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

by D. W. Fisher

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: