I can truly say that before I went to the conference I never even dreamed of what has come to pass. It never occurred to me, before the conference, that I should take any prominent part in the matter of Bible translation. I felt that education was the only field in which I should come to the front. I was never in my life so providentially led as I was in this matter. I was selected chairman of the Mandarin Executive Committee and have been pushing the getting of translators. The first few months were spent in corresponding and comparing notes as to men. We took a ballot recently, which resulted in the election of five, ... I being the only one who received a unanimous vote. We are now voting for the others, to make up the seven.... My book of “Mandarin Lessons” has no doubt brought me forward, and its preparation has in a measure fitted me for the work. My personal preferences are against the work of translation, and I would fain decline it, but I don’t see how I can in view of the circumstances. I feel my incompetency, especially in Greek and Hebrew, and you may be sure I am very loath to give up the educational and literary work on my hands. Much of it is half finished. But if the Mandarin Bible is to be made, some one must do it; moreover, the men who do it must have the confidence of the missionary body; otherwise it will be a failure. As it is, circumstances have led me to the position, and the strong opinion of the men on the committee, and of others, leads me to feel that I cannot lightly refuse.
In November, 1891, the revisers met at Shanghai. Dr. Mateer, in a letter written in the following January, said:
The scheme for the revision of the Chinese Bible set on foot by the conference is now fairly organized, and approved by the three great Bible societies. The work of pushing the organization has fallen largely on me, and I feel no small sense of relief now that it is successfully accomplished. Contrary to my own desire, I am compelled to lake a share as one of the revisers in Mandarin; not that I do not relish the work, but because it will of necessity interfere with many of my cherished plans. We had a meeting of all the revisers of the three versions, and it was a fairly harmonious and an altogether successful meeting. A great work is before us which I trust we may, in the good providence of God, be enabled to accomplish.
The interval of about a year and a half between the general conference and the organization just mentioned was required because of the difficulty of selecting and securing the translators. These for the Mandarin version, as that body was originally constituted, consisted of Henry Blodgett, George Owen, Chauncey Goodrich, J. R. Hykes, Thomas Bramfitt, J. L. Nevius and C. W. Mateer. During the years in which this work was continued there were in the membership so many changes caused by death, removal and other causes, that Dr. Goodrich and Dr. Mateer alone continued from the beginning until the translation of the New Testament, the part of the Bible first revised, was tentatively completed. Mr. Baller of the China Inland Mission stands next in length of service, having joined the committee in 1900. Dr. Mateer in the work of revision had the assistance of two Chinese Christians whose services were so large and valuable that they deserve more than a passing mention here. In a recent letter Dr. Goodrich pays them the following just tribute:
Dr. Mateer, in the work of rendering the Scriptures into a universal Mandarin colloquial, had two exceptionally fine teachers. The first was Mr. Tsou Li Wen, an ordained pastor, who left his parish to engage in this work. Mr. Tsou was trained by Dr. Mateer in his college, receiving his theological training under Drs. Nevius, Mateer and others. He was a man of beautiful spirit, discriminating mind, and a fine sense of language. He was also a man of indomitable perseverance. After a strenuous day’s work of eight hours or more, he would often toil by himself far into the night, seeking for some phrase or phrases which expressed more exactly or more beautifully the meaning of the original. And before the final review, both he and my own lamented teacher (Chang Hsi Hsin) would bestow the greatest pains, in the hours when they should have been sleeping, in a careful inspection of the work. Thus did Mr. Tsou toil, while separated from his family for long periods of time; his work on Bible revision being as truly a labor of love as that of any member of the committee.
But alas! Mr. Tsou’s life burned out all too soon in his exhausting labors. But how I should like to see his crown, and his shining face!
Happily for the work, Dr. Mateer had another scholar, trained also in his school, Mr. Wang Yuan Teh, a young man of keen, incisive, logical mind, who had read all the best books in the Mandarin colloquial. Mr. Wang was quick to see any fault in the structure of a sentence, and insistent on its being put right. He also worked most faithfully in this translation, refusing offers which came to him of a salary several times the amount he received. I think he was held, partly by Dr. Mateer’s personality, which drew him strongly, and partly by his own love for the work itself. When the chariot of fire came for Dr. Mateer, he left us, much to our regret and loss.
The work of these two men has entered largely into the present translation of the New Testament, and the influence of their work, as of Dr. Mateer’s, abides, and will continue to be felt, till the great work of rendering the Bible into a universal Mandarin is finished.
Dr. Mateer himself, in the preface to his “Mandarin Lessons,” makes acknowledgment of the valuable services rendered in the preparation of that work by Tsou Li Wen, and also by his own wife.