Shepard, Thomas 1605–1649
Thomas Shepard was an American Puritan minister and a significant figure in early colonial New England.
Shepard was born in Towcester, Northamptonshire. His devout mother died when he was four and he lived a difficult life under his stepmother. His father died when he reached ten, at which point he lived with his grandparents and later an older brother, whom he held in high and grateful regard. A schoolmaster ignited in him a scholarly interest, which ultimately led to entry into Emmanuel College in Cambridge University at the age of fifteen. He accounts in his autobiography that he lived a dissatisfied and dissolute life, which led him to pray out in a nearby field, at which point he underwent the beginnings of a conversion experience.
In 1627 he became assistant schoolmaster at Earls Colne Grammar School in Earls Colne, Essex. He became a minister whose sermons and Puritan ways drew the ire of Church of England Archbishop William Laud, and he was forbidden to preach. Following the death of his eldest son, he left England in 1635 with wife and younger son on a difficult voyage for Massachusetts in colonial America. His wife died thereafter, as did his second wife and other children, though he framed these experiences, if not without difficulty, into the perspective of his theology.
Shepard was regarded as one of the foremost Puritan ministers of his day, esteemed in the company of individuals like Richard Mather and John Cotton. He took special interest in Puritan ministry to the Massachusetts Native Americans. His written legacy includes an autobiography and numerous sermons, which in some measure of contrast with others of his day, tended to accent God as an accessible and welcoming figure in the individual life. Today a plaque at Harvard University, in the words of Cotton Mather, records that it was in consideration of the salutary effect of Shepard's ministry that the college ultimately came to be placed in "Newtowne", known today as Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Shepard was born in Towcester, Northamptonshire. His devout mother died when he was four and he lived a difficult life under his stepmother. His father died when he reached ten, at which point he lived with his grandparents and later an older brother, whom he held in high and grateful regard. A schoolmaster ignited in him a scholarly interest, which ultimately led to entry into Emmanuel College in Cambridge University at the age of fifteen. He accounts in his autobiography that he lived a dissatisfied and dissolute life, which led him to pray out in a nearby field, at which point he underwent the beginnings of a conversion experience.
In 1627 he became assistant schoolmaster at Earls Colne Grammar School in Earls Colne, Essex. He became a minister whose sermons and Puritan ways drew the ire of Church of England Archbishop William Laud, and he was forbidden to preach. Following the death of his eldest son, he left England in 1635 with wife and younger son on a difficult voyage for Massachusetts in colonial America. His wife died thereafter, as did his second wife and other children, though he framed these experiences, if not without difficulty, into the perspective of his theology.
Shepard was regarded as one of the foremost Puritan ministers of his day, esteemed in the company of individuals like Richard Mather and John Cotton. He took special interest in Puritan ministry to the Massachusetts Native Americans. His written legacy includes an autobiography and numerous sermons, which in some measure of contrast with others of his day, tended to accent God as an accessible and welcoming figure in the individual life. Today a plaque at Harvard University, in the words of Cotton Mather, records that it was in consideration of the salutary effect of Shepard's ministry that the college ultimately came to be placed in "Newtowne", known today as Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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The autobiography of Thomas Shepard, the celebrated minister of Cambridge, N. E. With additional notices of his life and character (1832)
The life of Thomas Shepard (1847) by John Albro (1799-1866)
The clear sunshine of the gospel breaking forth upon the Indians in New-England (1865)
Shepard's Catechism
The Sincere Convert
The Sound Believer
The Works of Thomas Shepard, First Pastor of The First Church, Cambridge, Mass. with a Memoir of His Life and Character, Volume 1 - 1853
Life of Thomas Shepard by John A. Albro, D.D.
Sincere Convert
Sound Believer
The Saint's Jewel, Showing How to Apply the Promises
Certain Select Cases Resolved Tending to the Right Ordering of the Heart
The First Principles of the Oracles of God
The Works of Thomas Shepard, First Pastor of the First Church, Cambridge, Mass. with a Memoir of His Life and Character, Volume 2 - 1853
The Parable of the Ten Virgins Unfolded
The Works of Thomas Shepard, First Pastor of The First Church, Cambridge, Mass. with a Memoir of His Life and Character, Volume 3 - 1853
Theses Sabbaticae
A Wholesome Caveat for a Time of Liberty
Ineffectual Hearing of the Word
Meditations and Spiritual Experiences
The Clear Sunshine of the Gospel Breaking Forth Upon the Indians in New England
The Church Membership of Children
Theses sabbaticae, or, The doctrine of the Sabbath : wherein the Sabbaths I. Morality, II. Change, III. Begining, IV. Sanctification, are clearly discussed : which were first handled more largely in sundry sermons in Cambridge in New-England ... (1649)
Theses Sabbaticae (1649), or Doctrine of the Sabbath
An Appreciation of Shepard by Alexander Whyte from "Thirteen Appreciations", chapter 5, page 129 - 1913
The Parable of the Ten Virgins, Opened and Applied: Being the Substance of Divers Sermons, on ... (1797)
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