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

by D. W. Fisher

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.