Rogerenes

“ The 100citadel of religious bigotry which they assailed has been demolished. While the dark night of superstition and intolerance overspread the land, the Rogerenes, like stars and constellations, pierced the gloom. Leo and the Great Bear shone in the heavens; but when the sun arose they made obeisance and retired. The trumpet of Luther is not now blown in Protestant churches. The Anti-Slavery Society, once potent, has ceased to exist; slavery is abolished. Would Mr. McEwen doom the Rogerenes to endless labor, like Sisyphus? ”

“ Field wrote of the Rogerenes, which is the only excuse we can offer for the statements made by him in his “Discourse Delivered on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the First Church of Christ, in New London, October 19, 1870.” Compared, however, with what John Rogers and his early followers endured at the hands of a tyrannical, bigoted, blinded church, and the falsehoods and scoffs which ecclesiastical historians have promulgated, Mr. Field’s utterances are lighter than a feather. ”

“ In the Yale College Library, we were shown a copy of “An Answer to a Pamphlet,” by John Rogers, 2d, which is the only copy we have discovered.
By researches in new lines, we have discovered some mistakes regarding the Rogerenes made by that gifted and honored historian, Miss Fanny M. Caulkins. Miss Caulkins was the first historian to attempt careful and intelligent search in this obscure direction. In her “History of New London” she has given a large amount of accurate information concerning the Rogerenes, much of which is quoted with advantage, in Part First, by Mr. Bolles. ”

“ The appreciative reader will agree with us in saying he was a son worthy of the father, in defence of whose honor he wrote. Clear in his statement of facts, conclusive in his reasoning, and abundantly supplied with authority in proof of his assertions, his words bear the sacred impress of truth. Malice has raised no aspersions against his character. “Notwithstanding,” says Miss Caulkins, “his long testimony and his many weary trials and imprisonments, he reared to maturity a family of eighteen children, most of them, like their parents, sturdy Rogerenes.” ”

“ How long certain officials, and other church members, restrain themselves is uncertain, even if they restrain themselves at all from vengeance dire; but before the prayer is regularly ended, the Rogerenes are fallen upon and driven out of the meeting-house with great violence and fury, while those in waiting outside are attacked with like rage, prominent church members and officials kicking and beating unresisting men, women and children and driving them to prison. ”

“ The unfaltering trust of the Rogerenes in an all-powerful and all-loving God is to be shown remaining as firm as though John Rogers had returned to them unscathed, and this unswerving trust in God’s promises, under circumstances calculated to shake such a trust to the uttermost, is to be attested over and over by the records of Connecticut. ”

“ John Rogers, 3d.
To see their Worship and worshippers Weighed in the balance and Found Wanting.—With a true account of what the people called Rogerenes have suffered in that town, from the 10th of June 1764 to the 13th of December 1766. Who suffered for testifying, That it was contrary to Scripture for ministers of the gospel to teach for hire. That the first day of the week was no Sabbath by God’s appointment. That sprinkling infants is no baptism and nothing short of blasphemy, being contrary to the example set us by Christ and his holy apostles. ”

“ The plan is to have some of their people besiege Mr. Byles, at every conceivable opportunity, with attempts to converse with him in regard to the teachings of the New Testament, and to reason with him concerning the cruelties practised upon the Rogerenes. They are also to go to the meeting-house on Sunday and sit directly in his sight, and they are to linger in the neighborhood of his house or the meeting-house, where he may know of their vicinity and expect them to walk with him and talk to him “of the things of God,” whenever he ventures outside. ”

“ A phalanx of Rogerenes passing, on Sunday, slowly along the principal street of the town in a cart drawn by oxen, each one of these non-combatants calmly and cheerfully prepared to pay for their spectacular move by seizure, imprisonment and fines, is fully as comical as it is tragic. Though some of the spectators are in a rage, others must be overcome with laughter, while sympathizers too politic to laugh outright smile in their sleeves. ”

“ If he refers to the principles advocated by the Rogerenes, to the seed of equal religious rights sown by them, these are deeper rooted in the hearts, consciences and understandings of men to-day than ever before at any period in the world’s history. ”

“ The fact that it is appointed to all men once to die, of itself precludes the possibility of continual and invariable healing, even by the prayer of faith. But to suppose that such prayer is not as efficient as human remedies, is to declare incredible certain passages of Scripture which are as authentic as any other portion of the New Testament. Thus reasoned the Rogerenes. ”

“ James Rogers, by the commotion which his “testimony” called forth in the meeting-house caused “some women to swound,” in comparison with that of the Sunday, June 10, 1764, when a procession of Rogerenes from Quaker Hill, re-enforced by friends from 291Groton, and including men, women, and children, wends its solemn and portentous way into the town, to enter into the midst of their persecutors.
Upon reaching the meeting-house, a number quietly enter, others remain outside. The men who enter keep on their hats, in token of dissent to the doctrines of this church. ”

“ Joseph Jenks, Dep. Gov.
37 CHAPTER II. In the contemplation of noble deeds, we become more noble, and by the just anathematizing of error our love of truth is made stronger. As the bee derives honey from nauseous substances, so we would extract good even from wrongdoing. It is with no spirit of animosity towards any one that we pursue this subject.
No word of palliation for the acts of the Rogerenes, no admission of wrong done to them by their opponents, is heard from the ecclesiastical side. Perhaps even the severity of the statements made against them may be an evidence in their favor. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The sons of John Bolles have not all taken wives from among the Rogerenes, but are less allied to those of Congregational persuasion; outside of their own sect they have most favored Baptist women. The second wife of John Rogers, 2d, appears not to have been a Rogerene before marriage, and the same may be said of the second wife of John Bolles. If such facts are true of the chief 278leaders and their children, we may easily judge of the alliances of their followers with persons of other denominations, in this comparatively quiet interval. ”

“ But when he presumes to assert that a fact does not exist of which other people may be cognizant, he transcends the bounds of prudence.
Proof is abundant, that the Rogerenes and their descendants were foremost in advocating the severance of church from state and the equal rights of all to religious liberty. Their uniform testimony in Connecticut, for more than a century, in defence of true liberty of conscience, which awakened so much discussion throughout the State, could not have been without its enlightening influence. ”

“ 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?” ”

“ YEARS OF TRUCE. For some years after the death of John Rogers, no serious interference with the customs of the Rogerenes is recorded. The countermoves directly preceding that death should, by all precedents, be sufficient to secure them from molestation for a considerable time to come.
September, 1724, occurs the sudden death of Governor Saltonstall, by apoplexy. His family continue to reside in New London and to form an important part of the leading membership of the Congregational church. ”

“ But, notwithstanding the principles of non-resistance so publicly professed by the Rogerenes, from whom the weakest had nothing to fear, Mr. McEwen dwells strongly upon the terrors which they inspired. He says:—
Mr. Saltonstall and Mr. Adams were brave men. Mr. Byles was a man of less nerve and he suffered not a little from their annoyances. He was actually afraid to go without an escort, lest he should suffer indignities from them.
We have shown (Chapter I) the transparent groundlessness of another statement made of their rudeness by Mr. McEwen, which we need not repeat ”

“ Joseph Bolles (born 1701) , eldest son of John Bolles, is a leader 286among the Rogerenes, standing shoulder to shoulder with his father and John Waterhouse. He is a talented man, holding, like his father, “the pen of a ready writer,” and is clerk of the Rogerene Society. John Bolles being now over eighty years of age, this son largely takes his place in the active work of the Society, on the New London side. ”

“ So this heroic woman, who has ten children at home, five of whom are under ten years of age, is returned to prison, not only for the two months, but until she pay the charges of her prosecution, which the court, as well as her own people, have good reason to believe she will never pay, thus to encourage the authorities in their unchristian persecution of the Rogerenes. ”

“ It is the belief of the writer that there were a great many who entertained similar views with the Rogerenes on that subject, but who would not unite with them in their absurd mode of testifying against what they deemed erroneous.
“Belief of the writer!” Belief is of little consequence, unless based upon authority or knowledge; and the person who thrusts forward his simple belief, to command the assent of others, seems to proffer a valueless coin. ”

“ At a period when no men were more in favor of war than those who preached—in parts—the gospel of Him who bade His followers to forgive their enemies, to love them and pray for them and to return good for evil, the Rogerenes stood for uniform peace and good will on the part of Christians, according to the spirit and the letter of the Master’s teachings. ”

“ It is as important to the Baptist church as to the Congregational that Sunday should be accounted a sacred day; let it be accounted otherwise, where would be attendants on “divine worship”? Surely the young people would go to places of amusement or of mischief, rather than to meeting-houses. The object lesson presented by these upright and deeply religious Rogerenes, whose youth are among the most exemplary and godly in the land, is naturally lost upon a people who cannot trust the Lord himself to furnish sufficient guidance for His church. ”

“ QUAKERTOWN. In the new century, ecclesiastical persecutions are scarcely more than a tradition, save to the aged men and women still living who took part in their youth in the great countermove, the sufferings attendant upon which are now, even to them, as a nightmare dream. The laws that nerved to heroic protest a people resolved to obey no dictation of man in regard to the worship of God lie dead upon the statute book—although as yet not buried. The Rogerenes are taking all needful rest on Sunday, the day set apart for their meetings. ”

“ Many of those on the New London side mingle as interested listeners in the various orthodox congregations. They walk where they please on Sunday, and are no longer molested. The merciless intolerance that brought this sect into existence being no longer itself tolerated, the chief mission of the Rogerenes is well nigh accomplished. The children may soon enter into that full Christian liberty, in the cause of which their fathers suffered and withstood, during the dark era of ecclesiastical despotism in New England. ”

“ But on the ashes of oppression thrives the tree of liberty. Religious freedom was then emerging from the incrustation of ages, as the bird picks its way through the shell to light and beauty. Whippings and sittings in the stocks afterwards took place, yet we hear of but a single attempt on the part of the Rogerenes to interrupt the public worship of their enemies, until nearly eight years of persecution had elapsed, and it should be remembered 25that such interruption was not uncommon in those days; Quakers doing the same in Boston, under like treatment. ”

“ The divine commands regarding religion as set forth in the New Testament they would strictly obey, but they would, “for conscience’s sake,” obey no command of men in this regard. The purely civil laws they held themselves bound to observe, according to Christ’s command. Had Sunday laws been instituted for avowedly sanitary and moral purposes, and for the convenience and protection of church-going people, none would have conformed to such laws more conscientiously than the Rogerenes, such obedience being in the line of their preaching and practice regarding the civil laws. ”