Calvin Wilson Mateer, forty-five years a missionary in Shantung, China

by D. W. Fisher

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.