and prepare pastors and preachers and teachers, who are well grounded in the truth, so that the Chinese Church may have wise and safe leaders.... There are already enough mission stations, or centers, in the province, if they were properly worked. The need of the hour is to consolidate and develop what we have, and by all means in our power develop native agency, and teach and locate native pastors,—men who are well grounded in the faith.”—LETTER TO SECRETARY FOX, of the American Bible Society, January 6, 1906.
Dr. Mateer believed that sooner than most missionaries anticipated the Chinese Christians will join together and set up an independent church. He meant by this not merely a union of the ministers and churches of the various Presbyterian denominations at work in the country, such as has already been effected, but an organization that would include in its membership all the Protestant Christians, and that would leave little or no place for the service of foreign missionaries. He regarded this as inevitable; and for that reason he considered it to be of prime importance that such an effective preliminary work should promptly be done, that this coming ecclesiastical independence might not be attended by unsoundness as to creed or laxity in life. At the same time, in holding up the care and the training of the native Christians as so important a part of the work of the foreign missionary in China, in anticipation of what is ahead, he was only for an additional reason urging what he had in all his long career recognized as second to no other in importance. Of course, at the beginning of the effort to give the gospel to a people it is indispensable to do “the work of an evangelist”; that is, to seek by the spoken word and by the printed book to acquaint them with elementary Christian truth, and to endeavor to win them to Christ; and we have already seen how diligent Dr. Mateer was in this service, especially in his earlier missionary years. But he was just as diligent in caring for the converts when gained; and in the school and college it was the preparation of men for pastors and teachers and evangelists that was constantly his chief aim.
The first body of native Christians with whose oversight he had anything to do was that very small band that had been gathered into the church at Tengchow. Mills was the senior missionary, and as such he presided over that little flock until his death. In 1867 he was installed as the pastor, and he continued in this office nearly twenty years. During this long period Dr. Mateer at times supplied the pulpit and cared for the church in Mills’s absence or illness, but for most of the time it was only as a sort of adviser that he could render help in that field. We have no reason to think specially unfavorably of Chinese converts because some of those with whom he then had to do at Tengchow, or elsewhere, proved themselves, to him, to be a discouraging set of professing Christians. Were not a good many of Paul’s converts very much of the same grade when he traveled among the churches, and wrote his letters? Did it not take much patience, and fidelity, and persistence on the part of Christ to make anything worth while out of his select disciples? Yet these constituted the membership of the primitive church from which even the missionaries of our day have originated. At any rate some of the earliest experiences of Dr. Mateer with the native Christians were of a very depressing sort. In his Journal, under date of March 17, 1864, he made this record:
Since coming to Tengchow there have been great difficulties in the native church. Several of the members were accused by common fame of various immoral practices,—one of smoking opium, another of lying and conforming to idolatrous practices, and another of breaking the Sabbath. The second of these confessed his fault, and was publicly reproved; the third also confessed, and on his profession of penitence was restored to the confidence of the church. But though the first confessed to the use of the ashes of opium, he gave no certain assurance of amendment; and he was suspended, and so remains. These matters gave us all a great deal of anxiety and sorrow of heart. It is sad thus to find that even those who profess the name of Christ are so much under the power of sin. It is one of the great discouragements of the missionary work. Yet God is able to keep even such weak ones as these unto eternal life.
Under date of September 15, 1866, he told of a worse case of discipline:
We had a hearing with the accused, and gave him notice that he would be tried, and of the charges and witnesses. We wrote to Mr. Corbett at Chefoo, to get depositions for us. He did so, and we met, and tried him. The evidence was sufficient to convict him of lying, and of forging an account, and of adultery; notwithstanding, he denied it all, endeavoring to explain away such evidence as he was forced to admit. We decided to excommunicate him, and it was done two weeks ago.
It must not be supposed that there was a great deal of such discouraging work; as a rule, the native Christians tried to live correct lives; and the worst that could be said of most of them at those early dates was that they were “babes” in Christ. But we cannot appreciate what the missionary needs to do as to the professed converts unless we look at this depressing phase. Besides, incidentally we are thus shown one of the methods by which the native Christians were trained in the conduct of their own churches. Each case is dealt with just as is required by the regulations of the denomination with which the church is associated. The same formalities and processes are employed as if in the United States; the same fairness and fullness of investigation, with witnesses and hearing of the accused; and the same effort neither to fall below nor to exceed what justice and charity combined demand for the good of the individual and of the organization as a whole. As to this, in these particular cases no exceptional credit can be claimed for Dr. Mateer; but we can be perfectly sure that it commanded his hearty approbation. This was a practical school also in which was called into exercise a quality of which a young missionary, and especially a man of his type, seldom has enough,—that of mingling a firm adherence to truth and righteousness with a forbearing kindness that will not break a bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. Gradually this became so characteristic of him that the boys in his school and the Christians in the churches were accustomed to come to him and unburden themselves not only of sorrows, but of faults, with no expectation that he would condone wrong or shield them from its just consequences, but confident that he would feel for them, and help them if he could. Nor was it to these classes alone that his heart and hands opened. As they came to know him better, the professor in the imperial university sought his advice and the coolie turned to him in his need; and never in vain.
But there was a brighter side to the experience of those early days. Several of the boys in the school were converted. What joy this afforded, we who live in Christian lands cannot appreciate. The little church at Tengchow also steadily moved forward in those early days of its history. In 1869 it had risen to about fifty members, and the attendance was such that a building solely for its services became indispensable; and in due time an appropriation was made by the Board of Missions, first for a lot, and soon after for a house of worship. Pastor Mills was then absent, and by appointment of presbytery Dr. Mateer acted as stated supply. As such, having first bought the lot, he made an appeal to the Board for the new edifice, saying:
We hold our services in the boys’ schoolroom, which has been kept inconveniently large, for this very purpose. It is the only room that will seat all, and it will not do it sometimes. The desks have to be carried out every Sabbath; and all the benches, chairs, and so forth, about the establishment carried in, making a decidedly nondescript collection. Aside from the inconvenience, two serious drawbacks are felt. One is the want of sacred associations about the place. All heathen are wanting in reverence, and no small part of what they need is to have this idea instilled into their minds. We greatly need in this work a house especially devoted to the worship of God. The other drawback is the disorganizing effect the Sabbath and week-day services have on the school. The room being in the midst of the premises, it is impossible to prevent a large amount of lounging, gossiping, and so forth, in the boys’ room before the service begins. The superintendent feels that it is a very serious drawback to the school, as well as an injury to the native Christians.
Any American who is familiar with students and their habits will perceive that in this matter Chinese young men and boys are very much like those of our own land.
In that appeal there is another paragraph that deserves transcription here:
It has been said that the Christians in heathen lands ought to build their own churches, but this is impossible in the early stages of the work, especially at the center of operations, where the foreigner preaches and teaches in person, and where a large part of his hearers are often from a distance. The church at this place gives character to the whole work in the eyes of the people at large, and must of necessity differ in many respects from churches in small places presided over by native pastors. Concerning these last we have already taken a decided stand, requiring the natives to help themselves to a great extent.
Dr. Mateer was appointed by the presbytery to serve a second year as stated supply of the Tengchow church; and had it not been that he was called in 1870 to Shanghai to take charge of the mission press, he no doubt would have given his personal supervision to the erection of the new house of worship. It was built during his absence, and when he came back he rejoiced in its completion. At the death of Mills in 1895, Dr. Mateer was chosen pastor, and was installed as such,—a position he was able to assume because he had found in Mr. Hayes a substitute for himself in the presidency of the college. He remained pastor until he went with the college to Wei Hsien. Dr. Hayes had already for years worked quietly and efficiently in the school, under the presidency of Dr. Mateer, and had shown himself to be a man of exceptional ability and energy—a man after Dr. Mateer’s own heart. After he assumed the presidency Dr. Mateer was still to assist in the college, but he was so often absent or otherwise engaged that both the college and the preaching were largely in the hands of Dr. Hayes.
According to the “Form of Government” of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, when a “call” is made out for a pastor it must be certified to have been voted by a majority of the people entitled to exercise this right; and it must fill the blank in the following clause: “And that you may be free from worldly cares and avocations, we hereby promise and oblige ourselves to pay to you the sum of ... in regular quarterly (or half-yearly, or yearly) payments during the time of your being and continuing the regular pastor of this church.” In the settling of native pastors over the Chinese churches scattered through the country, the filling of that blank, and the actual subscription of the funds needed for this and other expenses of the organization, usually require the presence of a missionary and of his earnest stimulation and guidance. Sometimes the pledges are very liberal, if estimated by ability of the members; and sometimes it is with great difficulty that they are brought up to the measure of their duty. The salaries, however, are almost incredibly small, and even according to Chinese standards are scarcely sufficient for a livelihood. We need to keep this state of things in mind in order to appreciate the amount that was inserted in the blank in Dr. Mateer’s call to the pastorate of the Tengchow church. In reporting the entire procedure to the Board of Missions, he said: “The church in Tengchow in calling me for their pastor promised a salary of cash amounting to fifty dollars, which is to be used to employ an evangelist whom I am to select and direct.” Of course, he continued to receive his own pay as a missionary from the funds of the Board. The fifty dollars was probably a creditable amount, as contributed by the native members out of their narrow means; and as a salary for a native evangelist it was at least a fair average.
When reporting this pastorate to the Board of Missions, Dr. Mateer said, “This is work that I love to do, especially the preaching.” When doing the work of an evangelist among the people at large, sermonizing could have no place. Even formal addresses of any sort were rarely practicable. The best that the missionary can do when itinerating is to get attention by any legitimate means, and then to talk, and hear and answer questions, and bear with all sorts of irrelevancies and interruptions. But when a church is organized, a sermon, consisting of a passage of Scripture and a discourse built upon it, is just as much in place as it is in one of our home houses of worship on the Sabbath. It was to the opportunity for that form of service that he refers when he expressed his pleasure in the pastorate. In this also he greatly excelled. Some who knew him most intimately, and who appreciated fully his great worth and efficiency, did not regard him as a very eloquent preacher in an English pulpit. He commanded the attention of his audience by his strong, clear, earnest presentation of the great religious truths which he believed with all his soul. The personality and consecration of the man were a tremendous force when he stood in a pulpit in his own land; what he lacked was the ability which some speakers possess of carrying his audience with him, almost irrespective of the thoughts to which they give utterance. But in preaching to the Chinese he took on an extraordinary effectiveness. There was in the man, in the movement of his thought, in his mastery of the language, in the intense earnestness of his delivery, in the substance of his sermons and addresses, much that captivated the native Christians, and made others bow before his power. Mr. Baller, who had heard him frequently, says: “His sermons were logical, direct, a unit in thought and enriched with a copious vocabulary and illustrations. His points were usually put from the Chinese point of view, so that a foreign air was conspicuously absent.” To this day some of his addresses are recalled as triumphs of real eloquence of speech; perhaps the most notable of these being an address which he delivered at the opening of the English Baptist Institution at Tsinan fu, in 1907. It was an opportunity such as never before had come to a missionary in Shantung,—all the highest officials of the province, and half-a-hundred others of lesser degree, being present. He took as his theme “The Importance of an Upright Character,” and more than rose to the height of the occasion. One of his most memorable sermons was delivered before a convention of some three hundred women gathered at Wei Hsien from the native church members of that region.
His ministry at Tengchow was fruitful of great good in many ways. One of these was the growth of the church by the conversion of the natives. Just before he removed to Wei Hsien, he recorded the fact that during all his pastorate there had not been one of the quarterly communions at which there were no additions. The beginning of his pastorate was signalized by the accession of eighteen,—eight being from the college and six from the girls’ school. Its close was marked by an accession of twenty-six, of whom twenty-one were baptized, the largest number up to that date ever receiving that sacrament, at the same time, in the Tengchow church. Only one was from the college, all the rest having come in through the labors of two associates in the station, Miss Snodgrass and Dr. Seymour.
Just as soon as by evangelistic itineration and other means converts were made in the neighboring region, outside of Tengchow, it became necessary for the missionaries to look after these scattered sheep in the wilderness; and for a good while a large share of that work fell to Dr. Mateer and his wife. In fact, it had been partly through their labors, direct or indirect, that these converts had been won, and therefore they felt it especially a duty to care for their nurture. That, of course, involved a large variety of efforts. In the earlier years these frequently consisted in part of interposition, so far as it was wise and practicable to shield native Christians from gross wrongs to which they were exposed. The hatred of the rulers and of most of the people for foreigners and the foreign religion was bitter. Even at Tengchow the very tombstones in the little cemetery where the missionaries buried their dead were repeatedly broken,—an act regarded by the Chinese as the most gross and cowardly insult that can be offered to a living man; yet it was slow work to secure from the officials protection, or justice as to the criminals. The case of Miao, of Chow Yuen, a district capital situated fifty miles to the southwest of Tengchow, is specially notable. Early in 1869 the Mateers and Margaret Brown, with a Chinese assistant, went to itinerate, and on the way they visited him. When converted out in his native district of Tsi Hea, he immediately began to endeavor to win others to Christ. So he sent word to his clansmen and friends that he had important business with them, and invited them to come to his house. This occurred while the missionaries were there, and they witnessed what took place at the gathering. Miao made a reception speech, in which he said: “I have sent for you, and you have come. I said nothing in my letter, but for you to come, and that I had an important matter to tell you. It is this: I have led you in serving the Devil. There was nothing I would not dare to do, and nothing that you would not care to follow me in doing. I have now found something better. We have often engaged in doubtful enterprises. I have now found something that there is no doubt about: it is thoroughly reliable, resting on the strongest possible proof. I have left the service of the Devil, and I want you to leave it. As I have led you in his service, I want now to lead you out of it. I want to show you the way and to present you to the true God. Examine for yourselves; search to the bottom; and know that I am not deceiving myself nor you. This doctrine of Jesus is absolute and unmistakable truth.” In writing of this, Dr. Mateer adds: “These words were spoken with a fervor and an emphasis that brought tears to my eyes. I thanked God for them, while I prayed that they might not be in vain. Rice was then brought, and this young Christian sat down with his friends and asked a blessing,—the first they had ever heard,—praying for them directly and specifically. The whole village came to hear, with many from neighboring villages. Save the time occupied in eating, we preached to them nearly all day, keeping it up till far into the night. The ladies also had crowds to hear them all the time.” It was not long until Miao, partly of himself and partly at the instigation of other native Christians, came to Chow Yuen, with the determination to establish himself there as a preacher of his new faith. In August of the same year the Mateers again visited him, this time at his new place of residence, and did what they could to help him in his chosen work. His education and character were such as to promise well. Following the usual custom of a Chinaman when about to start a new enterprise, a feast was made; some eighteen guests responded favorably to invitations to be present, and at the close of the entertainment a sort of meeting was held, and Dr. Mateer made a brief statement of what Christianity is, what was the nature of this enterprise, and what was Miao’s relation to it. He told the audience that the mission would pay the rental of a small chapel, but that Miao would work gratuitously, except so far as he might be assisted by the voluntary contributions of his friends. All the Chinese present, with the exception of two members from the Tengchow church, were non-Christians, yet the guests subscribed a sum sufficient to meet the expenses of the feast and to leave a surplus to go toward the support of the preacher. Some of his friends had already promised to help to support him, and had presented him with a fine signboard to hang in front of the room he occupied as his chapel, and another for the back of the stand where he stood when speaking. All this was so exceptional and so hopeful that Dr. Mateer came away rejoicing in this apparent readiness even of the unevangelized to welcome the gospel. But here begins quite another turn of the story. Miao had continued but a few days at this work when a couple of constables seized him and the man from whom he had rented the room for a chapel, and hurried them to the office of the magistrate. The owner was accused of having rented a house to “foreign devils,” and was forthwith beaten most cruelly to the extent of two hundred blows. Miao was then called, charged with evil doctrines and practices, such as kneeling in prayer and calling on unseen personages. In reply he rehearsed the chief truths of the gospel, and in answer to a taunting question, whether Jesus could suffer for him, he said that he so believed. The magistrate ordered him to be beaten fifty blows with the large bamboo and sent him chained to prison. That evening he had a second hearing, and the next morning he was marched off, with a chain about his neck and his hands bound together, thirty miles away to Tsi Hea, but comforting himself in his weariness and suffering by singing Christian hymns. The morning after his arrival he was called before the magistrate and confronted with charges forwarded from Chow Yuen—such as being in league with foreign devils, using false pretense of preaching religion, seducing the people by artful works, being possessed of secret magical arts, taking forcible possession of a house, influencing the people to form combinations dangerous to the state, and a whole rigmarole of offenses, big and little. He was commanded to confess, and when he would not, he was first beaten three hundred blows with the small bamboo, and then he received a hundred more in the face. The second day he was recalled, and when he still would not confess he was again beaten. The magistrate being especially searching in his inquiry as to how Christians prayed, and as to what they prayed for, Miao as the best explanation he could give kneeled and prayed in his presence. At this stage of the affair Dr. Mateer, having been informed of the situation, arrived, and secured a promise from the officer that he would go no further until he heard from his superiors; and on his return to Tengchow he reported the case to the American consul at Chefoo, though with little hope that under the prevalent policy of the American government anything would be done. In an article in “The Presbyterian Banner” he said: “I shall not soon forget my feelings when I saw this Christian brother with a chain round his neck and his body disfigured with bruises for the gospel’s sake. I could not restrain the tears as I looked him in the face. It is one thing to talk of persecution a thousand miles away, and another to see it face to face. I assured him of our sympathy and unceasing prayers in his behalf, and that I would do my utmost to rescue him.... Numbers of the native Christians have boldly visited Miao in prison, and some of them even prayed with him. All have been stirred up to pray as never before, and made to feel that their only hope is that God will interpose on their behalf. This young Christian has been guilty of no offense against the state. The charges preferred by the officers are pure fabrications, the inventions of malice and hatred to the truth, and would never have been entertained by the officer had he not been only too glad of a pretext to get the Christians in his power.” So soon as possible Dr. Mateer went to Chefoo to see the American consul, and on his return home he learned that Miao had been released, under some restrictions as to his whereabouts; but no amends were made for the gross injustice done.
There was still a long sequel to this affair. After the period which has since intervened the story seems to be unworthy of the dignity of a full recital here; though it might be interesting to some as an example of obstacles encountered by the work of missions away from places where foreign influences are commonly powerful enough to prevent them. A condensed account must suffice. It should be remembered that it was in August that the persecution of Miao occurred. The purpose of it, at least in part, was to shut Christianity out of Chow Yuen. To allow this would have been to inflict on that cause a blow that probably would encourage opposition of a like kind in other localities; and therefore it evidently was the duty of the missionaries to prevent it if practicable. Especially was it true of Dr. Mateer that he was too resolute a spirit to yield to such a violation of rights secured under treaty with foreign governments. Consequently late in November he went again to Chow Yuen, in order to secure a house that could be used as a chapel; for in the interval between these visits the room previously occupied for this purpose had gone into other hands and was no longer available. The magistrate also had been promoted, and another filled his place. Dr. Mateer soon found a house, rented it, and secured the approval of the magistrate. Then followed a series of chicanery, brutality, deceit, low cunning, and petty meanness running over several months, and compelling two more trips by him in the dead of winter. Once he took with him two other missionaries, and they went armed with pistols in order to defend themselves if attacked. The old woman who rented the room to him, and who in so doing had been animated by ill will to her relatives and by a desire for money, was seized and beaten by members of her own family, and likewise by the magistrate. The same gang beat the middleman who, according to Chinese custom, had negotiated the bargain. The whole rental was only about ten dollars. Petty and miserable as the affair was, it had its ludicrous features; as, for instance, when Dr. Mateer, in his determination not to be ousted from the house until some satisfactory arrangement was made, picked up the old woman and set her down on the outside, where she exhausted her strength in billingsgate. It was not until the beginning of March that the trouble at Chow Yuen was finally ended. The issue was a triumph in the main for the missionary; another acceptable room was, with the official approval of the magistrate, secured for a chapel, and the money that had been paid for the rental of the other house was refunded. The best of all was the fate that overtook the man who had been the ringleader in the long series of wrongdoings toward the representatives of Christianity. The magistrate did his best to shield this fellow, but at last he had to yield. He called the man into his presence, and this is what was done, as related by Dr. Mateer: “He was required to knock head to me; and then I took him in hand, and though he tried to evade, I compelled him to own up to his sin, and to make a distinct promise of amendment; and then the substance of what he said was put on record by the clerk, and a copy was given me.” It all illustrates what a determined man who has right on his side may accomplish even in an out-of-the-way city in China. It is characteristic of Dr. Mateer that in one place in his Journal during this wearisome affair he says that if it were not for his school he would go to Chow Yuen, and stay there until a settlement is reached. Perhaps in later years Dr. Mateer and his associates would have regarded it as inexpedient to go so far in the defense of a convert; but in those earlier days this was a battle for toleration of Christianity, and not a mere struggle to right the wrongs of an individual convert.
Other incidents of the dark side to the work of caring for the native Christians might be given, but I have thought it best to turn chiefly to the brighter phases of the subject. Of these there were many, and they were of many kinds; but they were of so unsensational a character as not now to be likely to awaken much interest in the reader. They belong to the day of small things for the gospel in China; but let them not be despised; by and by they will be treasured, if the record of them is preserved, as the beginnings of the evangelization of Shantung. When they occurred they brought the joy of approaching harvest. For example, in connection with that last trip out to Chow Yuen, Dr. Mateer wrote:
As it was Saturday, however, I felt I must try if possible to get home, so that the Sabbath service should not be neglected, when so many inquirers were waiting to hear. I found not only the ten who had come from Ping Tu, but some seven or eight from other places. I had, of course, to commence teaching them at once. I gave the half of each day to them, and continued it without interruption for three weeks. They gave diligent attention to the business of learning. At the same time Mrs. Mateer had a class of women who were seeking admission to the church. Last week all who were considered ready were examined by the session and passed upon. Twenty were received,—fifteen men and five women. They were all baptized together yesterday. It was a new sight in Tengchow, to see such a number standing up at once to profess the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that we are all grateful as we should be for such a signal token of God’s presence with us. Our hearts are enlarged to look for still greater things in the future. Our schoolroom was packed to its utmost capacity, so that when the twenty rose up to present themselves for baptism, it was with great difficulty that room could be made for them to stand. Let us hope that the day of small things is past in this part of China. Chinese officials may persecute us, and foreign governments ignore us, but they cannot restrain God’s Spirit. There are still a number of inquirers.
In the earlier part of his missionary life he frequently made trips of greater or less length to various places in the province to help the native Christians by organizing churches, assisting their pastors, holding services, stimulating to work for the gospel, administering the sacraments, and in every other available manner forwarding the cause of Christianity. Hospitality was gladly extended by the people; and it was as gladly accepted, though not infrequently it introduced to quarters that were odd and even uncanny. Dr. Mateer described guest rooms in which he was entertained, and which were a strange combination of granary, receptacle for lumber, bedchamber and “parlor,” crammed with all sorts of corresponding articles, not excepting a coffin conspicuously displayed in a corner. However, in his own home he lived without ostentation; and on his journeys he did not find it hard to adapt himself to the customs of his native entertainers.
In later years, though for the most part he left itinerations to the younger members of the mission, yet he did not entirely discontinue them. In February, 1896, for instance, he wrote to the secretaries of the Board of Missions:
Three weeks ago Mrs. Mateer and I returned from a trip of seventeen days to the district of Lai Chow, eighty miles distant. Our friends protested against our taking such a trip in the winter and in our state of health. We acted on our own judgment, however, and went, and are benefited rather than otherwise. The trip was exceedingly profitable. We confined our visit to two stations, holding special services each day—morning, afternoon and night. I received eight to the church. At one station a new church was organized, with twenty-six members, a branch from the older station. At this older station there are many inquirers, and the work is in a very hopeful condition, very largely as the result of the influence of a young man, an undergraduate of the college, who has been there teaching a day school for three years.
One of his last journeys of this sort was made not long before his seventieth birthday, and the following is his record concerning it:
From Tengchow we came overland to Wei Hsien in shentzas. I made it a point to spend the Sabbath at Lai Chow fu, and went out and preached morning and afternoon to our little church at Ning Kie, which is three miles from the city. Dr. Mills and I were instrumental in founding the station some thirty-six years ago. It has grown very slowly. Mrs. Mateer had visited it frequently in subsequent years, and had taught the women, and there are now a goodly proportion of women in the church. In the earlier years evangelists were sent to labor in the region, and to preach to and teach the people. In those days opposition to the gospel was very great, and progress was very slow. In later years, owing to change of policy, evangelists were not sent, save on an occasional visit, and the church declined, though it still lived. A few years ago special efforts were made, and the church increased somewhat, and finally a native pastor was settled over this church, in connection with another about fifteen miles away. Before the expiration of the first year the Boxer uprising brought the arrest and beating of the pastor and much persecution to the church. The pastor did not return. The church was discouraged, and the pastor was called elsewhere. If we now had an available man, he could be located at Lai Chow fu; but there is no man.
His last country trip was made some time in December, 1907. This is the record: “Two weeks ago I went down on the railroad to Kiaochow to assist our native pastors in a meeting for the women. There were about seventy there from various other stations, besides those in town. The meeting was most interesting, and must do a great deal of good. It was projected and managed by the native pastors on their own account. There were five native pastors present, and helping in the meeting. Many women spoke and some made set addresses.” There were approximately one hundred and fifty present, many of whom walked miles to be there. His own speech was a plea to the mothers to consecrate their sons to the ministry, and the tears ran down his cheeks as, while making it, he spoke of his own mother.
The reader needs to bear in mind that Dr. Mateer did not operate as an independent individual, but as the agent of a thoroughly organized system, in conformity with the government of the Presbyterian Church and the regulations of the Board of Missions. Of these agencies there is one that lies wholly outside the constitutional provisions of the denomination, but that is approved as a part of the machinery needed for the foreign field. This is what is called the “mission.” Its members are the missionaries sent out by the Board and residing near enough to meet together for the transaction of business. To the mission belong such duties as to locate members and appoint their work, to make annual estimates of funds and reënforcements needed, to receive the money from the Board, and to apply it, according to directions, general or specific. Dr. Mateer had much to do with inaugurating the “executive committees” now so widely adopted by the missions. Many questions affecting the operations sustained through the Board, of necessity came before the annual mission meeting for discussion and action. Lines of policy as to conduct of the work out in the field, if involving important features, are left for decision to the Board; but full and frank consideration of them by the members of the missions, either when in session or as individuals, is usually welcomed.
An important discussion in which Dr. Nevius and Dr. Mateer were especially conspicuous arose on their field over a theory advanced by Dr. Nevius in his “Methods of Missions.” It was no personal controversy, though, of course, the respective personalities of two such strong, positive, earnest men inevitably tinged it. The question at issue mainly concerned the pecuniary support of native Christians as agents in the evangelization of their own people. No attempt need here be made to state with fullness the positions taken or the arguments employed. Broadly, the policy advocated by Dr. Nevius was that the main work of evangelization should be thrown on the native Christians, and that those who could read and understand “the doctrine” should voluntarily and without compensation instruct those who could not; while the foreign missionaries, paid as heretofore by the Board, should give themselves to a general superintendence and to periodical examinations of the catechumens and scholars taught by the native church members. Dr. Mateer was just as earnestly as Dr. Nevius in favor of utilizing native Christians in the evangelization of their people, and was just as eager to develop among them self-support, but he was thoroughly convinced that conditions were not ripe in China for the radical policy of withholding from native laborers, as a rule, all pay from the funds of the Board; and that an attempt of this sort before the proper time would result in serious disaster. This brief statement will suffice to show that it was a question over which wise and good men might readily differ, and that the fact that they discussed it earnestly and fully is a sign of healthy life. It seems to me to be a problem that cannot be satisfactorily solved by theoretical argument, or by votes in a mission, or by even the decision of a board. The only crucial test is actual trial. All that needs to be said further as to this discussion is, on the one hand, to emphasize the fact that Dr. Mateer, in his care of the native Christians and churches, often labored hard and long to bring up congregations, in the support of their pastors and evangelists, to the measure of giving for which they were able; and, on the other hand, that he thought he saw in certain fields evidence of the bad consequences of the policy he controverted.
Until it is desirable to organize the churches of a given foreign missionary field, after the order prescribed by the Presbyterian form of government, the mission must continue in the entire supervision; but it is the practice, just as soon as the way is open, to set up presbyteries and synods, and to commit to them those matters which belong to their jurisdiction. In these bodies ruling elders, as the official lay representatives of the native churches, and all the native ordained ministers sit as the equals in authority with the ordained foreign ministers. The Board, unless in exceptional cases, has not been accustomed to turn over to them the administration of the funds forwarded for use on the field, or such matters as concern the policy and plans it adopts; but all that pertains to the organization of churches, the settlement of pastors, the acceptance of candidates for the ministry and their licensure and ordination, and the administration of discipline for the ministers, with complaints and appeals from the churches, is left to the presbytery. Of course, as converts and churches and native ministers increase, the tendency is to put them, as the majority, in control in these bodies. It is a system which opens the way for some dangers; nevertheless it is, in the nature of the situation, the only course to pursue, and unless abused, it has a most wholesome influence on the native Christians. It brings home to them the fact that, equally with the foreigners who have given them the gospel, they have privileges as members of the church of Christ, and also their responsibility as such. Dr. Mateer believed with all his heart in the setting up of these regular ecclesiastical bodies so soon as possible. Late in November, 1865, he was one of the little band who organized the Presbytery of Shantung, at a meeting held at Chefoo, when as yet there were no native ministers to take part. The next meeting was held the following October at Tengchow, and he was elected moderator and stated clerk. It is evident that if a presbytery is to be of any considerable value to a native member the language used must be his own, not that of the foreign missionary. With this understanding, the following from Dr. Mateer’s Journal concerning that meeting can be better appreciated: “It was voted that hereafter all the proceedings be in Chinese, and at it we went. It was very awkward at first, making and putting motions, but after some practice we got along better. We had a very pleasant meeting indeed. One of the chief items of business was a call presented by the native church for Mr. Mills, which he accepted, and we arranged for his installation.”
It was ten years before such progress had been made out in the province that it was practicable to hold a presbytery in the rural regions. In a letter to his mother, dated December 24, 1877, Dr. Mateer said: “The meeting of the presbytery in the country marks an era in our progress in Shantung. Many of the Christians from all the region were assembled, and evidently got much good from what they saw and heard. Our presbytery is getting to be an important event, and a power among the native churches. Our desire is that it may be more and more felt.” Sometimes the meetings were saddened by the cases of discipline, after a native ministry began to be enrolled; but if the case demanded it, even deposition from the sacred office and excommunication from the church were imposed, and the native elders and ministers were sturdy supporters of adequate sentences. In contrast with this was the joy of receiving candidates for the ministry, and sending them out to preach the gospel as they seemed to be ready for that work. Occasionally a man up in years, and without thorough education, but apparently qualified to be effective as a preacher, is authorized by the presbytery to “exercise his gifts”; but usually those who offer themselves are young men who after long courses of study, and careful examination, are sent on this errand. For instance, in his report for 1874 as stated clerk, Dr. Mateer said:
Considerable time was taken up in the presbytery by the examination of candidates for the ministry. These were thorough, and so far as they went were sustained with great credit. One candidate was licensed to preach. He is not young, as licentiates usually are, being about sixty. He is, however, full of zeal for God, and may yet do good service. One of our licentiates was ordained as an evangelist. This is the first native preacher who has been ordained by this presbytery. It marks a new step in our work, one for which we are devoutly thankful to God. We have no more important work to do than to raise up well-qualified natives to preach the gospel to their countrymen. We trust this one will soon be followed by others.
Dr. Mateer was careful to treat the native elders and ministers as the equals of the foreign missionaries, in the ecclesiastical bodies and elsewhere; and as a consequence he commanded their confidence, so that he was able sometimes to render important services by healing threatened dissensions. This, as might be supposed, was especially true of his own “boys,” who had as students learned to revere both his judgment and his fraternal spirit.
In writing to “The Presbyterian Banner” concerning the meeting of the Presbytery of Shantung, in September, 1869, he said: “The matter of the formation of a synod in China was discussed, and a circular letter was prepared, and ordered to be sent to the other presbyteries urging the propriety of such a step at once. It is now twenty years since the General Assembly took action looking toward and opening the way for the formation of this synod.” That body held its first meeting at Shanghai in October of the following year. The synod in the Presbyterian system is the next higher organization above the presbytery, and consists of all the ordained ministers of a larger district already containing three or more presbyteries, and of ruling elders representing the churches; or it may be constituted from delegates appointed by the presbyteries on a fixed basis. It has the right to review all presbyterial action, and also has authority to originate measures within its constitutional jurisdiction. Among the missionaries in China at that time there was a considerable number who regarded the synod as a sort of fifth wheel to the coach, and as not likely to be capable of rendering a service worth its cost in money and time. Under indirect form this phase of the subject came into warm and protracted debate in that first meeting, and may be said to have been fought out to a settlement. Dr. Mateer was a strong believer in the importance of the synod, and in debate, and in other ways, he threw the whole weight of his influence avowedly on that side of the issue, and helped to win. Other problems were of such a character as also to arouse his interest to a high degree. Ought the language used in the body to be limited to the Mandarin or ought it to include local dialects? On this question, of course, he stood for the Mandarin. Ought a theological institution to be established; and if so, where? As to this, a sort of compromise was effected, and an appeal was sent home for a share in the “Memorial Fund,” to establish in China one or more such schools, but leaving location to be determined later. The synod consisted of twenty-four members, ten of them being foreign missionaries, and fourteen native pastors and elders. The proceedings had to be translated, during the various sessions, into several different dialects, in order to be made intelligible to all. The body sat for ten days, and then adjourned to assemble the next year at Ningpo. It was in connection with Dr. Mateer’s attendance at Shanghai that he was induced to take temporary charge of the mission press.
The second meeting of the synod was held at Ningpo. Dr. Mateer was chosen moderator. Writing in his Journal concerning that meeting, he said: