E 
 
 HINTS OF CONTEMPORARY 
 
 LIFE IN THE WRITINGS 
 
 OF THOMAS SHEPARD 
 
 BY 
 ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS 
 
HINTS OF CONTEMPORARY 
 
 LIFE IN THE WRITINGS 
 
 OF THOMAS SHEPARD 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS 
 
 REPRINTED FROM 
 
 THE PUBLICATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 Clje Colonial ^octct^ of 2l9nssacl;tisrtts 
 Vol. XII 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON 
 
 Sanibctsitg iprcss 
 1908 
 
i- :C'y 
 
 Gift 
 Author 
 (P«r«on) 
 

 HINTS OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE IN THE 
 WRITINGS OF THOMAS SHEPARD 
 
HINTS OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE 
 IN THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS SHEPARD. 
 
 In the fall of 1634, Thomas Shepard, then a young man not quite 
 twenty-ijine years of age, set sail from the east coast of England with 
 the purpose of chancing the hazards of what would practically be a 
 winter voyage to New England. The sailing of the vessel on which he 
 embarked had been announced several weeks before this, but various 
 circumstances had detained her, and notwithstanding the fact that if 
 one should make the voyage at that time of the year the passage to 
 Boston could not be accomplished before the latter part of December, 
 still it was determined by her owners to accept for the crew and the 
 passengers the peril, the discomfort, and the suffering which would 
 necessarily attend the trip, and for their craft the hazard of a winter 
 approach to the dangerous New England coast. On the sixteenth of 
 October, therefore, the vessel was permitted to sail from Harwich, 
 having on board amongst others Thomas Shepard, his wife, and their 
 infant son. That Shepard should have been wilHng to incur the 
 exposure of such a voyage as this, is strong testimony to the peril of 
 the situation in which he was then placed in England. Driven from 
 pillar to post he had, notwithstanding his youth, become a marked 
 man, and it was not only evident that he could not pursue his profes- 
 sion in England without sacrificing the tenets to which he was especi- 
 ally attached, but it was even probable that he might be punished for 
 having disobeyed orders not to preach which had been given to him 
 personally by Archbishop Laud, when Bishop of London, several 
 years before. He had only been able of late to practise the functions 
 of his office in remote districts, and if he ventured into parts where he 
 was known he was obliged to exercise great discretion and remain in 
 partial concealment. It was under the pressure of these circumstances 
 that he sailed from Harwich, anticipating perhaps a voyage full of 
 peril, but certainly without thought that even before he should be out 
 of sight of land he would plunge into a violent storm which would 
 utterly disable the ship and compel him three days thereafter to 
 abandon her at Yarmouth. The experience of these three days was 
 full of horror, and his sermons in after years bear evidence of the im- 
 
1908] SHEPAKD'S VOTAGE to new ENGLAND 137 
 
 pression then made on him, through the frequent use of marine 
 metaphors evidently drawn in a large measure from this source. 
 
 The restraints imposed in England upon the movements of non- 
 conformists were at that time being drawn closer and closer, and it was 
 not an easy matter for Shepard to follow out his plan of emigration. 
 The exposure of his family on the unfortunate vessel in which he 
 made his first attempt had resulted shortly after his landing in the 
 death of the child which had shared their perils. This misfortune in 
 no way altered his determination to emigrate. He and his wife 
 remained, therefore, quietly under cover waiting for another opportu- 
 nity to get away. During this period of seclusion another son was 
 born to them, so that when they sailed from London in August, 1635, 
 the family was again the father, the mother, and the infant son. Their 
 voyage, although marked by much rough weather, was not unusually 
 long, and Boston, the place of their destination, was gained in October, 
 a little less than a year after their first attempt to reach it. 
 
 One of the first needs of an immigrant on landing here in those days 
 was a house. There were no places of public entertainment adequate 
 for sheltering or feeding immigrants arriving in groups, and the 
 permanent residents of Boston, even if their homes were elastic, could 
 not take in all that arrived. The settlers who landed with Shepard 
 were, therefore, in luck, in finding the question of house-hunting 
 determined for them by the migration of the Hooker colony from 
 Newtown to Hartford. Here, in Newtown, were vacant houses, so 
 situated that they were available, which the owners wished to dispose 
 of. They would at any rate serve a temporary purpose and were 
 promptly appropriated by the newly arrived party. 
 
 The fact that Shepard was a conspicuous man m England and that 
 he had been the \'ictim of persecution was undoubtedly caused by the 
 wonderful influence that he exercised as a preacher over his audiences. 
 Even the sermons preached by him as a beginner were afterwards 
 published without his pri\-ity. It is not surprising, therefore, to find 
 him at once taking high rank among the New England clerg}'men. 
 A new society, with Shepard at its head, was promptly organized in 
 Newtown to fill the vacancy occasioned by the migration of Hooker 
 and his followers, and when in 1637, in order to escape the political 
 pressure of the believers in Mrs. Hutchinson who were then in the 
 ascendant in Boston, the sessions of the General Court were trans- 
 
138 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 ferred to Newtown, it was Shepard's strong influence, according to 
 Cotton Mather, which secured the selection of that place as the site 
 of a proposed college. Already it had been voted in 1636 that there 
 should be a college and that the appropriation then nominally made 
 should become available, one half the next year when the site should 
 be selected, the other half when the building should be completed. 
 Had the site been fi.xed in 1636, Shepard's voice might not 
 have prevailed. As it was, with the Court holding its sessions in 
 his own church, surrounded by his own people, and with himself in 
 earnest in the work, he was able to accomplish his purpose. 
 
 It is obvious that there must have been some strong, moving power 
 to influence the passage of the Act of 1636 prescribing that there should 
 be a college. This Act did not in terms immediately appropriate any 
 money — it was a mere promise or agreement to do this, and probably 
 met with less opposition on that account, than if it had provided for an 
 actual appropriation of £400 payable in whole or in part at once. 
 Popular Acts which call for no immediate disbursements are at all 
 times easy of passage, as was the case with resolves that statues should 
 be erected in honor of the military heroes of the Revolution, in the 
 early days of our Congress. When it came to making these resolves ef- 
 fective, that was another matter; and so with this Act of 1636, it would 
 perhaps have died a natural death if somebody had not followed it up 
 the next year and insisted upon the determination of the site as pro- 
 vided for in the original Act. Who it was in the General Court that 
 did this we do not Imow, but what Cotton Mather says may help us to 
 determine who inspired the action. The passage in Mather's Life of 
 Shepard which justifies this statement makes the assertion that it was 
 with respect unto "the enlightening and powerful ministry of Mr. 
 Shepard, that when the foundation of a college was to be laid, Cam- 
 bridge, rather than any other place was pitched upon to be the seat of 
 that happy seminary." 
 
 It is clear that Shepard's desire to secure the planting of the College 
 in Newtown was prompted by his general interest in the cause of educa- 
 tion. He was himself an educated man, and he tells us in his Auto- 
 biography that he looked upon the College as "an opportunity of 
 doing good to many by doing good to students." It was, in part at 
 least, "at the desires of some of the students" that the Theses Sab- 
 baticse were published. It was at his instigation that the Commis- 
 
1908] SHEPARD AND JOHN HARVARD 139 
 
 sioners of the United Colonies recommended a general contribution in 
 aid of the College. He stands revealed to us, therefore, not only as one 
 having posthumous reputation, but as a person of command and 
 influence in the community where he lived, and the esteem in which 
 he was held was not only recognized by the General Court, in the 
 adoption of Newtown as the site of the College, and in his appoint- 
 ment November 20, 1637, upon a committee to " take order for a 
 Colledge at Newtowne," but found expression in the WTitings of 
 contemporary authors, especially in the prefaces with which his 
 fellow-workers introduced to readers his published sermons. It 
 might be inferred, indeed, without this testimony that one who has 
 left behind him so many published volumes of sermons and polem- 
 cal treatises upon theological subjects, many of which have passed 
 through numerous editions, must of necessity have received contem- 
 porary recognition ; must as a matter of course have commanded 
 the respect of the community in which he lived. Now, although 
 we cannot identify the person in the General Court who introduced 
 the Act of 1636 ordaining that there should be a college, we can 
 see that he whose influence secured the adoption of its site was this 
 powerful and influential preacher who has left such an extraordinary 
 record behind him, a record of homage reaching to comparatively 
 recent times, and culminating in the coupling of his name as a mark of 
 esteem and honor in the title of a religious society in Cambridge. 
 
 Thus far in treating of Shepard's position in the community and his 
 close connection with educational matters, we have dealt with accepted 
 or obvious facts. Let us now, for the moment, enter the field of per- 
 missible conjecture, in an endeavor to show a probable association of 
 his name with the bequest which has made Harvard immortal. 
 Shepard was a graduate of Emmanuel College and it is not too pre- 
 sumptuous to say that to him as a fellow-graduate, John Harvard 
 would, on arrival, have turned for counsel ; for advice ; for friendship. 
 That the relations between the two were friendly, and that Shepard on 
 his part esteemed Harvard, as we have just seen that Harvard must 
 have esteemed Shepard, is shown by the allusion to Harvard in the 
 Autobiography, at once the most touching, the most complete, and 
 the most personal of the references to Harvard to be found. "This 
 man," Shepard says, "was a scholar and pious in his life and enlarged 
 toward the Country and the good of it in life and death." WTio, more 
 
140 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 likely then than Thomas Shepard, the earnest promoter of the college 
 and the personal friend of John Harvard, to have been the man to sug- 
 gest to Harvard the method which he adopted to make his little fortune 
 useful to his country ? 
 
 Such, in brief, was the man from whose writings I have extracted for 
 the purposes of this paper, a few paragraphs ; such was his position in 
 the community; and such are the possibilities which associate his 
 name with the foundation of the great University in Cambridge. 
 
 We have quite a number of publications to which we turn for 
 information concerning the early life of our fathers. What cannot be 
 found on the pages of one writer may perhaps be discovered elsewhere 
 by the diligent student, but no matter how much we may unearth, 
 there is so much more that we should like to know that we examine 
 eagerly every new source of information which may possibly enlighten 
 us upon the every-day life of the early settlers, or which may increase 
 our knowledge concerning topics which, being common to all, and 
 being Icnown to all, were not thought worthy of record. Now, Thomas 
 Shepard preached continuously to the little congregation in Cambridge 
 nearly fourteen years, and he left behind him publications, or manu- 
 scripts which were subsequently published, numbering upwards of a 
 volume for each year of his Cambridge pulpit service. He was a learned 
 man, but was cut off from sources of literary study in Cambridge, 
 concerning which isolation he pathetically observes, "I have no books 
 about me where I am." ' His writings are. fortified with quotations 
 from the Bible and references thereto, by chapter and verse, and occa- 
 sionally, but very rarely, also with some general allusion to the -RTitings 
 of some profane author. Some of Shepard's works are in the nature 
 of doctrinal treatises, some are sermons. Of these latter, some were 
 delivered when in England, others were prepared for his Cambridge 
 congregation ; and it might be expected that somewhere in the pages 
 of these volumes would be found hints which would reveal to us what 
 we seek for in vain in the ordinary vsrritings of the day — the interior 
 life of a New England household in early times. 
 
 ' Some Select Cases Resolved (Boston, 1747), p. 44. 
 
 Again, the authors of A Defence of the Answer made unto the Nine Questions 
 (London, 1648) say: " We had neither time nor Bookes ready at hand to Consider 
 some of the quotations " ( p. 29 ). Thomas Shepard and John Allen figure as the 
 joint authors of tills voliune. Sabin treats it as identical \vith the Treatise of 
 Liturgies, which is placed among the works of Shepard. 
 
190S] CHARACTER OF SHEPARD's WRITINGS 141 
 
 He who shall undertake to glean from the writings of Thomas 
 Shepard such chance allusions as will help to reconstruct past life in 
 Massachusetts will soon realize that the author had other motives in 
 the publication of his works than to entertain his readers. This was 
 apparent even to those of his contemporaries who furnished the press 
 with his writings. William Greenhill and Samuel Mather when they 
 brought out " Subjection to Christ," while they described his preaching 
 as "close and searching," "with abundance of affection and compas- 
 sion to his hearers," and while they asserted that he affected "plainness 
 of speech" and did not "shoot his arrows (as many preachers do) 
 over the heads of his hearers," yet felt compelled to add, " It is a stum- 
 bling block to some that his sermons are somewhat strict, and (as they 
 term it) legal ; ' some souls can relish none but meal-mouth'd Preach- 
 ers, who come with soft and smooth and toothless words." If, there- 
 fore, we to-day meet with the same stumbling-block, it is a consolation 
 to know that contemporary admirers realized its existence and felt 
 compelled to allude to it in submitting one of the^e works to the public 
 for approval. It must also be stated that it will be evident to any 
 reader of these sermons that the cold words on the printed page do not 
 convey to the reader the power which made them so influential with the 
 hearers, and this fact, as well, is recognized by the author of the 
 "Address to the Christian Reader" in the same volume, presumably 
 Jonathan Mitchel, who says, "These posthumous Editions are farre 
 short of what the Author was wont to do, and of what the Sermons 
 were in preaching." "Reader," says Mitchel in the preface to the 
 Parable of the Ten Virgins, "if thou comest hither to carp and cavil, 
 or to criticise upon each circumstantial imperfection, this work is not 
 for thy turn." 
 
 It was with the expectation of finding in these sermons some refer- 
 ences to the little College in which Shepard was interested that I began 
 an examination of their pages, and when I saw that "the desires of 
 some of the students in the Colledge" had to do with "the more large 
 discussing of the controversie," I felt confident that there must be 
 allusions; inferences to be drawii from metaphors and illustrations; 
 and finally deductions to be made from what was said to the audience, 
 
 ' Legal may have a technical meaning here. Legalists are contrasted with 
 Antinomians in contemporary literature. They were those who adhered to a 
 rigorous administration of the word. 
 
142 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 that would be helpful in filling out th^ stoiy of the College and in 
 sketching a picture of early life in Cambridge. While the result of 
 this examination along these lines was a failure, the search was not 
 absolutely without result. For instance, we have in Theses Sabbatic^ 
 a minute description of what may be done with propriety on the Lord's 
 Day, together with a statement of what ought not to be done. If we 
 run through the enumeration therein of the things permitted and the 
 things forbidden, we shall find that however much backsliders may 
 have sloughed away, the legal rules for the observance of the Sabbath 
 do not differ much from those which Shepard laid down and fortified 
 with biblical references. These rules are of sufficient interest to quote 
 in full. They are extracted from the Santification of the Sabbath.* 
 After laying down certain general propositions the author goes on 
 specifically as follows: 
 
 SUNDAY LAWS. 
 
 If any work be done for any worldly gain, profit or livelihood, to 
 acquire and purchase the things of this life by, (which is the principal end 
 of week-day labour, Eph. iv. 28; 1 Thess. iv. 12,) this is a servile work, 
 all one with what the commandment calls "thy work." Hence buying, 
 selling, sowing, reaping, which are done for worldly gaine, are unlawfull 
 on this day, being therefore servile works : hence also worldly sports and 
 pastimes (which are ordained of God to whet on worldly labour, not 
 necessary every day but onely at some seasons) are therefore most proper 
 appurtenances unto dales of labour, and are therefore unlawfull upon this 
 day : holy Times are no more to be sported on then holy places ; hence also 
 on the other side, to rub the ears of Corne, to dress meat for comfortable 
 nourishment of man, because they respect not worldly gaine, are no servile 
 works nor yet unlawfull, but may be more lawfully done for the comfort of 
 man then to lead his horse to the water this day. Luke 6 : 2. & 13. 13. & 
 14. 5. hence also such works as are done onely for the preservation of the 
 Creatures, as to pull a sheepe out of a ditch, to quench a fire in a Towne, 
 to save Corne and Hay from the sudden inundation of Water, to keepe 
 Fire in the Iron Mills, to sit at Sterne and guide the ship, and a thousand 
 such like actions (being not done properly for worldly gaine) are not 
 unlawfull : God himselfe not ceasing from workes of preservation when he 
 did those of Creation : hence also such works as are not works of imme- 
 
 ' Theses Sabbaticse, or The Doctrine of the Sabbath: etc., etc. By Thomas 
 Shepard, Pastor of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New Emjland. London, 
 1649. The Sanctifieation of the Sabbath . . . The fourth Part, p. 36 et seq. 
 
1908] THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH 143 
 
 diate worship, but onely required necessarily thereto, as kiUing the 
 Sacrifices in the Temple, travelling a Sabbath dales journey to the pub- 
 liquc assemblies, being no servile workes for outward gaine, are not 
 unlawfull upon tliis day. 
 
 Hence the building of the Tabernacle (which was not so much for mans 
 profit as God's honour) because it might be done upon the six dales 
 seasonably enough hence it is prohibited upon the Sabbath day. Exod. 
 31. If a man hath Com in the field; though he may pretend that the 
 weather is uncertain, and it is ready to be brought into the Barn, yet he is 
 not to fetch it upon the Sabbath day, because there is no eminent danger 
 of spoyle the Monday after, and then he may fetch it as well as upon that 
 day : the like may be said concerning Sea mens setting sayle upon the 
 Sabbath day, though they be uncertaine of a faire gale upon the day after. 
 Yet we must trust God's providence, who almost in all such matters Jveeps 
 us at uncertainties: hence also the sweeping of the house ought not to be 
 done now, if it may as well be done the day before : So also to buy any 
 things at shops or to wash clothes ; if they may be done the week before or 
 after, they must not be done on this day : hence on the other side works of 
 necessity, which cannot be so conveniently done the day before or after, 
 are not unlawfull upon this day, as to flie in persecution, to watch the City, 
 to fight with the Enemy, Math. 24. 24. 2 Kings 1.2. Hence also works of 
 necessity not onely for preservation of life, but also for comfort and comeli- 
 nesse of life are not unlawfull : for tis a grosse mistake to thinke that works 
 onely of absolute necessity are allowed onely upon this day : for to lead an 
 Ox to water, which in the strictest times was not disallowed of, is not of 
 absolute necessity, for it may live more than a day without it ; onely its 
 necessary for the comfort of the life of the beast: how much more is 
 allowed for the comfort of the life of man ? The Disciples possibly might 
 have lived longer than the Sabbath without rubbing Corn eares, and men 
 may live on Sabbath daies generally without warm meat, yea they may 
 fast perhaps all that day ; yet it is not unlawfull to eate such meat, because 
 its necessary for the comfort of life. Hence also to put on comely gar- 
 ments, to wash hands and face, and many things as are necessary for the 
 comeliness as well as the comfort of life, are not unlawfull now : there is 
 sometimes an inevitable necessity by God's pro\'idence, and sometimes a 
 contracted necessity through want of care and foresight ; in this case the 
 work may sometime be done, provided that our neglect beforehand be 
 repented of: in a word, he that shall conscientiously endeavor that no 
 more work be done on the Sabbath than what must be done for the ends 
 mentioned, that so he may have nothing else to doe but to be with God 
 this day shall have much peace to his own conscience herein, against 
 
144 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [APEIL, 
 
 Satans clamours : hence lastly, not onely outward servile work, but servile 
 thoughts, affections, and cares, are to be cast off this day from the sight 
 of God, as others are from the eyes of men ; servile thoughts and affections 
 being as much against the fourth Commandement as unchaste and filthy 
 thoughts against the seventh. 
 
 Such were the rules laid down for the observance of the Sabbath 
 by one whose word was law with his congregation. I think we can 
 find running through them an unexpected liberality of thought. 
 That which was necessary for the preservation of life came within the 
 line of works not prohibited on the Sabbath, but so also did that which 
 was essential for the comfort of animals ; and if such consideration was 
 felt for them, how much more might be done for man ! It is not unlaw- 
 ful, he says, to eat warm meat on the Sabbath, and the inference is 
 plain that it was not unlawful for Mrs. Shepard to prepare it for the 
 table. That which was done specifically for gain was always unlawful. 
 The practical definition of works of necessity and of mercy permissible 
 on the Lord's Day does not differ much from what can be extracted 
 from our statutes and court decisions to-day. 
 
 But how about his congregation ? Did they observe the day along 
 the lines laid down by him ? Listen to what he says to them. After 
 asserting that God has set aside this day for man, he goes on as 
 follows : ^ 
 
 HOW THESE LAWS WERE BROKEN. 
 
 And is this the requitall, and all the thanks he hath for his heart-break- 
 ing love ? to turne back sweet presence and fellowship, and love of God in 
 them, to dispute away these daies with scorne and contempt, to smolce 
 them away with Prophanenesse, and madde mirth, to Dreame them away 
 with Vanity, to Drinke, to Sweare, to Ryot, to Whore, to Sport, to Play, 
 to Card, to Dice, to put on their best Apparell that they may dishonour 
 God with greater pompe and bravery, to talk of the World, to be later up 
 that day than any other day of the Weeke, when their own Irons are in the 
 fire, and yet to sleepe Sermon, or scorne the Ministry, if it comes home to 
 their Consciences ; to tell Tales, and break Jests at home, or (at best) to 
 
 ' Theses Sabbaticre, or The Doctrine of the Sabbath: etc., etc. By Thomas 
 Shepard, Pastor of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England. Lon- 
 don, 16-19. The Sanctification of the Sabbath . . . The fourth Part, p. 45. 
 
1908] RESISTANCE TO TOWN-ORDERS 145 
 
 talke of Forraigne or Domesticall newes onely to passe away the time, 
 rather than to see God in his Workes and warme their hearts thereby : to 
 thinke God hath good measure given him, if they attend on liim in the 
 Forenoone, although the Afternoone be given to the Devill, or sleepe, 
 or vanity or foolish pastimes. 
 
 Who were these renegades, these dissipated rioters and card- 
 players, who slept late Sunday mornings, and in addition took naps 
 during sermon time ; who thought their duty to the Church and their 
 obligations to the day ended with the morning service; against whom 
 Shepard was emptying his phials of wrath? Were they students? 
 Were they members of his own congregation ? Surely he had some 
 cause for thus admonishing his hearers, but let us hope that in his 
 anger his austere spirit overstated the case. At best, however, we 
 must confess that there must have been recalcitrants in Cambridge in 
 those days, that all was not harmony and peace. Over and over again 
 he warns his hearers in unconventional language against the vices to 
 which the young men of that day were exposed and from which one 
 would have inferred that they might have been exempt in a pioneer 
 rural community. "Men wonder," he says in one of his sermons, 
 "why, in this country men are more vile than ever they were-, men 
 that gave great hopes; the reason is this, they have seemed to be 
 under Christ's government, but secretly cast it off." * 
 
 In Subjection to Christ he discusses at some length town-orders and 
 deplores resistance to them. He lays down rules as to what laws are 
 binding and what are not. To appreciate the full force of this discus- 
 sion, it must be borne in mind that the government of the Colony was 
 administered during nearly all of Shepard's pastorate without any 
 code of laws. It was not until 1641 that the Body of Liberties was 
 adopted and not until 1648 that a complete code of laws was 
 secured. During this period the affairs of the Colony were carried 
 on under the Charter, with no other provision for details of administra- 
 tion than an occasional statute. Important trials were held before 
 the General Court of the Company; punishments were adjudged 
 practically at the variable discretion of individual magistrates ; mem- 
 bers of religious societies were kept under control by church discipline ; 
 and town affairs were administered by ofBcers — selectmen, we should 
 
 ' Subjection to Christ (London, 1652), p. 25. 
 10 
 
146 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 call them to-day — whose authority was derived from consent and 
 generally recognized. 
 
 RESISTANCE TO TOWN OFFICERS. 
 
 Shepard puts a question, "When is power cast off in towns?" and 
 proceeds to answer it as follows : ' " When any Town doth cast off the 
 power and rule of Townsmen ... ?" He then goes on to say : 
 
 I know sometimes men may not be so able, wise, and carry matters 
 imprudently: Town-orders may also sometimes want that weight, that 
 wisdome, those cautions, that mature consideration as is meet, as also 
 that due and prudent publication that all may know of them, with records 
 of them. But take Town-orders that be deliberately made, prudently 
 published, for the publick peace, profit, comfort of the place, to oppose 
 these, or persons that make these, with much care, fear, tendernesse; If 
 I know anything, is a sin of a crying nature, provoking God, and casting 
 off his government, I confesse, if there be not care here ; I know no way 
 of living under any government of Church or CommOn-Wealth, if the 
 publick affaires of the Town be cast off.- 
 
 Note the strength of this last sentence, and bear in mind the undevel- 
 oped state of the colonial form of government. Then think how 
 much it meant to say that whether under the government of the 
 Church or of the Commonwealth, still there must be loyal obedience 
 to those who were engaged in administering the affairs of the towns. 
 These strong expressions must have been occasioned by resistance to 
 town officers and repudiation of town-orders as he terms them, which 
 came immediately under his observation and touched him closely. 
 
 He then goes on to discuss the cjuestion of how far men's consciences 
 are bound by town-orders and human laws. In doing this he lays 
 down a definition of the source of law, which is perhaps worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 ALL LAWS FROM THE SCRIPTURE. 
 He says: 
 
 All good laws and orders inacted in any place by men, are either ex- 
 pressly mentioned in the word or are to be collected and deducted from 
 
 Subjection to Christ (London, 1652), Quest. 3, p. 120. 
 Ibid. Answ. 2, p. 122. 
 
1908] COLONIAL AFFAIRS 147 
 
 the word, as being able to give sufficient direction herein. For all the 
 authority of the highest power on earth in contriving of lawes, is in this 
 alone, viz. to make prudent collection and speciall application of the 
 general rules, recorded in Scripture, to such special and peculiar circum- 
 stances which may promote the publick weal, and good of persons, places, 
 proceedings.' 
 
 The foregoing shows Shepard's sympathy with Cotton, who was 
 then preparing his proposed Code of Laws for the establishment of a 
 Theocracy.^ We must therefore refer to his English e.xperience 
 the following exposition of a legal proposition : " Its a known thing 
 among men, that a Father may receive a gift or Legacy given to him, 
 and his heires, and he, and his heires are bound to perform the 
 conditions of the Covenant." ^ 
 
 COLONIAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 We can obtain from time to time Shepard's views as tb the condition 
 of the Colony in its relations to the outer world. Unfortunately, there 
 is nothing on the surface to aid us in determining the dates when the 
 several sermons were preached from which the extracts are procured. 
 "New Englands peace and plenty of means breeds strange security," * 
 he says in one of his publications, but farther on in the same volume we 
 find the following: "I do fear there is at this day as deep mischief 
 plotting against New England as ever the sun saw." ^ This apparent 
 contradiction may, perhaps, be explained by the supposition that the 
 strange security arose from ignorance of the plotting. In one of his 
 sermons he enlarges upon the peaceful condition of the country : 
 
 The reports of divisions in New England are fables : The churches here 
 are in peace; The Commonwealth is in peace; The Ministry in most 
 
 ' Subjection to Christ (London, 1652), p. 124. 
 
 " May 25, 1636, " M' Shepeard " was one of a committee appointed by 
 the General Court to prepare " a draught of lawes agreeable to the word of 
 God, w'^'" may be the Fundaraentalls of this comonwealth " ( Massachusetts 
 Colony Records, i. 174). March 12, 1637-38, " M' Sheopard " — one of sev- 
 eral who were described as " elders of severall churches " — was also on a commit- 
 tee appointed by the same body for a similar purpose ( ibid. i. 222 ). This 
 Shepeard or Sheopard was probably our Shepard. 
 
 ' The Church Membersliip of Christ, p. 26. 
 
 « The Parable of the Ten Virgins (London, 1660), p. lOa 
 
 = Ibid. p. 166. 
 
148 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 sweet peace; The Magistrates (I should have named first) in peace; All 
 our families in peace; We can sleep in the woods in peace, without fear of 
 the Indians, for fear is fallen upon them.' 
 
 Again in a controversial publication he describes the Colony in the 
 following words: 
 
 A Commonwealth erected in a Wildernesse, and in so few yeares 
 brought to that state, that scarce the like can be seen in any of our English 
 Colonies in the richest places of this America.^ 
 
 It would probably be a comparatively easy matter, by reviewing the 
 various episodes in the history of the Colony, to determine what caused 
 these different expressions on the part of the writer. This task, how- 
 ever, I shall not undertake in this connection. 
 
 The foregoing represent all that attracted my attention in the 
 volumes of Shepard's sermons that I have examined, in which matters 
 pertaining to the general affairs of the Colony or of the towns were 
 discussed at any length. There remain to be considered, inferences 
 as to the condition of society which may be drawn from the character 
 of the advice offered or warnings given by the preacher, deductions 
 to be drawn from metaphors or illustrations used, and occasional 
 isolated expressions of opinion which when grouped together will show 
 what the speaker thought upon some topic of interest. Among these 
 the most natural place to expect results from an examination would be 
 the metaphors or illustrations. One might almost assume that he 
 would enforce an argument now and then by drawing some illustration 
 from daily life, or by making some comparison based upon a parallel 
 in the ordinary experience of the residents of the little village in which 
 they lived. The resources of this field are greatly reduced, however, 
 by the custom which then prevailed among clergymen of reinforcing 
 every argument with some biblical text or scriptural analogy. Never- 
 theless we can find a few hints as to life drawn from these sources 
 which, whatever their value, may prove of interest. 
 
 NAUTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 I have already mentioned the fact that the impression made by his 
 nautical experiences is registered in Shepard's sermons. No other 
 
 • New England's Lamentation for Old England's Errours (1644), p. 5. 
 ' A Treatise of Liturgies ... in answer to Mr. . . . Ball, p. 8. 
 
1908] NAUTICAL METAPHORS — SLEEPING IN CHURCH 149 
 
 portion of his career furnishes so many metaphors or is so freely drawn 
 upon for illustration. The conditions of a vessel in port or at sea, 
 under calm or during storm, at anchor or breasting the waves, in 
 peril or in safety, are all made use of. The courage of the sailor and 
 his confidence under circumstances of evident danger, his prudence in 
 carefully inspecting everything about the ship before going to sea, 
 his caution in approaching the coast, indeed, nearly every conceivable 
 phase of his existence, is made use of by the preacher to enforce an 
 argument or to illustrate a proposition. It may be that if he had spent 
 the greater part of his life on the ocean and only a few weeks at Cam- 
 bridge, the peculiarities of rural life in America would have made the 
 same preponderant impression upon him, and we should have had 
 from him a record of how people lived in New England instead of such 
 copious references to the experience of sailors. It is to be noted in this 
 connection that it is the ship and the sailor which furnish these meta- 
 phors and illustrations. The mighty power of the ocean itself, its 
 monstrous waves, the cruel surf raging along the shore, have no place 
 in his vocabulary. 
 
 SLEEPING IN CHURCH. 
 
 One inference may be drawn from these sermons, namely, that 
 notwithstanding the fact that Shepard obviously relied for his effects 
 upon his personal touch with his congregation, he nevertheless was 
 compelled to take note that some of his audience took naps while he 
 was preaching. The tendency towards this act of discourtesy would 
 be affected somewhat by the length of his sermons. The solution of 
 this question may perhaps be found in a reference to those "that 
 come out of the Church when the tedious Sermon runs somewhat 
 beyond the hour." ' While this expression is capable of a broad inter- 
 pretation which would not limit "the tedious Sermon" to the length of 
 one hour, it seems to me probable that such is its natural reading. 
 
 I have already quoted the expression "and yet to sleepe Sermon" 
 which was included in a category of evil doings against which he warned 
 his hearers. In another place he refers to men who " neglect prayer and 
 sleep out sermons." " Again he says, " We have Ordinances to the full, 
 
 • The Sincere Convert (London, 1659), p. 69. 
 
 » The Parable of the Ten Virgins (London, 1660), p. 226. 
 
150 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [ApniL, 
 
 Sermons too long, and Lectures too many, and private meetings too 
 frequent." ' "Some Sermons," he says, "men can sleep them out." ^ 
 These quotations are enough to show that he was troubled by this lack 
 of attention on the part of some of his hearers. There are more phrases 
 of the same sort, but their recapitulation is not necessary. 
 
 We can gather no idea from his sermons of his own pulpit manners, 
 but when he remarks, "People are naturally moved by a thundering 
 minister," ' we may perhaps conjecture that he had some person in 
 mind whose preaching suggested this adjective ; nor does the epithet 
 convey the idea of thorough approval. 
 
 IRON MILLS. 
 
 The reference heretofore given to the fire in the iron mills, which it 
 was permissible to keep going on Sunday, brings before us the strenu- 
 ous efforts put forth by the early colonists to make something out of 
 the bog ore of New England. 
 
 HOUSEWORK. 
 
 We have seen that washing clothes was not permissible on Sunday, 
 and that sweeping ought not to be done on that day if it could be done 
 on Saturday. I have met with one other allusion of interest to the 
 house-wife, namely: "Doth he not let thee like a broom, lie behind 
 the door?" * Evidently broom closets were uncommon, and as for 
 the broom itself, we must not think of it as made of broom corn. 
 Probably it was made of birch or willow twigs. The phrase, "Here 
 are no sour herbs to make the Lamb sweet," ^ may perhaps be re- 
 garded as pertaining to the domain of the kitchen. 
 
 TABLE MANNERS. 
 
 As for hints at daily life there are few. "Its from the excellency 
 of a knife to cut well, but to cut my fingers with it when I should be 
 
 ' The Parable of the Ten Virgins (London, 1660), part ii. p. 5. 
 
 = Ibid. p. 6, 
 
 ^ Some Select Cases Resolved (Boston, 1747) , p. 49. 
 
 * The Parable, p. 103. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 106. 
 
1908] GARDENING — CHURCH DISCIPLINE 151 
 
 cutting my meat with it, ariseth not from the end of the knife, nor 
 from the intention of him who made it," ' is, however, a reference to 
 a daily peril at meal-times. It brings before us the adage, "Fingers 
 were made before forks," the application of which will show how the 
 fingers of one having no fork were in danger when he cut his meat. 
 
 COIN SCALES. 
 
 " When there is much counterfeit Gold abroad, every man will have 
 his scales, and not only look and rub, but he will weigh every piece he 
 takes." - Here we have an indication of what was essential for every 
 person who received coins in those days of degraded and short weight 
 money. The scales were a necessary part of every pecuniary trans- 
 action, even if the question of counterfeit coin did not come in. 
 
 GARDENING. 
 
 "As with Apricott trees rooted in the earth, but leaning on the wall,"^ 
 obviously refers to the method of training fruit trees on walls with 
 southern exposures which prevails to-day in England; but "A 
 Gardiner may intend to turn a Crab tree stock into an Apple-tree, his 
 Intention will not alter the Nature of it until it be actually ingraffed 
 upon " * may have been suggested by grafting accomplished in Cam- 
 bridge gardens. 
 
 CHURCH DISCIPLINE AND VISITING COMMITTEES. 
 
 "I conceive," he says, " 'tis casting off Christs power, to take away 
 any power from Magistrates to punish sins against the first Table ; of 
 which errors and heresies in Religion are part." ' This fairly ex- 
 presses his hostile and unyielding attitude towards those whom he 
 considers heretics, and yet his liberality leads him to urge his parish- 
 ioners to welcome strangers. He says: 
 
 Many complain that New England hath so little love. Non-members 
 not visited, not regarded (though many times unjustly). Oh, they thought 
 
 ' Certain Select Cases Resolved, p. 7. 
 
 = The Parable, p. 223. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 127. 
 
 ♦ The Sound Believer (Boston, 1742), p. 206. 
 
 ' Subjection to Christ, p. 116. 
 
152 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 to see so much love, and care, and pity ; but here they may live and never 
 be spoken to, never visited ! Oh, take heed of this ; Nothing beautifies a 
 Christian in the eyes of others more than much love (hypocrisie is naught :) 
 Oh excellence; visit poor families, sit one half hour and speak to dis- 
 couraged hearts. Shew kindness to strangers; Such you vi^ere; I'll 
 warrant God will bless you, this was the Glory of Christ, full of grace and 
 truth.' 
 
 The visiting committee dates back, it will be seen, to colonial times. 
 
 ARMOR. 
 
 In those days our soldiers wore armor. Shepard refers to this, 
 setting forth the reluctance of a man to expose himself without his 
 armor; "but," he adds, "when he hath his armour on of proof, and 
 such armour that he knows let him receive never so many wounds, yet 
 he shall escape with his life," ^ then he is ready to go forward. 
 
 SOLDIERS. 
 
 As for soldiers themselves, he regards the individual as unobjection- 
 able, but he says "when they are got into a knot together; now they 
 go strong against all lawes of God or man." ^ Evidently he had 
 experienced some serious difficulty with riotous soldiers, for he goes 
 on to say, with an apology for what has just been repeated : " 'Tis not 
 now an Artillery day, only I must speak a word, because it is a thing 
 of moment and matter of great conscience with me." * 
 
 INDIANS AND BEGGARS. 
 
 He evidently had not much use for the native red men and speaks 
 of them "as poor naked Indians," ^ "poor Indians, herds of beasts." " 
 As for beggars, one would not expect to find any indication of profes- 
 sional mendicancy in a pioneer community. There are nevertheless 
 references to beggars, and the following smacks of professional 
 
 ' The Parable, part ii. p. 61. 
 
 " Ibid. p. 41. 
 
 " Subjection to Christ, pp. 119-120. 
 
 • Ibid. p. 121. 
 
 = The Parable, p. S9. 
 
 * Subjection to Christ, p. 192. 
 
190S] SERVANTS IN COLONIAL DATS 153 
 
 methods : "it is with faith as with a poor woman that hath a child, and 
 hath nothing in the world to give it, she takes the child at her back and 
 goeth from door to door, and what she getteth she giveth to the child." ' 
 
 SERVANTS. 
 
 A large part of the hard work in the Colony was performed in those 
 days by indentured servants. During their term of service the position 
 of these servants was anomalous. They shared with their masters 
 the exposure incident to pioneer life under conditions of climatic 
 changes which made it inevitable that"even the best protected must 
 suffer, and in addition they were subject to the caprices of those having 
 charge of their work. The time of the servant belonged absolutely to 
 the master, and the latter had the right to compel the service of the 
 former by any means at his command. The relations between master 
 and servant were therefore suitable topics for advice from a preacher, 
 and Shepard discusses the matter on several occasions. He asserts 
 that there is much discontent ; that servants are weary of their masters 
 and masters weary of their servants ; that each complains of the other. 
 
 The Master saith the Servant is unruly, froward, surly, slothful, unfaith- 
 ful, untrusty, and must not be spoken to ; the Servant saith his Master is 
 passionate, unkinde, wants pity to his body, and sometimes strikes him 
 without cause, and much more careless of liis soul, never instructs him.^ 
 
 He says that one who has not yet been adopted by the Church is as 
 yet no son but a slave to Satan, "a servant at best, working for Wages 
 only, and fear of the Whip, who shalt not always abide in God's House 
 as Sons shall do." ^ He speaks of servants casting off their subjection 
 "to their Governour," and discusses the condition of affairs as follows : 
 
 When they are not obedient, but answer again ; if they be let alone, then 
 idle; if rebuk'd and curb'd, then stubborne and proud and worse for 
 chiding; and finde fault with their wages, and victuals and lodging; 
 weary and vex out the heart of ]\Iaster and Mistresse, and make them 
 
 ' The Saints Jewel, p. 184. This is printed in connection with The Sincere 
 Convert, •nith continuous pagination. 
 * The Parable, part ii. p. 55. 
 ^ The Sound Behever, p. 216. 
 
154 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 weary of their lives ; their God also almost sometimes ; and that by such 
 professing Religion, and all that they might be from under the yoke.' 
 
 Here we have a picture of a condition of affairs in the Colony in 
 Shepard's day which is in some respects appalling. Servants dis- 
 contented, insolent and rebellious, held to their work by fear of the 
 whip, and seeking to ameliorate their condition by hypocritical 
 pretensions of conversion. On the other hand, the masters are accused 
 of being captious, wilful, and indifferent to the welfare of the servants, 
 and the result is that masters and mistresses are weary of their lives. 
 
 SICIQJESS, REMEDIES, AND MEDICAL PRACTICE. 
 
 Of sickness we have only allusions to the capriciousness of the 
 appetite of a consumptive.^ Shepard had suffered in his family from 
 the inroads of this disease, and doubtless his comments were based 
 upon experience. Of remedies and medical practice there are but 
 few hints. Men, he intimates, will not go to drug stores or call upon 
 physicians if they have remedies at hand — or to quote his own words : 
 
 Now if a fainting man have Aqua-Vitae at his beds hciM he will not 
 knock up a Shop-Keeper for it. Men that have a Balsome of their own to 
 heal them, will not go to a Physitian.^ 
 
 In the following excerpt, not only do we have a reference to one of the 
 great remedies of the day, but a suggestion as to methods of adminis- 
 tration which seems reasonable. "As surgeons when they let a man 
 bleed, bid him look another way." * The sick-room diet and tonics are 
 set forth as follows: 
 
 Men that are sick and like to die, can eat no common wholesom meat, 
 but are now nourished by conserves, and Alchermies, and Spirits of Gold.^ 
 
 Alchemy, the predecessor of chemistry, furnishes this title for a com- 
 pounded prescription, while in the last mentioned we have the famous 
 auriim potabile. 
 
 Here also is a bit of contemporary nursing practice : 
 
 ' Subjection to Christ, p. 132. = The Parable, pp. 107, 16G. 
 ' The Sincere Convert, p. 164. 
 
 " The Saints Jewel (London, 1659), p. 197. Printed with the Sincere Convert 
 
 and ha%'ing continuous pagination. ' The Parable, p. 110. 
 
1908] THERAPEUTICS — PHYSICS 155 
 
 What is the End of the Mother in laying Wormwood and Gall upon her 
 Breast, but that the Child by tasting the Bitterness of it might be weaned 
 and have his Stomach and Will turned from it.' 
 
 The comparison of the relative merits of "dish-milk and flit-milk" 
 with "breast-milk" as food obviously belongs in the same category." 
 If he had spelled "flit" "fleet," we could easily have identiiied it with 
 skimmed milk by means of our dictionaries. 
 
 The reduction of inflammation in the case of a burn is thus ex- 
 pressed : " As 'tis in Burnings so the Fire must be first taken out before 
 there can be any healing." ^ His views as to the proper treatment of a 
 demented person bring before us with painful precision the lamentable 
 condition of these unfortunates until quite recent times, if indeed we 
 can feel positively assured that the opinion that he expresses has 
 everywhere disappeared : 
 
 Sick and weake men are to be tender'd much, but Lunatick and 
 Phanatick men are in best care; when they are fetter'd and bound. ^ 
 
 PHYSICS. 
 
 His knowledge of the laws of physics is perhaps up to the times in 
 which he lived, and his references to the subject, although rare, are 
 just enough to give an idea of what it amounted to. " It's a question," 
 he says, " whether the beams of the Sun are fire : Some demonstrate it 
 thus. Take a Glasse and gather together the beams, it burns." ^ 
 Here is his explanation of the law of gravity: 
 
 As 'tis with a stone, cast it up its against the bent of it, because the 
 nature of it is to rest in the Centre, and hence it comes down again. It is 
 not by internal bent but by external vis or force." 
 
 A few pages further on in the volume from which the last quotation 
 was extracted he reveals a theory prevalent in his day in the following 
 words : 
 
 ' The Sound Believer, p. 62. 
 
 ^ The Parable, part ii. p. 97. 
 
 ' The Sound Believer, pp. Ill, 112. 
 
 * Theses Sabbaticse, The Sanctification of the Sabbath, p. 43. 
 
 » The Parable, p. 57. 
 
 « Ibid. p. 211. 
 
156 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [ApRIL, 
 
 Some naturalists observe, that Brass would be Gold, it tends to it, had 
 it but more heat of the Sun to correct it, and to bring it to perfection.' 
 
 The following will be recognized as a description of the telescope : 
 " Optick glasses will take within them the present image of things afar 
 off." - He speaks several times of "Bristoe Stones" which resemble 
 pearls so closely that Jewellers alone can distinguish them. He refers 
 in this to Bristol Stones, which being rock crystal might perhaps be 
 mistaken for diamonds, the word pearls being used in this connection 
 in its generic sense, for valuables or jewels. He does, indeed, in one 
 place say, "There are your Bristow Stones like Diamonds." ^ 
 
 Speaking of the malleability of lead he says, ".as Austin shows by a 
 Similitude of Lead which some Artists can beat so small as to make it 
 swim," ^ and he describes sympathetic or invisible ink in the following 
 terms: "As letters writ with the juice of Oranges, cannot be read 
 until brought under the fire." ^ Referring to magnetic attraction, he 
 says : " Just as it is with the Load-stone drawing the Iron, who would 
 think that the Iron would be drawn by it ? But there is a secret 
 Vertue coming from the Stone which draws it; and so it comes and is 
 united to it." * 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Beginning of the Sabbath is devoted to a discussion of the 
 hour when the day should begin and includes, of course, the tjme when 
 it should end. By means of a geographical illustration he disposes of 
 certain theories of which he disapproves. After stating that some 
 would measure the Sabbath by the daylight, would have it from 
 the sun-rising to sun-setting, he goes on — "but if the day-light be the 
 measure of the Sabbath, those that live in some parts of Russia and 
 East-land must have once a yeere a very long Sabbath, for there are 
 some times of the yeere wherein they have day-light a moneth 
 together." ' 
 
 » The Parable, p. 227. 
 
 ' The Parable, part ii. p. 23. 
 
 ' The Sincere Convert, p. 114. 
 
 * The Sound BeHever, p. 238. 
 ' The Sincere Convert, p. 52. 
 
 • The Sound BelieverjD. 142. 
 
 ' Theses Sabbaticae, Tlie Beginning of the Sabbath, p. 3. 
 
1908] BOTANISTS — IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT 157 
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 References to English history are rare in Shepard's pages, but one, 
 at least, is worth noting. "Remember," he says, "that the Discovery 
 of Faux in the Vault, was the Preservation of England." ' The cele- 
 bration of Guy Fawkes's day was likely to impress this event upon 
 his memory in a special manner since he was born upon the 5th 
 of November, 1605. 
 
 HERBALISTS. 
 
 NaturaUsts were not so closely subdivided in those days as they are 
 to-day. Moreover, not much attention was then paid to the study of 
 the various branches of natural science. It is not strange, therefore, to 
 find none of them mentioned, unless under herbalists he meant botan- 
 ists. He speaks of the herbalist who finds out about plants from books, 
 but perhaps treads under foot the very plants that he is after, without 
 knowing them.^ This might pass for the description of an incompetent 
 botanist, but when he speaks of " Herbalists, that treat of the Sovereign 
 excellencies of several herbs," he evidently refers to an herb doctor, 
 and when he adds, "but when they come to gather them in the garden, 
 they take their counterfeits in the room of them," ^ he shows his con- 
 tempt for them. The similarity of the ending of each reference makes 
 it probable that he only had in mind herbalists who made use of herbs 
 in their therapeutics. 
 
 CHILDREN'S MANNERS. 
 
 The ladies of his congregation must at times have shrunk under his 
 castigating criticisms. Here, for instance, is one that may have pene- 
 trated many a household: "^Vhat little hope of a happy generation 
 after us, when many among us scarce know how to teach their children 
 manners?"* 
 
 BANIOIUPTCY AND IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. 
 
 Bankruptcy and imprisonment for debt furnish illustrations drawn 
 from the conditions of colonial trade. It is evident that somewhere, 
 
 ' The Sound Believer, p. 33. ' Ibid. p. 215. 
 
 ° The Parable, p. 41. * The Parable, part ii. p. 7. 
 
158 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 perhaps in England, he had seen some respectable merchant who had 
 failed in business reduced to the necessity of peddling the wares that 
 he formerly sold over the counter.' The fact that such an one has no 
 other resource than to begin life again on the same lines in a smaller 
 way impressed him, and he alludes to it more than once. He refers 
 to one "in chains for debt," " without expression of sympathy, simply 
 saying that if the debtor gets out without satisfying the debt he will be 
 taken again ; if, however, the debt is satisfied, he will be set free. 
 
 ACTORS AND LOVERS. 
 
 During Shepard's collegiate career he tasted some of those experi- 
 ences in life which were frowned upon by the nonconformist preachers 
 of his day, and it is perhaps to that period of wider experience that we 
 owe references to actors who act the part of kings but "look upon them 
 in their tyring rooms they are but base varlets." ^ Perhaps also it is to 
 this interval of gayer life that we owe " the foolish lover," who when he 
 goes to woo a lady falls "in love with lier hand-maid that is only to 
 lead him to her." ^ It would seem to be quite sure that this could not 
 be founded on an experience in rural New England. 
 
 FOOTBALL. 
 
 Shepard knew nothing of the Rugby game of football. The old- 
 fashioned game was to be won by superiority of kicking. The follow- 
 ing reference seems to bring Satan before us as an expert in the kicking 
 game: "Satan now appears with the ball at his foot, and seems to 
 threaten in time to carry all before him, and to kick and carry God's 
 precious Sabbaths out of the world with him." ^ 
 
 HUMOR. 
 
 Humor is, perhaps, the last thing we should look for in these 
 sermons. Yet there are indications that Shepard could appreciate 
 humorous satire. "Wrastling with his shadow," ° and "can see no 
 
 ' The Parable, part i. p. 80; The Sincere Convert, p. 163. 
 
 ' The Parable, part i. p. 191. 
 
 ^ Theses Sabbatica;, The Sanctification of the Sabbath, p. 88. 
 
 • Ibid. p. 175. 
 
 "■ Ibid. p. 49. 
 
 " Theses Sabbaticce, The Morality of the Sabbath, p. 28. 
 
1908] HTJMOR — COLONIAL POLITIC^ 159 
 
 further than his own buttons," ' are both of them pointed, vigorous, 
 and humorous expressions, which need no glossary. " Aliquando 
 bonus dormitat Honierus," '' he says when he trips up an opponent in 
 a polemical discussion. " He who keeps not his shop, his shop will not 
 keep him," ^ is a saying of profound truth but decidedly humorous. 
 "The Elder's foot is now too big for his shoe " * must have tickled his 
 congregation, especially if they could make a personal application of 
 the saying. "And not set the whole house on fire to roast their own 
 Egs " ^ squarely anticipates Charles Lamb's method of roasting a pig. 
 
 ENGLISH FLOUR. 
 
 . In a category of evils, such as : " the Family is sick ; the Cattle die ; 
 Servants are unfaithful;" he puts on even terms with the foregoing, 
 "the Enghsh flower is gone."" The colonists in early times were 
 frequently dependent upon Indian meal, but this gives a hint of their 
 real liking for wheaten flour. 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 In 1638 Shepard preached the Election Sermon. An abstract of 
 what was then said has fortunately been preserved. The Sermon 
 was inspired by the exciting political events of that year. Vane's 
 indiscreet manifestation of his interest and faith in Mrs. Hutchinson 
 permitted Winthrop easily to undermine his power outside of Boston. 
 The Court of Election was, through Winthrop's adroitness, held at 
 Cambridge. The day was full of excitement and of personal conflict, 
 and the result was the overthrow of Vane. The Sermon is full of veiled 
 personal allusions, from which I select one which undoubtedly refers 
 to Vane's following and at the same time expresses a view as to the 
 political opinions of the people which would pass current to-day. 
 
 ■ Theses Sabbaticae, The Morality of the Sabbath, p. 88. 
 ' A Treatise of Liturgies, p. 42. 
 ' Subjection to Christ, p. 92. 
 
 • Ibid. p. 106. 
 
 * Preface by Thomas Shepard — without pagination — to A Reply to a 
 Confutation of some Grounds for Infants Baptisme, by George Philips (London, 
 1645). See sixth page. 
 
 » The Parable, part ii. p. 103. 
 
160 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [ApRIL, 
 
 "The multitude," says Shepard, "are exceeding apt to be led by 
 colours, like birds by glasses and larks by lures." ' 
 
 SEPARATISTS. 
 
 The phrase " Anabaptists, Familists and rigid Separatists, and who 
 have privily crept into New-England churches," ' is very striking. 
 The classification of the rigid Separatists with obnoxious people like 
 Familists and Anabaptists betrays an unlooked for clinging to the 
 Anglican Church on the part of a people who had abandoned all 
 outward signs of adhesion to that Church, and of a pastor who looked 
 upon it as sinful that he took out a licence in London to preach. This 
 phrase is introduced in a discussion of church government. Men who 
 will not acknowledge the authority of the church rules arrogate to 
 themselves the entire authority of the church, "not only," he says, 
 "single members or Officers, but Pastor, and Teacher and Elder and 
 all." ^ Such men are especially to be found among Anabaptists, etc. 
 
 Dunster, the President of the College, was an Antipoedobaptist, and 
 his outspoken views on this subject ultimately led to the termination of 
 his collegiate service. Shepard on his part very likely had Dunster in 
 view in some of his hits at Anabaptists. His allusions to the doctrine 
 which Dunster held in such esteem are at all times contemptuous. 
 For instance, speaking of Anabaptists, he says : 
 
 They would not have any Children to be Baptized : and so they make 
 the condition of the Children of the Saints of God (dear to God), in as 
 miserable an estate as the Children of any Turk or Pagan and but as 
 lawful to Baptize them, as a Cat or a Dog. * 
 
 Again, in a preface to a publication by a friend, he says : 
 
 It is much to be feared, that the doctrine of Anabaptisme, especially in 
 this eontroversie concerning Infants, will gangrene farre, and leaven 
 much; ....'• 
 
 ' New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxiv. 363. 
 
 " Subjection to Clirist, p. 100. ' Ibid. p. 100. 
 
 ' Wine for Gospel Wantons : or Cautions against Spiritual Drunkenness (Cam- 
 bridge, 166S), p. 9. 
 
 ^ Tills is to be found on the third page of a preface by Shepard, which has no 
 pagination, to A Reply to a Confutation of Some Grounds for Infant Baptisms, 
 by George Philips (London, 1645). 
 
1908] ARCHAIC EXPRESSIONS 161 
 
 Such language as this concerning a doctrine which Dunster held so 
 dear indicates that there must have been friction between these two 
 men, holding the most important positions in the little village in which 
 they both lived. This might perhaps have been inferred from 
 Shepard's The Church Membership of Children, which warmly 
 advocates his ideas upon this subject. 
 
 ARCHAIC EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 WTien we meet archaic expressions or run across unusual customs, 
 we cannot feel sure that an explanation of these is to be sought in New 
 England manners and customs. Shepard brought over with him 
 memories of Old England, and his rules of life are deduced from the 
 Scriptures. The New Testament, for instance, furnishes authority 
 for the propriety of rubbing ears of corn on the Sabbath,' while it is the 
 Mosaic Law which prohibits work on the Tabernacle on that day.^ 
 "Kitchen physick," ^ an expression used more than once, probably 
 came from over the water, but it doubtless referred to food as the best 
 cure for the disease of hunger. "Fired him out," * which occurs in the 
 Autobiography as well as in a sermon, sounds like slang, but it has 
 Shakespeare behind it, and when he wrote " the Bishop fired me out," 
 he evidently meant to put the transaction in vivid form. A reference to 
 "Bonners Cole-house" ^ coupled with Newgate as a place where those 
 were confined who would not "subscribe" — an allusion presumably 
 to persecutions for heresy — brings before us Bishop Bonner and the 
 Windsor Coal-house, a reference familiar probably to his hearers, but 
 obscure to most of us to-day. "Kiss the clinke" " is another quaint 
 expression that is met with, the reference being plainly to the prison 
 called the Clink. "Walke thus with thy bootes Frenche like"' 
 apparently from the context means to walk pompously, to strut, while 
 on the other hand there is an idea of depression in the description of 
 one whose heart sinks when sin and weakness, death and condem- 
 
 ' Luke, vi. 2. 
 ^ Exodus, xx-xi. 15. 
 ' The Parable, p. 18. 
 * Autobiography, p. 34. 
 
 ' Subjection to Christ, p. 97. For the explanation of this I am indebted to 
 Professor Roger B. Merriman. 
 " Subjection to Christ, p. 11 
 ' Ibid. p. 27. 
 
 U 
 
162 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 
 
 nation wrap him about like "Jonah's Weeds."' The expression 
 " John's candle flies " may perhaps be based upon some of the illumi- 
 nations on the eve of St. John's Day.^ 
 
 The foregoing extracts have been obtained from eleven different 
 volumes,' printed under the titles given heretofore in the notes, and 
 containing in some instances subdivisions with separate titles, or 
 perhaps two or more sermons, each with its own sub-title. Besides 
 these I have examined three other publications which yielded nothing 
 serviceable for my purposes.* The various editions of Shepard's works 
 which have appeared from 1641 down to the present time, in one 
 form or another, the authorship of which cannot be questioned, 
 number sixty-eight. Besides these Allibone gives three other titles, all 
 of which are questionable, one being — I am quite sure — a pamphlet 
 by Giles Firmin.^ Sabin gives the titles of twenty-one editions of 
 The Sincere Convert, and fourteen of The Sound Believer. 
 Fortunately for the person who cares to examine Shepard's writings, 
 these are all reprints, so that the examination of one will do for all 
 bearing the same title. While these extracts from Shepard's sermons 
 throw .some light upon colonial life, they are perhaps of more interest 
 to the topical student than to the general reader. At all events, they 
 reveal to us that our ancestors were human. 
 
 ' The Sound Believer, p. 101. For the meaning of this, Professor Kittredge, 
 who has helped me in solving some of these questions, says : See Jonah, ii. 5. 
 
 ^ Certain Select Cases Resolved, p. 49. 
 
 ' (1) Autobiography. (2) The Church Membership of Children. (3) New 
 England's Lamentation for Old England's Errours. (4) The Parable of the Ten 
 Virgins. (5) The Saints Jewel, with The Sincere Convert. (6) The Sincere Con- 
 vert. (7) Some [or Certain in some editions] Select Cases Resolved. (8) The 
 Sound Believer. (9) Subjection to Christ. (10) Theses Sabbaticre. (11) Trea- 
 tise of Liturgies. (12) Wine for Wanton Gospellers. The Saints Jewel, which is 
 separately cited, is only to be found in connection with The Sincere Convert. The 
 Day-breaking if not the Sun-rising, etc., is the title of another pamphlet included 
 by Sabin among Shepard's works, but not considered by me as entitled to this 
 attribution. 
 
 ' The Clear Sun Shine of the Gospel breaking forth upon the Indians, etc., 
 separately published; First principles of the Oracles of God, to be found in 
 Three Valuable Pieces ; and Meditation and Spiritual Experiences, also to be 
 found in Three Valuable Pieces, but which was subsequently published by itself. 
 The Sincere Convert in the form of a translation into the Indian tongue is also 
 to be seen in some of our libraries. 
 
 ' The Liturgical Considerator Considered in Reply to Dr. Gaudon, London, 
 1661. 
 
OCT 8 I90t 
 
LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 272 131 9 ♦