Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/214

* MATHEB. 186 MATHEW. York. lltOl). For a list of his voluminous writ- ings, consult .Sibley, Harvurd (Inidiiiilcs, vol. i. (Cambridge, l«7.i)". MATHER, KiciiARD ( l.iOO-lGG!)). A colonial Uivine and I'oiinder of the famous Jlather family in New England. Ue was born in Lowton, Lan- cashire, of a family of Puritan yeomen. He began giving religious teaehing when a mere boy, then passed through Brasenose College, Ox- ford, and about Ifilil was ordained and put in i'liarge of the church at Toxteth. near I..iver- pool. In Ui;J5 ho emigrated to Jlassachusetts. As he was noted for his learning and his power- ful preaching, there was rivalry among the New Englanil churches to secure liim. He finally settled at Dorchester in lG3(i, and remained there as pastor until his death. April 22, 1GC9. He ■wrote public letters on matters of Church gov- ernment, helped to compile the JSai/ I'sntin Book (q.v. ). and had a leading share in framing the Cambridge Platform (1G48). (See ( 'o.NGiiECA- TIOXALISM.) Ue transmitted his ])0wers. espe- cially his love of reading and writing books, to liis six sons by his first wife, Katharine Holt: his second marriage with the widow of the fa- mous John Cotton (q.v.) proved childless. Four of these sons became somewhat famous as preach- ers and authors. Of these the best known is the youngest. Increase ^Mather (q.v.). — The eldest. Samiei. (1G2G-71). began ))reaching in Boston, soon removed to England, where he was very popular, and, after the ejection of the Non- conformists in 1GG2, became a leading clergjnian of Dublin. — The third son. Nathaniel ( lG;il-!t7), also attained reputation in England as a preach- er and religions writer, and succeeded his brother .Samuel in Dublin. — The fifth son. Ei.eazer (1G37-G9), was the first minister at Northamp- ton. Mass. For sketches of Ricliard Mather, eon- suit: Increase Mather. Jjifc and Dcnili of Rich- ard Miiliur (Cambridge. Mass.. 1G70) : Cotton Mather. I'nrrntntor (Boston. 1724); Wendell, Cotton Mather (New York, 1891): and Tyler, Ilisloni of American Literature, vol. ii. (New York. ISSI). MATHER, William Williams (1804,59). All Aincrir:in geologist, born at Brooklyn. Conn. He graduated in 1828 at West Point, where he ■was assistant professor of chemistry from 1829 to 18,3.5. He resigned from the army in 1836 and Ix'canic professor of chemistry at the Univer- sity of Louisiana, from which posili(m he re- tired in a few months to superinten<l the geologi- cal survey of the first district of New York State, including the counties bordering upon the Hudson Biver. While engaged in these re- searches (183G-44) he was State geologist for Ohio (1837-40) and Kentucky (1838-39). and professor of natural science, vice-president and acting jiresident at the Ohio I'niversity at Athens (1842-50). By cxiicriments made at Athens (184;")). he discovered that bromine, which at that time was selling at $1 an ounce, could be obtained at a comparatively small price from the bitter waters of the salt works near that place. Mather edited the Wr.ilcrn Ariririil- lurnlixl, and was the author of the "Oeolog>' of the First Geological District." in Xatiiral /7is- /'.,■// of Xrir Yorl: (1843). MATHERS, ni.'iTiiV-rs, Helen Buckinoiia-M. See Reeves, Mrs. Henry. MATHESON, mi'itliV-son. George (1842—). A Scotch minister and author, born in Glasgow. He lost his eyesight in his youth, but entered the I'niversity of Edinburgh and graduated with honors. His first charge was at Innellan. Argyl- shire (18GS-8G) ; afterwards he became minister at Saint Bernard's. Edinl)urgli (188G-99). He was author of the hymn "O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go." His ]iublieations include: Aids to the Htudy of German Theology (1874) ; Natural Elements of Revealed Theology (1881); Confu- cianism and My Aspirations (1882): Can the ' Old Faith Lire with the Seie? (1885): Distinc- tive Messages of the Old Religion (1893); and Bihlc nrfniilion of Religion (1898). MATHEW, in:'ilh'fi. Tiieobalo. commonly known as Father JIatiiew (1790-1850). A total abstinence orator. He was born at Thomas- town, a few miles east of Tipperary Castle, in Ireland, October 10. 1790. On the death of his father, while ilathew was still very young, the kindness of the Llandaft' family enableil the boy to enter the Roman Catholic College of Kilkenny, whence he was transferred, as a candidate for the Roman Catholic priesthood, to the College of ^ Maynooth in 1807. He left that college, however, in the next year. He relinquished the secular ' priesthood for that of the religious Order of the i Capuchins, in which he took priest's orders in 1814. and was sent to the church of his Order in the city of Cork. His singularly eharilaldc and benevolent disposition won for him the universal love and respect alike of rich and poor. He established a religious brotherhood similar to that of Saint Yineent de Paul, and he founded schools for children of both sexes. But the great work of Father Mathew's life is the marvelous reformation which he effected in the habits of his fellow-countrymen, and which has won for him the title of 'Apostle of Temperance.' In 1838 he established an as.soeiation on the principle of total abstinence, at first confined to the city of Cork, but afterwards extemling to the county and ad- jacent districts of Limerick and Kerry. The success which attended this first local eli'ort led to the suggestion that Father ^fathew himself should ie|)air to the several great centres of population, especially in the south. Thence he gradually extended the tield of his labors to Dublin, to the north, and even to Liverpool. ^Manchester, London. Glasgow, and the other chief seats of the Irish po|uilation. even in the New World. His association included a large proportion of the adult population of Ireland, without distinction of rank, creed, or sex; ;inil so complete was the revolution in the habits of the Irish jieoplc that very many distilleries and breweries I'cased from working. Mathew's iiuiiii- ficent charities, the expenses connected with his total-abstinence association, and perhajis his own improvident and unworldly habits, iiividved him in pecuniary ombarra-isments and embillercd his last years. A pension of £300. granted by (he Crown, was supplemented by |)rivate subsi'rip- tion. and rclieveil him of his liabilities. In 1848 he had an attack of paralysis from which he never fully recovered. From 1849 to 1851 he was in America and founded numerous total absti- nence societies. He died at Queenstown. Trelandi December 8. 185fi. Consult his Life, by F. 1. Mathcw (London, 1890).