RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Materialism Mather
MATERNUS, ma-ter'nus, JULIUS FIRMICUS: Latin apologist of the fourth century. To him is ascribed the authorship of the De errore profanarum religionum, a work written between 343 and 348, possibly in 346. Nothing is known concerning Maternus, but in the fourth century a pagan astrological work entitled Libri octo matheseos was composed by a certain Julius Firmicus Maternus Junior Siculus, and the identity of name and time, a similarity of style, the Sicilian home of the pagan author and the familiarity with Sicily evinced by the Christian writer give foundation to the supposition that the two are the same. On the other hand, the pagan Maternus is a cosmopolitan and moralistic neo-Platonist, while the Christian author is a fanatic. But since the Libri matheseos was composed between Dec. 30, 335, and May 22, 337, it becomes probable that the two books were by the same author and that the neo-Platonist became a Christian.
As the descendant of a senatorial family, Maternus received the customary training in literature and philosophy, while as a Christian he studied the works of Christian authors. Although he cites only Homer and Porphyry, he shows an acquaintance with Plutarch, Cicero, Athenagoras, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and the writings of Cyprian. The De errore profanarum religionum, of which only a single manuscript, that in the Vatican, is known, is incomplete, four folios of the codex being lost. The general plan of the work, however, is clear. It falls into two parts. The first part (chaps, i.-xvii.) treats of the false objects of religious worship, and contains a polemic against the deities of the Greco-Roman state religion and against Oriental cults. The second part (chaps, xviii.-xxix.) seeks to show that the pagan mysteries were a caricature of the words of the Bible and the mystery of salvation. The work closes with an urgent appeal to the emperors to destroy all idols and temples. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: The latest ed. of the De errore is by C. Halm, in CSEL, vol. ii., 1867. It was previously edited by Munter at Copenhagen, 1826, with commentary, reproduced ia MPL, xii. Consult: Moore, Julius Firmicus Maternus, der Heide und der Christ, Munich, 1897; W. S. Teuffel, Geschichte der romischen Litteratur, ed. L. Sohwabe, ii. 1028 sqq., Leipsic, 1886; A. Ebert, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Litteratur, pp. 129 sqq., ib. 1889; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, p. 854, Freiburg, 1901; DCB, iii. 862-863.
MATHA, JEAN DE. See Trinitarians.
MATHER: The name of a family of much prominence in the early history of New England.
1. Richard Mather, the ancestor of the family in America, was born at Lowton (14 m. w. of Manchester), parish of Winwick, Lancashire, 1596; d. at Dorchester, Mass., Apr. 22, 1669. He was sent to the Winwick grammar-school, and at fifteen was chosen teacher of a school at Toxteth Park. Here he became acquainted with a branch of the Aspinwall family, by whom he was led to devote himself to the ministry, and went to Brasenose, Oxford, to prepare for the same. But the people at Toxteth were so unwilling to wait for him, that he left the university before taking his degrees, and late in 1618,
when only twenty-two, preached his first sermon at Toxteth Park. The Bishop of Chester ordained him; and in Sept., 1624, he married Katherine, daughter of Edmond Holt of Bury. Becoming an earnest Puritan and being for a time suspended, he left — traveling in disguise to Bristol — for New England, May 23, 1635, landing at Boston, after being very nearly shipwrecked, Aug. 17 following. The First Church at Dorchester having emigrated with its pastor, Warham, to Connecticut, Mr. Mather gathered a new (the present First) church there Aug. 23, 1636; he was chosen its teacher and so remained until his death. For his second wife he married the widow of John Cotton (q.v.). By his first wife he left six sons, of whom four — Samuel, Nathaniel, Eleazer, and Increase — followed their father's profession.
Richard Mather was one of the ablest and most influential among the early ministers of New England, a powerful preacher, and a specially wise counselor; he was seized with his mortal illness while moderating that ecclesiastical council in Boston out of whose deliberations the Old South Church was born. He was skilled in the New England plan of church government, wrote three or four of the best early tracts in its exposition and defense, and was the chief composer of the "Cambridge Platform."
2. Samuel Mather, eldest son of Richard Mather, was born at Much Woolton (4 m. s.e. of Liverpool), Lancashire, May 13, 1626; d. in Dublin Oct. 29, 1671. He came to New England with his father in 1635, was graduated at Harvard in 1643, and became fellow; he is said to have been the first fellow who was a Harvard graduate. He returned to England in 1650 and was made a chaplain of Magdalen College, Oxford. He resigned in 1653 to attend the parliamentary commissioners to Scotland. He became an M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1654, and was one of its senior fellows. He was ordained at Dublin Dec. 5, 1656. At the Restoration he was suspended (Oct., 1660) and then became perpetual curate of Burtonwood, Warrington, Lancashire, whence he was ejected by the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Returning to Dublin he preached there for several years, at first in his own house. He was imprisoned Sept. 20, 1664, for preaching at a private conventicle but was soon released. He declined a call to return to Boston, U. S. A.
3. Nathaniel Mather, third son of Richard Mather, was born at Much Woolton, Lancashire, Mar. 20, 1630; d. in London July 26, 1697. He came to New England with his father in 1635 and was graduated M.A. at Harvard in 1647 He then returned to England and preached at Harberton and at Barnstaple, Devonshire, until ejected by the Act of 1662, when he went to Rotterdam. Here he remained as minister of the English Church until the death of his brother Samuel, when he succeeded him in Dublin. In 1688 he took charge of the Lime Street Church, London, and in 1694 became one of the Merchants' Lecturers at Pinner's Hall. He is interred in Bunhill Fields, London.
4. Eleazer Mather, fifth son of Richard Mather, was born at Dorchester, Mass., May 13, 1637; d. at Northampton, Mass., July 24, 1669. He was graduated at Harvard in 1656. In 1658 he went to
Mather Matheson