Mather, Richard

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 emigrated to Massachusetts, and became pastor of a congregation 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 theologian, 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 assistd Elliot in the New England version of the Psalms, and furnished the synod of 1648 a model of Church Discipline. He published a discourse on the Church Covenant (1639), a treatise on Jusfictication (1652), and an elaborate defense of the churches of New England. See Increase Mather, Life and Death of Robert Mather (1670, 4to); Drake, Cyclop. of Amer. Biog. s.v.; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Auth. vol. 2, s.v.; Roger, New England Divines; Sherman, New England Divines, p. 26.