John Rogers

“ The offences of John Rogers, whatever they may have been, encountering opposition with opposition, in which facts were the only swords, and words the only lash, are as insignificant as the fly on the elephant’s back compared with the treatment that he and his followers received from those who had fled from persecution in the Old World to stain their own hands with like atrocities in the New. ”

“ In June, 1753, occurs the death of John Rogers, 2d, in his eightieth year. He has made a long and heroic stand, since at the age of seventeen years he joined his father in this contest. To him is largely due the size and strength of a sect that has called for the bravest of the brave—and found them.
Fifteen children gather at Mamacock, to follow the remains of this honored and beloved father to the grave, eight sons and seven daughters, of the average age of thirty-four years, the eldest (son) being fifty-two and the youngest (son) fourteen years of age. ”

“ Not having paid his fine, there is now nearly a week in which John Rogers may meditate in prison before the next Sunday (March 4) arrives, which he appears to do to good purpose. In some way he manages to communicate with his ever devoted and ready sister Bathsheba, and also with his faithful Indian servant, William Wright. ”

“ John Rogers, Jr., is now barely ten years of age, and must be a forward youth to be apprenticed so young, unless we suppose this a mere device to put him under stricter control of his mother’s family. He has surely heard nothing in favor of his father from those among whom he has been reared, unless perhaps from his stepfather. Yet neither mother nor grandparents can keep his young heart from turning warmly towards the dauntless nonconformist at New London. ”

“ But it is in no way derogatory to the character of John Rogers, that in meeting this wife of his youth, he gives striking proof of his undying affection. Ignoring her marriage to the man before him, forgetful, for the time being, even of Mary, blind to all save the woman he loves above all, he lays his hand upon Elizabeth, and says she is, and shall be, his. Under such circumstances, Matthew Beckwith takes his revenge in legal proceedings. ”

“ This young man in fine ministerial garb, and with flowing wig, whom they have called to New London to preach the unworldly Gospel of Jesus Christ, is seemingly so immature that John Rogers, the man of forty, can afford to hold his peace for a space, while he goes his way, working upon the first day of the week and resting and preaching upon the seventh. The young minister, being on trial himself, awaiting ordination, cannot for some time to come venture very conspicuously on the war-path. ”

“ Thus dies John, the 264beloved and trusted son of James Rogers, and the last of that family.
John Rogers departed this life October 17th, the anniversary day of his marriage to Elizabeth Griswold. She cannot fail to note that fact, when the news reaches her. She is less than woman if, in the hour of that discovery, she does not go aside to weep.
The day after this death, at another special meeting of Governor and Council, it is enacted that “constant watch be kept about the house, to seize and imprison all persons who may attempt to hold any intercourse with the quarantined family.” ”

“ Does the little book create so much sympathy “up and down the colony,” that it is no longer wise to keep John Rogers incarcerated, or are his ecclesiastical enemies at last sated by his nearly four years of close imprisonment in Hartford jail? However this may be, at the October session of the Superior Court, 1697, John Rogers is brought from prison and “set at liberty in open court,” “in expectation that he will behave himself civilly and peaceably in the future.” ”

“ At least one aspect is encouraging; some of the Rogers young people are inclining towards the Congregational church, in spite of their elders. James, Jr., (son of Captain James) , is evidently not in sympathy with the family departure. Let us make much of this young man; he seems a right sensible fellow. Joseph’s sons, with the exception of James (the eldest) , appear to be well inclined also. In fact, John Rogers himself is the only one of the original dissenters who is causing any very serious disturbance nowadays. ”

“ There is another, John Rogers (3d) , who, like his father and grandfather before him, holds the pen of a ready writer. He was born in 1724, three years after the death of his illustrious grandfather. With the rapt attention, the retentive memory and the plastic mind of youth, he has received from his father’s lips accounts of the thrilling experiences of the past; as a young man, he has followed the teachings and emulated the deeds of his people. ”

“ The conversion of John Rogers was directly preceded by one of those sudden and powerful convictions of sin so frequently exemplified in all ages of the Christian church, and so well agreeing with Scriptural statements regarding the new birth. Although leading a prominently active business life, in a seaport town, from early youth, and thus thrown among all classes of men and subjected to many temptations, this young man has given no outward sign of any lack of entire probity. ”

“ Now it is certain that John Rogers in his lifetime, and all his Society to this day, do firmly believe, from the testimony of the Scriptures, that God’s protection is with his faithful children through the course of this life, to continue them to old age (notwithstanding the calamities that he sends on the earth) , except when He calls them to lay down their lives for his truth by way of martyrdom, as may be seen abundantly in Scripture, Job 5, 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. ”

“ Two more of the family die of the disease, Bathsheba, wife of John Rogers, 2d, and John, their son. When all is over, John Rogers, 2d, is called upon to pay the expenses of official nurses, guards, provisions and medicines, a large bill, on which he is allowed no reduction.
John Rogers having died intestate, his son John is appointed administrator. The only heirs allowed by the court are the widow, John Rogers, 2d, and Elizabeth Prentice, “only son” and “only daughter,” among whom the estate is divided by due course of law. ”

“ We have seen the young man, John Rogers, preparing himself for such a life as this. He has laid aside the worldly dignity and ease that might be his as the son of a rich man, to work at the humble trade of shoemaking; that he may place himself fully with the common people and give of the earnings of his own hands to the poor, as did the brethren of old.
The General Court has heretofore discovered no sufficient reason for granting the petition of Elizabeth Griswold for a divorce. ”

“ He claims her children as his father’s before the world; he claims them as brother and sister of his own. He afterwards buys of them land at Mamacock, which was given them by their father, Gershom’s land “having a house thereon.”
To the ecclesiastic view, John Rogers has fallen, as to that view he has lived, a fanatic, striving for such an impracticable end as to resurrect the first Christian era into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But the friends and followers of this leader are sure that a Christian hero has passed from their midst, in no ignoble way. ”

“ Thomas Young, for instance, a man of the highest respectability, and allied to some of the best families in the church and the place; it is even understood that John Rogers is to be invited to preach at his house.
But what shall be done with the man? Despite the regular fine of £5, he goes right on with his baptisms and rebaptisms, sometimes on the very day he is released from imprisonment on this account. Fines and imprisonments for other offenses, also, hold him in check only so long as he is in prison. ”

“ Griswold,” he says, “acted at one time as prosecuting attorney against the Rogerenes.” If this was so, he was prosecuting his somewhat near relatives, so far as the descendants of John Rogers, 2d, were concerned, Henry Wolcott and Matthew Griswold, Sr., being their common ancestors.
Is it not strange that ministers of religion should delight in showing the powers of this world to be their support, as if to add honor and respectability to the church? “Who is she that”—without secular pomp—“looketh forth as the morning; fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?” ”

“ The dragon’s tooth which Mr. Blake appears to have manufactured himself, with no assistance whatever, for his “History of the First Church of Christ, of New London,” is of a more serious character than even such anecdotes as these. This new production is to the effect that the General Court (1684) granted Matthew Griswold and his daughter Elizabeth further guardianship of John Rogers, Jr., “on account Of the continuance of his father in immoral practices.” ”

“ During his executorship, John Rogers has freed a number of his 217father’s slaves. Two of these slaves (called “servants”) are mentioned in the inventory of the estate, in 1688, where it is stated that they are to be free in three years. The bond-children owned by James Rogers, as yet of no value, were not mentioned in the will or inventory, but they appear to have been classed with that residue of the estate (“moveables”) which, by the terms of the codicil, was to be divided between John, Bathsheba and James. ”

“ Whereupon, John Rogers again lived single twelve years, which was four years after she was married to Robert Jones, and then he made suit to one Sarah Coles of Oyster Bay, on Long Island, a widow, and by reason of the many false reports which had spread about the Country, as if he had turned away his second wife, etc., he offered the woman to carry her to Block Island, where she might know the truth of the matter, by discoursing with the woman herself, as well as the Authority and neighbors, which accordingly he did ”

“ Southold, L.I., is a common stopping-place for boats from New London. His friend, Mr. Thomas Young, is now of that place.
If John Rogers landed at Southold, Joan might learn of this fact and act upon it. But by nightfall the man for whose assistance she may have hoped is at his objective point on the mainland. She finds conveyance of some kind, however; for, this same night, she escapes from Plumb Island with her two children. Upon his return to Mamacock, the next day, John Rogers finds them there and is accused of so poor a trick as the bringing them to his own home. ”

“ Miss Caulkins states that, some months before this period, John Rogers “made an almost insane attempt” to regain his former wife Elizabeth, wife of Matthew Beckwith. This statement is founded upon a writ against John Rogers on complaint of Matthew Beckwith (Jan. 1702-3) , accusing John Rogers of laying hands on Elizabeth, declaring her to be his wife and that he would have her in spite of Matthew Beckwith. The historian should ever look below the mere face of things. ”

“ John Rogers died in 1721, after a most active dissemination of his principles for a period of about fifty years, gathering many adherents during that time.
20Again, he says, “They entered the churches half naked.” He must have confounded the Boston Quakers with the Rogerenes, as nothing of the kind was ever known of the latter. It is true that Trumbull makes an assertion of this sort; but even Dr. Trumbull cannot be regarded by close students as an example of accuracy—certainly not as regards Rogerene history.
The inhabitants of New London plantation were not sinners above other men. ”

“ John Rogers has already begun to work on the first day of the week. Moreover, in order to conform with exactness to the New Testament command and example relating to preachers of the Gospel, he has taken up a handicraft, that of shoemaking. At this date, all handicrafts are held in esteem, some of the most prominent men in a community having one or more; yet the large dealings of Mr. James Rogers have called for an active business life on the part of this son, who appears to have been his “right-hand man.” ”

“ Of the many lesser aspersions cast by Peter Pratt upon the character and teachings of John Rogers, one of the most astonishing (seeing that Peter Pratt himself refutes it) is to the effect that John Rogers held that “a man dies even as a dog.” In another place he says John Rogers “held both to the resurrection and the day of judgment, although doubted whether the body to be raised would be the same that fell, yet owned it would have the same consciousness.” ”

“ One of them crosses the Delaware with Washington, and another is in the body-guard of the great general. The young volunteers of this blood and training fight bravely on land and sea. Some of them die on the field and some in loathsome prison ships. [169] Outside of the John Rogers descent, many are the descendants of James Rogers, 1st, that join the Continental army and navy. Yet, for the most part, the Rogerene youth hold firmly to the doctrine of non-resistance as set forth in the New Testament. ”

“ As his father’s sole heir and by right of his wife in her father’s estate, as well as through his own prudence and enterprise, this young man is destined to be one of the richest men in New London.
On account of a remarkable escape from death while an infant in arms, John Bolles was led, while still a youth, to pledge himself to the service of God. Now, after careful examination into the doctrines of John Rogers, he devotes himself, in obedience to his youthful pledge, reverently and enthusiastically to that cause. ”

“ John Rogers, James Rogers, Jr., Samuel Beebe, Jr., and Joanna Way are complained of for profaning God’s holy day with servile work, and are grown to that height of impiety as to come at several times into the town to rebaptise several persons; and, when God’s people were met together on the Lord’s Day to worship God, several of them came and made great disturbance, behaving themselves in such a frantic manner as if possessed with a diabolical spirit, so affrighting and amazing that several women swooned and fainted away. ”