CHAPTER IV. THE LIFE OF MR. THOMAS SHEPARD. §1. WHEN we find that passage in the oracles of Heaven, "Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there;" it follows, "and of Sion, it shall be said this and that man was born in her:" and the meaning and the reason of this different expression hath been a matter of some enquiry. It seems, that of Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia, it was said, "Behold [as being almost a wonder!] that this man,” some one single man of eminency—a rara avis in terris,* was born there. But of Zion it might be said, [x] man and man, "this and that man," that is to say, very many eminent men, Multi pietate, Doctrinâ Ingenio, Rerum Bellicarum Gloriâ aliquibusque Virtutibus Insignes,† were "born in her." That little spot of ground, where God planted his church, affording more excellent men for holiness and other noble accomplishments, in proportion, than all the world besides. I will now make no odious comparisons between Harvard-Colledge and other Universities, for the proportion of worthy men therein educated: but New-England, compared with other parts of America, may certainly boast of having brought forth very many eminent men; in proportion, more than any of them; and of HarvardColledge (herein truly a Sion-Colledge) it may be said, "this and that man were bred there;" of whom, not the least was Mr. Thomas Shepard. § 2. Reader, esteem it not præposterous, if I begin the life of this worthy man with relating that his death fell out on December 22, 1677. When the pestilence raged so much in Alexandria of old, that "there was not an house, wherein there were not many dead," it was the observation of mankind, that while the Pagans cast off all humanity, and inhumanly forsook their dearest friends in the distresses of their sickness, the Christians, without any regard unto their own life, boldly ventured into the sickchambers, and cheerfully assisted and relieved their infected brethren, and very often dyed that they might preserve others from death, or attend them in it. Mr. Thomas Shepard had in him that spirit of the primitive Christians. He was the pastor of the church in Charlstown; and the small-pox growing as epidemically mortal as a great plague in that place, this excellent man, who had for many years most faithfully done all the duties of a pastor unto his flock, apprehended it now his duty to visit one of his flock, who, lying sick of this distemper, desired a visit from him. He went with "his life in his hand," and (which he courageously and undauntedly expected) the contagious distemper arresting of him, did put A rare bird. + Many men, remarkable for piety, learning, genius, the glory of warlike achievements and other excellences. an end unto his life, and therein, surely, after some sort entitle him unto the crown of martyrdom. Thus, as an Elegy upon his death expressed it Rather than run from 's work, he chose to dye, Running on death, sooner than duty fly. Behold, a Shepherd, who was (as the emperor Probus had it said of him Vir sui Nominis !* § 3. And now, that the pourtraiture of this person, who was "as great a blessing and glory as ever Charlstown had," may be drawn to the life it is fit that other pencils than such poor ones as mine should be employ'd for indeed it was very truly confessed, in an Elegy made upon him, Here's worth enough to overmatch the skill Of the most stately Poet Laureat's quill. We will therefore employ three other testimonies and descriptions to give posterity the knowledge of him; whereof the first shall be the Epitaph engraved on his tomb-stone, in such terms as these: D. O. M. S. Repositæ sunt hîc Reliquie Thomæ Shepardi, Eruditione, Virtute, Omnigenâ Moribusque suavissimis Ornatissimi; Qui Filius fuit Thomæ Shepardi Clarissimus, Fide ac Vitâ Versus Episcopus ; Optimè de Re Literariâ Meritus : Quà Curator Collegii Harvardini vigilantissimus ; Τα 18 Ιησε Χρισε 8 τα εαυτε Ζηλων In D. Jesu placidè obdormivit, Anno 1677, Dec. 22. Totius Novangliæ Lachrymis Defletus; Let Fame no longer boast her antique things, Crown to our heads and Loadstone to our hearts: A man of his own name. Harvard's great son, and father too beside, + Sacred to the all-good and Omnipotent God. Here repose the remains of THOMAS SHEPARD, & most god'y man, possessed of learning, excellence in every virtue, and most charming manners; a sagacions theologian, an admirable preacher. He was the distinguished son of Thomas Shepard, formerly a well-known pastor of a church at Cambridge; he was also a teaching elder in the church at Charlestown, a true bishop both in faith and in life; a writer of divine literary merit; a very prudent steward of Harvard College; a fellow of the academical corporation. "Seeking not his own, but the things of Jesus Christ," he slept peacefully in Jesus, December 22, A. D. 1677, aged forty-three: mourned and to be mourned yet more with the tears of all New England. The constant friend, and the most cheerful giver, A master-piece of nature, art and grace. In this bed lye repos'd his weary limbs; Si, Sheparde, tuo nisi quæ sint digna sepulchro Carmina nulla forent, carmina nulla forent.* 4. The whole country was fill'd with lamentations upon the decease of the person thus entomb'd, and many bestowed their elegies upon him with resentments like those, which one of them thus uttered: Next to the tears our sins do need and crave, I would bestow my tears on Shepard's grave. But there was none who found a deeper wound at this decease than the reverend president of the colledge, Mr. Urian Oakes; who was his particular friend. For, as Austin had his Alipius, as Bazil had his Nazianzen, as Jerom had his Heliodorus, as Eusebius had his Pamphilus, or, if you will, as Paul had his Barnabas; even such was the friendship that unanimated our Oakes and our Shepard. He, besides other ways of expressing his value for this his departed Jonathan, took the opportunity of the next Commencement, with no small part of his elegant oration, thus to embalm his memory: "Referunt historici Caium Caligulam, monstrum illud hominis, queri palam de conditione temporum suorum esse solitum, quod nullis calamitatibus publicis insignirentur. Quod si nunc in vivis, apud nos ageret, nihil esset illi querelæ loci relictum, adeo calamitosa sunt omnia, et fœlicitates bonas nobis adversas habemus. Ecquid verò calamitosius, quàm quod morbus ille variolum in vicinis oppidis passim grassatus fuerit. Heu! Quæ funera dedit! Quas strages edidit! Miserum me! Hæreo, stupeo, vehementer perturbor animo; neque mens, neque vox, neque lingua consistit, quoties subit animum, quàm grave vulnus, vel ex unius viri, interritu, non ità pridem accepimus. Video me, necessitate coactum, officii, auditores, infandum renovare dolorem, vulnusque recens acceptum refricando, retractandoque exacerbare. Amisimus, amisimus memoratissimum illum virum, reverendissimum Thomam Shepardum: respublica civem optimum; ecclesia theologum clarissimum : academia non filium tantum et alumnum clarissimum, sed curatorem etiam vigilantissimum; municipium scholasticum, socium suum primarium amiserunt; amicum ego singularem et integerrimum. Heu pietas! Heu prisca fides! Obiit, proh dolor! ornatissimus Shepardus, vir dignus, si quis alius, qui nunquam ægrotaret, nunquam moriretur. Dabitis veniam, auditores, ut mæsti nos Harvadinates, etiam in ipsis feriis academ icis, pientissimi Thoma Shepardi manibus, alieno quidem, uti videri potest tempore, et exequalia justa, paremus. Dolemus tanto reipublicæ vulnere; mortemque tanti viri, jure optimo, luctu publico esse honorandam, existimamus; qui fatalis morbi vi ereptus, non ecclesiam solùm Caroliniensem, sed totam etiam Novangliam, orbam ac debilitatam reliquit ; quocum defuncto, respublica, ecclesia, academia vacillare certè, si non corruisse videantur. Cum Caius Cæsar satis se diu, vel naturæ vixisse, vel gloria dixisset; satis, inquit Cicero, si ita vis, naturæ fortasse; addo etiam, si * Were no songs breathed, save such as match thy praise, For ever hushed had been the minstrel's lays. placet gloriæ; at quod maximum est, patriæ certe parum: multò profecto verius et sincerius a me dici potest, clarissimum Shepardum, satis diu vixisse sibimetipsi, et gloriæ suæ, cum piè adeo vixerit, ut ad cœlestem verè vitalem vitam sincerâ fide, virtutum christianarum exercitio, viam aditumque sibi munierit, nomen suum immortalitati consecravit; at reipublicæ, non satis diu, at ecclesiæ, at academiæ, parum certè vixit; quocum occubente, titubare ac nutare videntur omnia. Est et illud ira divinæ vehementèr in nos excandescentis argumentum et indicium insigne, quòd gra. vissimis reipublicæ temporibus, academiæ necessitatibus, ecclesiarum precibus et lachrymis hujus eximii viri vitam noluerit Deus condonare. Amisimus Shepardum, alienissimo reipublicæ tempore extinctum: at quem et qualem virum! theologum profectò non unum è multis, sed inter multos propè singularem; neminem cum illo conferendum non ausim dicere: neque detrahere quidquam ab aliis necessum habeo, cum encomia defuncto Shepardo debita persolvo. At verò inter Gregarios theologos (quod sine cujusquam injuria dici velim) tantùm caput extulit Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi. "Certabat in eo, cum pietate minimè fucatâ, eruditio minimè vulgaris; cum eruditione verò prudentia modestia, humanitas et industria singularis. Quanta grav. itas in vultu? Quantum pondus in verbis? Quam nihil non consideratum exibat ex ore? Quam nihil in gestu affectatum, aut indecorum? Fuit quidem ò paxaporis, animo sedatissimo, candidissimo pectore, fælicissimo ingenio, acerrimo judicio, suavissimis denique temperatissimisque moribus ornatissimus. Sic autem universam vitam truduxit, ut aliis illustre quoddam veræ pietatis ac virtutis exemplar, ad imi. tandum propositum; in eoque quasi exempli causa, antiqui officii vestigia remanebant. Non ille inanem occupatus est rumorem, neque ullus umbra falsæ gloriæ consectatus est, aut insolentius extulit se; sed a supercilio, fastuque omni longè longèque abfuit. In summis ejus dotibus, propter quas, honoribus autoritate, gratiâ floruit, summa animi demissio et modestia singularis emicuerunt; et rara quidem (ut dici solet) virtus est humilitas honorata. Vetus est verbum, "Eis 'Avng xosis 'Avng, unus vir, nullus vir. Ego vero non minus vere possum dicere “Eis 'εpoi pugiov. Unus mihi fuit instar decem millium. Prorsus assentior Nazianzeno dicenti piλsvT ** ειμαι Ανταλλαγμα των οντων ἐδεν. Amicitiam unicum esse vitæ condimentum. Miserum me! Quam triste nobis sui desiderium reliquit! Qui mihi ità charus, ita jucundus fuit, ut ejus aspectu dolor omnis fuerit abstersus, et omnis, quæ me angebat, cura planè consederit. Probè memini, quam me olim frons ejus tranquilla, vultusque (ut Ovidius loquitur) plenus gravitate serenâ, inter dicendum animadver tit. 66 Ille horum comitiorum (ut mea tulit opinio) pars adeo magna fuit, ut quemad. modum (autore Cicerone) Antomachus Clarius poeta, cum convocatis auditoribus recitaret iis ingens volumen, quod conscripserat, eumque legentem, omnes præter Platonem reliquissent, Legam, inquit, Nihilominus; Plato enim mihi unus, instar est omnium: Ità profectò, alter Plato (absit verbo invidia) fuit mihi Shepardus et instar omnium. Dici non potest, quàm me perorantem, in comitiis, conspectus ejus, multò jucundissimus recreârit, et refecerit. At non comparet hodie Shepardus in his comitiis: oculos huc illuc torqueo; quocunque tamen inciderint, Platonem meum in tanta virorum illustrium frequentiâ requirunt ; nusquam amicum et pernecessarium meum, in hac solenni panegyri, inter hosce reverendos theologos, academiæ curatores, reperire aut oculis vestigare possum. Amisimus virum illum sanctissimum strenuum, rhodoza fidei propugnatorem, non hominibus solùm gratum et acceptum, sed, et Deo ipsi charissimum; divinæ familiaritatis virum, sicuti Tertullianus nuncupat Abrahamum. Quamobrem, honoratissimi viri, lugete amissum civem plane rerpayovov, himarum semper, in republica, partium et in rebus optimis, constantissimum virum ; co'rmen atque ornamentum reipublicæ vestræ; cujus unius funere, propè dixeram, platam esse rempublicam. Lugete, reverendissimi presbyteri, amissum charissimum fratrem et symmistam ; ordinis vestri decus et lumen singulare. Lugete, carolinenses, sublatum, ex oculis vestris, eximium episcopum vestrum, delicias olim et amores testros. Lugete, academici amissum curatorem vigilantissimum, cujus interritu, collegii dignitatem, immane quantum diminutam, salutem ipsum periclitatam esse, quis non intelligit? Lugete, quotquot adestis, auditores, amissum illum virum, conmmmatissimum, currum et equites Israelis, dignissimum profectò, qui Nov-Angliæ lachrymis usque et usque defleatur. Quòd si nimius in hoc argumento, et longius, quam par est provectus esse videor, quæso obtestorque ut veniam aliquam dolori meo et marori animi tribuendam putetis. Videtis me, in amplissimas charissimi Shepardi laudes, tanquam in oceanum descendisse, et difficile quidem esse, cùm laudandi, hugendi finem reperire."* * Historians say of Caius Caligula,—that monster in human shape,—that he used to deplore the condition of his te, because it was signalized by no public calamities. But if he lived in these times and among us, he would tad no more room for such a complaint, so abounding are our misfortunes, and to such an extent does even our happass turn into poignant sorrow. What more fearful calamity can be conceived of than the prevalence of the smallper through all this region? How death and destruction have followed its march! Alas! I shudder-nay, am sured, as I contemplate it: I seem to lose intelligence, voice and language, whenever my mind recurs to that be stroke, which we all experienced in the death of one man. I find myself compelled, my hearers, by the very necessity of my position, to "Renew the grief no words can e'er express," and bar open afresh the wound which we have all so lately felt. We have lost-we have lost that praiseworthy m the revered THOMAS SHEPARD; in whom the state loses an excellent citizen; the church, a distinguished theoben; the college, not only a beloved son and alumnus, but also a watchful steward; the academic board, its own chef flow; myself, a special and sincere friend. "Alas! for piety and faith well-tried." Hy dreadful is it to be reminded, that the accomplished SHEPARD has left us—a man too good, if mortal could be ever to sicken-ever to die! Pardon me, my hearers, if even on so happy an occasion as a college anniversary, Westrowing sons of Harvard offer a funereal tribute to the shade of the pious SHEPARD; we grieve over the wound dicted on the state; and we believe that public mourning may, with unquestionable propriety, signalize the rease of so great a man. Torn from us by the force of a mortal disease, he has left, not only his church at bestown, but all New England, in a bereaved and disabled condition. By reason of his departure, the comwealth, the church, the college, seem to shake almost to their fall. Caius Cæsar once said, that he had lived ng enough to satisfy nature, and long enough for his fame. Cicero adds: "long enough, if you will, to satisfy his ware, and long enough (if you require me to think so) for his fame; and yet (alas! a matter far more important) Ang enough for his country." Surely, I can say, with superior truth and sincerity, that the renowned SHEPARD haved long enough for himself and for his fame. For he led a life so religious, that the practice of Christian vitas had, through the power of an unfeigned faith, opened heaven itself before him, while it secured to his ae immortality on earth. And yet he did not live long enough for the state, for the church, and for the college. 121 death seemed to threaten every thing with downfall, and to be a signal proof and demonstration of the severity ɗf the divine wrath against us: inasmuch as neither the crisis of the republic, the necessities of the college, nor the prayers and tears of the church, could prevail with Heaven to spare him. We have lost our SHEPARD-torn at a time, most unpropitious to the state-and such a man! He was a theologian, not one out of many, b. among many almost alone-incomparably superior to almost all others; although I have no wish, in saying so, A duract any thing from the merits of others in order to render due honors to the departed SHEPARD. Among de common mass of theologians, (I speak without malice) he reared his lofty head "As 'mid the reeds the cypress lifts its crest." In him unfeigned piety was matched by no mean share of learning; and with his learning were blended prudence, misty, generosity, and remarkable diligence. How much dignity in his countenance! how much weight in his ras! to what an extent was it true, that nothing ill-considered escaped his lips-that nothing affected or ungraceSappeared in his gesture! He was indeed blest-with a calm spirit, a clear conscience, a fine intellect, keen judg aual, and gentle and chastened manners. Such was the tenor of his whole life, that it was held up to others for |