REV. AUGUSTUS SHEFARD 51 



church, it was torn asunder, and in the midst of 

 a great lawsuit. A part of the church had gone 

 out, and were worshiping elsewhere. As a pro- 

 viso in the settlement of this suit, a decision of 

 the courts, unheard of before in the annals of 

 court decisions, was that the names of three 

 ministers prominently mentioned before by 

 either faction of the church, should be excluded 

 from the list of those who would be considered 

 as pastor, for three years. Among those men- 

 tioned was the name of Dr. Shepard. At the 

 expiration of three years, his eldest son. Dr. 

 J. E. Shepard, with explicit confidence in the 

 ability of his father to bring shape and form 

 out of chaos, peace out of confusion, made the 

 motion that his father be elected pastor of White 

 Kock Church. This motion prevailed. 



With an indomitable will, with that faith that 

 characterized him in all these years, he assumed 

 the pastorate in 1901. In the language of one 

 of the members of White Rock Church, ''His 

 unfailing sweetness of temper, his custom to 

 think no evil, even of his enemies, his unswerv- 

 ing employment of means of prayer, soon 

 brought a decided increase in the membership 

 and congregation. An unusual occurrence, 



