Excerpt from Hints of Contemporary Life in the Writings of Thomas Shepard

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 known 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. 1 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 writings 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 writings of the day the interior life of a New England household in early times.

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