Shall his biographer add his own estimate of the work and character of Dr. Mateer? If the writing of this book has been at all what it ought to be, this cannot be still needed; for, if he has revealed the inner and the outer life of this great Christian missionary as it deserves, and as he has aimed to do, then to turn back now and rehearse his characteristics would be a superfluity. Besides, if I begin, where shall I end? I must tell of his personality; his individuality; of his physique and of his psychical nature; of his peculiarities of intellect,—its vigor, versatility and vision; of his great heart, and the tenderness of it that was not always externally manifest enough to command recognition; of his will that yielded never to numbers or force, but only to truth and duty; of a conscience whose voice would have made him defy anything that man could do to him; of a piety that rooted itself in the sovereignty and in the grace of Almighty God, and in the redemption which Christ finished on the cross; of a consecration that laid himself and all that he could bring upon the altar of divine service; of the preacher, the teacher, the scholar, the man of science, the man of business, and of the son, the husband, the brother, the fellow-disciple and associate in Christian service; of his economy of time and of money, and of his generosity; of his conservatism and his progressiveness; of his singleness of purpose, his courage, his persistence, his efficiency; of his weaknesses as well as of his strength; of his many successes and his few failures; and of how much more I cannot enumerate. I would be justified in comparing him with the very foremost of the servants of Christ, living or dead, who during the past century have consecrated their lives to the evangelization of China; or with Verbeck of Japan, or Duff of India. However, I will here venture further, only to invite as many as may to look well into the story of his life; and I am confident that they will join with me in saying: “This was a Christian; this was as distinctively a missionary, and as efficient as anyone of our age; and at the same time this was as manly a man as our generation has seen.”