They stiled each other Antinomians and Legalists.” ( 28) Such was the warmth of the controversy, that it was judged advisable to call a Synod to give their opinion on the controverted points. “The whole colony was soon divided into two parties, different in sentiment, and still more alienated in affection. Anne Hutchinson, a very extraordinary woman, commencing a religious teacher, about this time, and holding lectures for the propagation of her peculiar tenets, attracted a numerous audience, and gained many adherents. This year (1636) the General Court contemplated the erection of a Public School at Newtown, and appropriated four hundred pounds for that purpose which laid the foundation of Harvard College. Shepard and his company, who purchased the dwelling-houses and lands, which they had owned at Newtown and thus enjoyed the advantage (which fell to the lot of few of the early colonists) of entering a settlement already cultivated, and furnished with comfortable accommodations. This little company laid the foundation of Hartford, now a very flourishing city in Connecticut. They drave with them 160 cattle and subsisted on the milk of their cows, during the journey. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those which simple nature afforded them.” ( 26) “They had no guide but their compass made their way over mountains, through swamps, thickets and rivers, which were not passable but with great difficulty. Hooker’s church and congregation, left Newtown and travelled above a hundred miles, through a hideous and trackless wilderness, to Connecticut. Stone, and about a hundred men, women, and children, composing the whole of Mr. From : Images of Historical HartfordĮarly in the summer of 1636, Mr. To Hartford with about 100 persons where heĪn Eloquent, able & Faithful Minister of Christ The inscription on his tomb is as follows: Mather, “until another day, wherein there was more time to go through the other solemnities proper to such an occasion.” Shepard probably took place soon after this organization of the church but the precise time cannot now be ascertained “It was deferred,” says Dr.
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Application was also made to all the neighbouring churches, “for their elders to give their assistance at a certain day at Newtown, where they should constitute their body.” A great assembly accordingly convened, and the church was organized in a public and solemn manner. Shepard, and “divers other good christians,” intending to form a church, communicated their design to the magistrates, who gave their approbation. On the first of February 1635, the first permanent church was gathered at Newtown. Thomas Shepard, whose name holds a conspicuous place in the annals of New England, arrived at Boston, together with the people who were to form his pastoral charges.