Mather, Moses, D.D., a Congregational minister, was born at Lyme, Connecticut, in 1719; graduated at Yale College in 1739, and soon after was licensed to preach by the New London Association. In 1742 he commenced preaching in a Congregational church in Middlesex, now Darien, Connecticut, and in 1744 was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church, and this position he held until his death in 180G. Dr. Mather Avas a fellow of Yale College from 1777 to 1790. He warmly espoused the cause of the Colonies in the Rev- olutionary War, and was twice taken by the British and Tories, carried to New York, and confined in the pro- vost prison. He published a Reply to Dr. Bellamy on the Half- luay Covenant : — Infant Bajitism Defended (1759) : — A Sermon, entitled Divine Sovereignty disjjlay- ed by Predestination (1763) ; and was the author of a posthumous work, yl Systematic Vierv of Divinity (1813, 12mo). See Sprague, A nnuls of the A mer. Pulpit, i, 425,
6. V.
Mather, Nathaniel, an English minister, a broth- er of Increase Mather, Avas born in Lancashire in 1630;
graduated at Harvard College, 1647, and spent his min- isterial life in England and Holland. He died in 1097. He published Tn-o Sennons (Oxon. 1094, 4to ; Lond. 1718, 12mo) : — A Discussion on the Laivfulness of a Pastor's Officiating in Another Church: — A Fast Ser- mon:— and Sermons preached at Pinner's Hall and Lime Street (1701). " In his public discourses there was nei- ther a lavish display nor an inelegant peniuy of orato- rical excellence, while the dignity of his subjects su- perseded the necessity of rhetorical embellishments." — • Calamy, Continuation of the Nonconforinists' Memorial ; Wilson, Dissenters; AlUboue, Diet, of B?-it. aivl Amer. Auth. s.v.
Mather, Richard, an Episcopal and later a Puritan minister, was born at Lowtown, Lancashire, Eng., in 1596 ; was converted when a young man ; spent two years at Oxford ; entered the ministry in 1618, near Liverpool, and at the end of fifteen years of devoted and successful labor was suspended for nonconformity. He then emi- grated to Massachusetts, and became pastor of a congre- gation at Dorchester. There he died, April 22, 1669. He was a sound and earnest preacher, not captivating, but solid, pious, and very useful. He was an active the- ologian, and a member of every synod in New England after his arrival. He was studious, a good scholar, and a very able and valuable man. Richard Mather assist- ed Eliot in the New England version of the Psalms, and furnished the s>niod of 1648 a model of Church Disci- pline. He published a discourse on the Church Cove- nant (1639), a treatise on Justification (1652), and an elaborate defence of the churches of New England. See Increase Mather, Life and Death of Robert Mather (1670, 4to) ; Drake, Cyclop, of A mer. Biog. s. v. ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Auth. vol. ii, s. v. ; Roger, New Eng- land Divines ; Sherman, New England Divines, p. 26.
Mather, Samuel (1), brother of Increase Mather, was born in Lancashire, England, in 1 626 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1643; was for some time assist- ant pastor to Rev. Mr. Rogers, in Rowley ; and was pas- tor of the North Church, Boston, in 1649. In 1650 he returned to England, and was appointed chaplain of Magdalen College, Oxford; preached in Scotland and Ireland; went to Dublin in 1655, and became senior fellow of Trinity CoUege, Dublin, and minister of the Church of St. Nicholas. Soon after the Restoration he was suspended on a charge of sedition, but afterwards continued to preach to a small congregation privately. He died in 1671. Mr. Mather held the first rank as a preacher. He published Sermons and Tracts: — Old Testament Types Explained and Improved (Lond. 1673, 4to) ; rewritten by CaroUne Fry, as Gospel of the Old Testament (1833, 1851): — Life of Nathaniel Mather (1689). See Drake, Diet, of A mer. Biog. s. v. ; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. vol. ii, s. v.
Mather, Samuel (2), D.D., minister of the Trin- itarian Congregational Church, son of Cotton ]\Iather, was born in Boston in 1706 ; graduated at Harvard CoUcge in 1723, having studied theology probably un- der the direction of his father; was licensed to preach, and in 1732 became colleague-pastor with the Rev. Mr. Gee, of the Second Church in IJoston, and was ordained in the same year. In 1741 a dissatisfaction arose against him in this church, partly from the charge of looseness of doctrine, and also of impropriety of conduct, and he, with the smaller part of his membership, withdrew, and established a separate Church in Hanover Street, on the corner of North Bennet. " The fact," says Bobbins, in his History of the Second Church, " that so many per- sons of good character supported Mr. INIather, affords good reason to doubt whether the charges of imjiroprie- ty were well founded." He sustained his relation as pastor of Hanover Street Church until his death in 1785. Dr. Mather published A Sermon on the Death of Cotton Mather (1728) -.—Life of Cotton Mather (1729) -.—An Es- say concerning Gratitude (1732):— I'jVa A.H. Franckii, cui adjecta est narratio rerum memorabilium in Ecclesiis
MATHESIUS
MATHILDA
Evanqdirh per Germaniam, etc. (1733) : — A n Apohgy for tin- I.ihirtks of the Churches in New England (1738) : — and IScrmoiis on various Subjects (1738, '39, '40, '51, '53, 'GO, '62, '66, and '68. Also a Poem, in five parts. The Sacred Minister, by Aiirelius Prudentius America- nns (1773) : — Answer to a Pamphlet entitled Saleation for all Men (1782). — Spraguc, A7mals Amer. Puljnt, i, 371.