USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Lectures on the history of the First Church in Cambridge > Part 6
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The New England Pilgrims and Puritans sought to establish upon these open shores a kingdom within the kingdom of God, and subject unto it. Their attempt won a small place in the annals of their own and later times. Few in number, persecuted and contemned, engaged in an undertaking resembling others which had failed, the world, so far as it cared anything for them, had slight expectation of their success. They were as a handful of corn ; a handful in the earth upon the top of the mountains, a place so rocky and bleak that there was little prospect of a generous harvest. Yet it was more than a handful. Those men and women, with the spirit which had brought them across the seas, with a purpose as noble as could be cherished, with a courage and persistency which no storm of elements or enemies could break, with learning and virtue and piety, with God's Word in their hands and in their hearts, and God himself within and on every side of them, they were an abundance, the plentiful seed of a great harvest, a harvest which began at once in the liberty and purity and usefulness which made the wil- derness to smile. Call it a handful, call it an abun- dance, - either will be true, - to-day the green and golden stalks shake like the trees upon Mount Lebanon, and the world hears the rustling, and men out of all lands are glad to sit in the pleasant shade and feed upon the exuberant fruitage.
Of this plentiful handful a goodly portion was here
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where we are dwelling. They of this city are now flourishing like grass of the earth, while they are widely scattered who have been raised up and nourished here for high service and grand accomplishment.
We are to look more carefully at the beginning of these large things. Once again we are with that little company gathered about Thomas Shepard, receiving form and impulse from his hands. What was there in him, in his ministry, productive of abiding results ? The personal history of the man we have already examined. We come now to his work. He was a preacher. His influence was largely through his preaching. Of the doctrines which he held, and of his manner of presenting them, we are able to judge intelligently from his printed works and from the testimony of men of his own time. What did the first minister of the First Church in Cam- bridge preach to our predecessors ? There is still to be seen a Bible, containing the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New in Greek, and having at the bottom of the title-page this inscription : "Thomas Shepard. TOUTOLS "ale. Immanuel." That book holds the truth which he taught. Its teachings he received for himself and carefully inculcated. Whatever of good he wrought out was accomplished by one resting upon the Divine Word. He was a faithful student, and brought to his study of the truth a deep knowledge of himself, a wide experience of others, and the varied helps which a uni- versity training affords. The scheme of doctrine which he learned from the Holy Scriptures is easily discovered in his writings. He framed a system for himself, which was published under the title of "The Sum of Chris- tian Religion, in way of Question and Answer." It is a catechism, and could be studied now with profit. The
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beginning gives the key-note of his whole system of theology : " What is the best and last end of man ? To live to God." An answer which seems better than the corresponding one in the Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, which adds our own enjoyment of God to the glory which it is our chief end to pay to him. As we advance from this beginning, we find these teachings : God is a spirit living of himself, infinite and eternal, understanding at once all truth, and purely willing all good. There is one God, yet he has three subsistencies or persons, who are " coequal, coeternal, subsisting in, not separating from each other, and therefore delighting in each other, glorifying each other." God has his de- cree, that is, " his eternal and determinate purpose, con- cerning the effecting of all things by his mighty power, according to his counsel." Man was made by him, in his image, and was placed in the garden of Eden to live unto God. He apostatized, or fell, by eating of the for- bidden fruit; and because " we were in him as the mem- bers in the head, as children in his loins, as debtors in their surety, as branches in their roots," in his falling we all fell, by the imputation of his sin, as, if he had stood, we all had stood, by the imputation of his righteousness. There are two kinds of sin : original sin, which is " the contrariety of the whole nature of man to the law of God "; and actual sin, which is " the continual jarring of the actions of man from the law of God, by reason of original sin." The recovery of man is his return " to the favor of God, merely out of favor and the exceeding riches of his free grace." The Redeemer is Jesus Christ, God and man, who by his perfect obedience, and his death in bitter sufferings, both of body and soul, hath paid the price which justice demands, and delivered man
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out of captivity to sin, Satan, and death. Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, whence he will return to judgment, " to the confusion of all them that would not have him rule over them, and to the unspeakable good of his people." The Holy Spirit applies this redemption to men, cutting off the soul from the old Adam and ingrafting it into the second Adam, Christ Jesus. He produces contrition and hu- miliation in the soul, so that the whole soul hears the call of Christ and the offer of his rich grace, and " comes out of itself unto Christ, for Christ, by virtue of the irresistible power of the Spirit in the call : and this is faith. ... . The soul possessed with Christ, and right unto him, hath by the same Spirit fruition of him, and all his benefits "; hath justification, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification, glorification. The law still remains as a rule of life, but while the eternal curse of God falls upon the unregenerate for their disobedience, God does not withdraw his loving-kindness from the regenerate, but accepts their imperfect obedience when they observe the will of Christ by confessing and lamenting their sin, by desiring mercy in the blood of Christ and more of his spirit, by returning to him the praise of the least ability to do his will. The church is " the number of God's elect. .... None are to be members of the church but such as are members of Christ by faith." The members are bound to cleave to Christ by faith, and to one another also by brotherly love. By uniting with a particular church the believer receives special benefits and prom- ises. The ceremonial observances are the two sacra- ments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
I have taken these statements from the Catechism, nearly in the words of the author. These doctrines are
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more clearly unfolded in his larger treatises, and to those I must refer any one who wishes to know more fully what Shepard taught. His views of sin were deep and painful. His consciousness of sin tormented him. He was ready to refer his own troubles, and the sorrows of those connected with him, to his wickedness. He has left a record of certain " Meditations and Spiritual Ex- periences," concerning which David Brainerd says in the Preface, that whoever reads attentively " must own that he finds a greater appearance of true humility, self- emptiness, self-loathing, sense of great unfruitfulness, selfishness, exceeding vileness of heart and smallness of attainments in grace, than some are willing to admit of." He dealt severely with himself; yet his heart rested on God, and from his despondency he sprang back upon the Divine mercy and promises. He closes the record, "I saw also how exceeding precious Christ was, by whom I came to have all favors, and how pre- cious his blood was, so as I desired to rejoice in nothing but in Christ." . His portrayal of the punishment of the wicked is frightful. But this is matched by his por- trayal of redemption. " Christ is a redeemer by strong hand," he cries. " Here is encouragement to the vilest sinner, and comfort to the self-succorless and lost sin- ner. O, look up here to the Lord Jesus, who can do that cure for thee in a moment which all creatures cannot do in many years. . .. God, as a creator, having made a law, will not forgive one sin without the blood of Christ; nay, Christ's blood will not do it neither, if thou dost join never so little that thou hast or dost unto Jesus Christ, and makest thyself or any of thy duties copartners with Christ in that great work of saving thee. Cry out, therefore, as that blessed martyr did, 'None but Christ, none but Christ.'"
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It is interesting to mark the place which his teach- ing gave to children. This is made clear by a treatise sent to a friend as a letter, and afterwards published with the title, " The Church Membership of Children and their Right to Baptism, according to the holy and everlasting covenant of God, established between him- self and the faithful, and their seed after them, in their generations." This was " published at the earnest re- quest of many, for the consolation and encouragement both of parents and children in the Lord." Dr. Albro says of this, " Of all the works upon Infant Baptism which have been written in New England, this letter of Shepard's may be regarded as one of the most able and satisfactory." His main positions are that "the children of professing believers are in the same cov- enant God made with Abraham: that baptism is a seal of our first entrance and admission into covenant, and therefore is to be immediately applied to children of believing parents as soon as ever they be in covenant, and that is as soon as they become the visible seed of the faithful. .... The children of godly parents, though they do not manifest faith in the gospel, yet they are to be accounted of God's Church until they positively reject the gospel, either in themselves or in their par- ents." He cherished " high thoughts of faith " concern- ing them, as children and sons of God by promise. "For want of faith in God's promise about our children, certainly God smites and forsakes many of our chil- dren." I commend this work to the reading of all with whom God graciously offers to make covenant for their children's sake. It is most touching to see the anxiety of this young father to have his son baptized. Hunted and watched as he was in England, he was not able
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safely to obtain for him this Christian ordinance in its purity until he had found a new home. Most tenderly does he admonish that son afterwards : "God gave thee the ordinance of baptism, whereby God is become thy God, and is beforehand with thee, that whenever you shall return to God, he will undoubtedly receive you ; and this is a most high and happy privilege : and there- fore bless God for it." We are loyal to this beginning, for this Divine ordinance of our holy religion is held in high honor; and few are the children born into this church who are not blessed with its sacred advantage.
We are able to learn from the published writings of Shepard his views regarding the Sabbath. In a long treatise he discusses the Lord's Day in all its bearings. It contains the substance of several sermons, and was thrown into the form of theses at the earnest request of the students in the College for their use. In these days, when the Sabbath is so much misunderstood, and when the Puritan idea of the day is thought austere and formal to the last extreme, these masterly pages will be found profitable reading. The question of the Sabbath had been considered and settled in the minds of the Puritans before they left England. The English reformers accounted the day holy. Elizabeth took much lower ground, and by her precept encouraged her people to engage in active labors on the Lord's Day, and by her example to devote a part of the day to merry-making. The people went farther than the Queen designed. Fairs, markets, festivals, work of all kinds, games, theatrical performances, profaned the con- secrated time. At length a frightful accident at a bear-baiting on the Sabbath alarmed the people, and aroused the public conscience. A bill passed Parlia-
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ment " for the better and more reverent observing of the Sabbath day." The Queen refused her signature, because " she would suffer nothing to be altered in a matter of religion or ecclesiastical government."
The leaders of the movement would not rest there. The appeal to law had failed. There was another tribunal, - the popular heart. This was not addressed in vain. A reformation followed, in which the Puritans took the foremost part. Many who believed with the Puritans in the sacredness of the day, and favored its scrupulous observance, became alienated from the Es- tablished Church, whose influence was thrown on the other side. It came to pass after a time that " a rigid or lax observance of the Lord's Day was the sign by which, above all others, the two parties were distin- guished." Out of this contest, from this reformation and these divisions, from this settlement of the ques- tion, our fathers came here to begin a state, to whose well-being the keeping of the Sabbath was essential. But one who reads the work of Shepard will be con- vinced that, however rigid may have been their domes- tic and public Sabbath laws, they kept the day as a sacred, precious time, finding its advantage not in austerities or formalities, but in real spiritual benefits, which no man, no house, could gain save by remem- bering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. With these exalted ideas of the worth of the day, Mr. Shepard urged upon men a faithful regard for its duties and privileges. He rested for authority upon the Fourth Commandment, and recognized the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. In regard to the beginning of this holy period he says, "At evening, after the setting of the light of the body of the sun,
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wherein darkness begins to be predominant over the light, the Sabbath begins." It was to be a day of rest : not of common, but of sacred or holy rest. He says, " The Lord enjoins this rest from labor upon this day, not so much for the rest's sake, but because it is a medium or means of that holiness which the Lord requires upon this day. Works of necessity, not only for preservation of life, but also for comfort and comeliness of life, are not unlawful. . . . We are to abstain from all servile work, not so much in regard of the bare abstinence from work, but that, having no work of our own to mind or do, we might be wholly taken up with God's work, being wholly taken off from our own that he may speak with us, and reveal himself more fully and familiarly to us (as friends do when they get alone), having called and carried us out of the noise and crowd of all worldly occasions and things. Upon every Sabbath we should be in a holy manner drowned in the cares and thoughts and affections of the things of God. . . Such is the overflowing and abundant love of a blessed God that it will have some special times of special fellowship and sweetest mutual embracings. . . . Herein God's great love appears to weary, sinful, rest- less man ; all the treasures of his most rich and precious love are set open." I make these extended quotations that you may see what views of the Sabbath were cher- ished by one of the chiefest Puritan ministers. To keep the day according to his principles would make the Sabbath a delight for old and young. He regarded the Sabbath as a day to be kept in spirit and in truth.
His idea of heaven was spiritual. It was not simply a place full of delight for any one who might get through a gate; it was a place where the time is
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passed in the enjoyment of God and holiness, in love for Christ the Saviour. If one had shown no interest in these things here, there was little for him to antici- pate with joy as he looked on to a future life.
It will be obvious, from all that has been said, that Thomas Shepard was a man of an eminently spiritual temper. He was thoroughly sincere. Against self- deception he continually admonished his hearers. His lectures upon the Parable of the Ten Virgins are full of warnings against having vessels without oil, and lamps whose light would go out. This hurried survey of his teachings should convince us that the Puritans were men of heart, of feeling, of affection ; earnest in religion, even up to exile for its sake, but able to know the sweet- ness of religion and to enjoy the choicest of its benefits.
To preach the truth Shepard made careful prepara- tion. His manner and matter agreed well. He learned before he taught. He made thorough work of a subject. His style is condensed, almost devoid of ornament, rich in comparisons and similes, clear and nervous. He was much in prayer. He lived deeply and thought deeply. Hence his works have not grown old. They are grand reading still. Some one has made the computation that in the "Treatise concerning the Religious Affections," by Jonathan Edwards, of the one hundred and thirty-two quotations more than one half are from Thomas Shepard. His writings are rich in pithy sentences, condensations of truth. I wish I could read many of them to you, but must be content with two or three. "The body may as well subsist without the soul, as the soul can without a promise. Do not flutter up and down from one promise to another, but lie a great while on some one, and wring and squeeze it, by meditation upon it."
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" A woman that is matched to a prince may have never a penny in her purse, and yet she rejoiceth in that her husband hath it." Thus he illustrates the wealth of the poor man who is one with Christ. " Mariners long to be on shore ; but before they come there they would not venture in a mist, but see land first ; so should we desire the Lord in the land of the living. It is the honor of a Christian to be ripe for death betimes, yet still before he is ripe he is not to desire it. Children that will be up before it is day must be whipped ; a rod is most fit for them ; stay till it is day."
He took time to prepare himself for preaching. It is said that he always finished his preparation for the pulpit by two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, accounting " that God would curse that man's labors who goes lumbering up and down in the world all the week, and then upon Saturday afternoon goes into his study, when, as God knows, that time were little enough to pray in and weep in and get his heart into a frame fit for the approaching Sabbath." Thus tearfully, prayerfully, did he make ready for the house of God, taking to his own heart the truth he preached to others, and declaring the counsel of God as one who is to give account. He dealt honestly with his hearers. He sought no smooth things to please those who needed to be aroused, but spoke the truth with great plainness, always in love. With firm- ness and kindness he guarded his people against their own delusive hopes, promoted the interests of the church committed to his care, and advised others which sought his counsel. He was a shrewd man and a skilful casuist; as is shown by his treatise called " Cer- tain Select Cases resolved ; especially tending to the right ordering of the heart." In controversy he was fair,
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candid, charitable, striving for the upholding of the truth. So successfully did he watch over his own flock, that it was largely saved from the errors and commo- tions ' which disturbed many churches around him. Conscious of his faults, convicted of sin, he trusted so implicitly in the Saviour Christ, and his revealed truth, that he could preach the gospel with such unction that others, sinners like himself, heard to believe and obey. A tradition has come down that he " scarce ever preached a sermon but some one or other of his congre- gation were struck with great distress, and cried out in agony, What shall I do to be saved ?" There is a glow and fervor in his sermons, even as we see them on the cold page, which accounts for their power. He pleads with men. His earnestness yet lingers in his sentences. In the frequent repetition of the "O," with which he appealed to his hearers, we have a glimpse of his longing desire to have men heed his message of life and live. He is described as " a poor, weak, pale-complectioned man," but his words had a marvellous power. This is evident front the epithets which different persons have applied to him. He is called " the holy, heavenly, sweet-affecting and soul-ravishing minister"; " this soul-melting preacher "; his was an " orthodox and soul-flourishing ministry." He was "that gracious, sweet, heavenly-minded, and soul-ravishing minister, in whose soul the Lord shed abroad his love so abun- dantly that thousands of souls have cause to bless God for him." " A man of a thousand, endued with abun- dance of true, saving knowledge for himself and others ; yet his natural parts were weak, but spent to the full."
" Shopheard's sweet sermons from the blessing came " -
" Oh Christ why dost thou Shepheard take away,
In erring times when sheepe most apt to stray ?"
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It will naturally be asked, What was the influence of such a man upon society ? It was healthful in every way. He was a good overseer of the College. In 1636 he was entreated by the General Court to join with the governor and others in making a draft of laws agreeable to the Word of God, to be the " fundamentals of this commonwealth." Without limiting ourselves to Cam- bridge, we can learn from many sources what the commu- nity was which Puritans, Puritan preaching, Puritan in- fluences, formed. It was a community which reverenced God, his Word, his Sabbath, his church. The Bible was the supreme law, but this was no sealed book; it was to be read by all, that every man might know his duty. They gave their interpretation to it, and were careful whom they made teachers ; but it was an interpretation founded on the book itself and sustained by argument; and on the strength of that interpretation they had for- saken the land and church they loved, and in its appli- cation their success and hope were bound up. It was a community which endowed a college with a liberality which should excite this generation ; and founded schools, and set good men over them, - men who feared God and knew his truth ; which provided that children should be trained to some useful employment; which preserved its own morality and exalted the Christian virtues ; which dealt so kindly by criminals, that, when English law punished more than thirty offences with death, here the extreme penalty was reserved for ten crimes ; which loved freedom so well, that, with slavery sent upon it, there has not been a slave born. in Massachusetts since 1641 ; which cherished kindly feel- ings towards the Indians around it, and sought their present and eternal well-being; which prospered in
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adversity, and kept its place and name till colonies could become a nation ; which made its own time memorable for its valor and devotion, and wrote the first lines in the nation's heroic annals. It was a community of men with human limitations and infirmities ; but of strong men, bent upon the right, instructed in all good learn- ing. They were firm, but they were not bigots. They kept to their original purpose, and would not brook destructive interference. But the world was not so narrow that all men must live here. Any who disliked Puritan ways could follow their own ways on sunnier shores. They were not morose, sour, tyrannical. There were some such, it may be; there are now. Men of bigoted temper, long visaged, sullen, are to be seen any day in our streets. They are not puritanic, they are badly human ; not a reproach to the fathers, but a sor- row to us. That snarling remark of Macaulay that " the Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators," is simply a blunder, or a falsehood, certainly so far as it relates to those who consented to expatria- tion in devotion to liberty and truth, in love for God and man. One of our own countrymen, who will not be suspected of any undue admiration of the early settlers of New England, has frankly said, -according to the public report, - that the only intolerance they indulged in was the "noble sort which belongs to those who are absolutely confident that they are the servants of almighty truth. They were not intolerant of things that meddled with their private interests; they were intolerant of those who hated God and loved sin and worked in iniquity, and that is the sort of intolerance," continues Mr. Emerson, " I should be glad to see a great
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deal more of to-day, here and everywhere." We have been reading the story of one Puritan minister ; in him we may see how the two parts of a vigorous, manful character were united, the strength and gentleness, the firmness and affection, the courage which made a nation in a wilderness and laid its hand of blessing on the heads of children.
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