Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

“ [51] from us, and cattle and all commodities grew very cheap, which enforced us at the next General Court, in the eighth month, to make an order, that corn should pass in payments of new debts; Indian, at 4s. the bushel; rye, at 5s., and wheat, at 6s.; and that upon all executions for former debts, the creditor might take what goods he pleased (or, if he had no goods, then his lands), to be appraised by three men, one chosen by the creditor, one by the debtor, and the third by the Marshall.” ¹

To this state of things Mr. Hooker probably referred when he renewed his efforts, in the letter already quoted, to persuade Mr. Shepard and his congregation to remove. But why they should remove to Connecticut rather than to some other part of Massachusetts does not very plainly appear. There were large tracts of unappropriated lands here. There is no evidence that Mr. Shepard or his people had any jealousy, such as some have supposed to operate on their predecessors. On the contrary, Mr. Shepard was a prominent member of the religious party which had recently triumphed in the Antinomian controversy, and his own congregation had been preserved from all taint of the great heresy. Concerning the “Antinomian and Famalistic opinions” which then distracted the churches, Cotton Mather says, “a synod² assembled at Cambridge, whereof Mr. Shepard was no small part, most happily crushed them all. The vigilancy of Mr. Shepard was blessed, not only for the preservation of his own congregation from the rot of these opinions, but also for the deliverance of all the flocks which our Lord had in the wilderness. And it was with a respect unto this vigilancy, and the enlightening and powerful ministry of Mr. Shepard, that, when the foundation of a college was to be laid, Cambridge rather than any other place was pitched upon to be the seat of that happy seminary: out of which there proceeded many notable preachers, who were made such by their sitting under Mr. Shepard's ministry.” Magnalia, B. III., ch. v., § 12. Possibly, however, this “vigilancy” of Mr. Shepard, and this faithfulness of his congregation, throughout one of the most violent conflicts of religious opinion ever known in this country, may have stimulated the subsequent desire to remove beyond the limits of Massachusetts. This seems to be indicated in the fifth