1639 RICHARD MATHER. 225 Word Unpublished Excised MSs by Father of American Puritan Theology.

An important and nearly unobtainable excised manuscript portion by one of the theological founders of America, Richard Mather. We trace nothing even remotely similar having been offered publicly in many decades. It would be lovely framed with an original reproduction of John Foster's woodcut of Richard Mather, often thought to be the first woodcut ever produced in America.  The excised fragment measures 1 - 1.25 x 4.5 inches, is stained for one inch rendering the ink very faint, and appears to have 1-2 lines of text obscured by a previous mount. Likely recoverable by a conservator.  The text, being in a minute hand, is difficult to read, but phrases of note are evident and the entire content could likely be deciphered with time. Phrases include: "to pull down the proud flesh to stop their mouths" . . . "the promise of it being wrought & set up." And the content seems to deal with the challenge of false profession, or hypocrisy, mentioning religion that "outwardly be expressed" but