The Rogerenes. John R. Bolles
devices of the Inquisition, under the orders of this same king Philip: “All,” said Virgilius, “venerate the prudence and gentleness of the Duke of Alva.”
Mr. Saltonstall’s words also run in a groove with those of Peter Pratt, the great traducer. “In short,” says Pratt, “he never suffered the loss of one hair of his head by the Authority for any article of his religion, nor for the exercise of it.”
To which John Rogers, 2d, replies:—
In answer to this last extravagant assertion, which the whole neighborhood knows to be false, I shall only mention the causes of some few of his sufferings, which I am sure that both the records and neighborhood will witness the truth of.
In the first place, he lost his wife and children on the account of his religion, as has been fully proved.
The next long persecution, which both himself and all his Society suffered for many years, was for refusing to come to Presbyterian meetings; upon which account, their estates were extremely destroyed and their bodies often imprisoned.
Also the multitude of fines and imprisonments which he suffered on the account of baptizing such as desired to be baptized after the example of Christ, by burying in the water. All which fines and imprisonments were executed in the most rigorous manner. Sometimes the officers, taking him in the dead of winter, as he came wet out of the water, committed him to prison without a spark of fire, with many other cruel acts, which for brevity I must omit.
Moreover, the many hundreds of pounds which the collectors have taken from him for the maintainance of the Presbyterian ministers, which suffering he endured to the day of his death and which his Society still suffers.
But, forasmuch as his sufferings continued more than forty years, and were so numerous that I doubt not but to give a particular account of them would fill a larger volume than was ever printed in New England, I must desist.
But the same spirit of persecution under which he suffered, is yet living among us; as is evidenced by what here follows:—
The last fifth month called July, in the year 1725, we were going to our meeting, being eight of us in number, it being the first day of the week, the day which we usually meet on as well as the rest of our neighbors; and as we were in our way, we were taken upon the king’s highway, by order of Joseph Backus, called a justice of the peace, and the next day by his order cruelly whipped, with an unmerciful instrument, by which our bodies were exceedingly wounded and maimed; and the next first day following, as we were returning home from our meeting, we were again, three of us, taken upon the king’s highway, by order of John Woodward and Ebenezer West of Lebanon, called justices of the peace, and the next day by them sentenced to be whipped, and were accordingly carried to the place of execution and stripped in order to receive the sentence; but there happened to be present some tender-spirited people, who, seeing the wounds in our bodies we had received the week before, paid the fines and so prevented the punishment.
And also the same John Woodward, soon after this, committed two of our brethren to prison, viz., Richard Man and Elisha Man, for not attending the Presbyterian meeting, although they declared it to be contrary to their consciences to do so. Neither have their persecutors allowed them one meal of victuals, nor so much as straw to lie on, all the time of their imprisonment; although they are well known to be very poor men.
But, to return to the matter I was upon, which was to prove Peter Pratt’s assertion false, in saying John Rogers never suffered the loss of one hair of his head by the Authority for any article of his religion, nor for the exercise of it. And had not Peter Pratt been bereft as well of reason as conscience, he would not have presumed to have asserted such a thing, which the generality of the neighborhood knows to be false.
In further proof of the falsity of Mr. Saltonstall’s assertions, and as showing also the spirit of those times, we quote the following from Dr. Trumbull’s History:—
But though the churches were multiplying and generally enjoying peace, yet sectaries were creeping in and began to make their appearance in the Colony. Episcopacy made some advances, and in several instances there was a separation from the Standing Churches. The Rogerenes and a few Baptists made their appearance among the inhabitants; meetings were held in private houses, and laymen undertook to administer the sacraments. This occasioned the following act of the General Assembly, at their sessions in May, 1723.[10]
“Be it enacted, &c., That whatsoever persons shall presume on the Lord’s Day to neglect the public worship of God in some lawful congregation, and form themselves into separate companies in private houses, being convicted thereof before any assistant or Justice of the Peace, shall each of them on every such offense, forfeit the sum of twenty shillings, and that whatsoever person (not being lawfully allowed minister of the Standing Order) shall presume to profane the holy sacraments by administering them to any person or persons whatsoever, and being thereof convicted before the County Court, in such County where such offense shall be committed, shall incur the penalty of £10 for every such offense and suffer corporal punishment, by whipping not exceeding thirty stripes for each offense.”
Previous to this act, the penalty for baptizing by immersion was £5, which penalty was often inflicted upon John Rogers, as we have seen.
In the Boston plantation, for merely speaking against sprinkling of infants the like penalty was incurred. Thus thick was the cloud of bigotry and ignorance which had settled down on the people at that day and which John Rogers, and his followers by the light of truth labored to disperse, deserving honor instead of the reproaches which they have suffered from prejudiced and careless historians and narrow-minded ecclesiastics.
Still, in the face of facts like these, “all of which he saw and a large part of which he was,” the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall asserts “that no man hath suffered on account of his religious opinions,” etc.
Dr. Trumbull says, “Mr. Saltonstall was a great man.”
“They helped every one his neighbor; so the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith.”—Isaiah. “And the great man he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.”—Micah.
CHAPTER IV.
One has said that an angel would feel as much honored in receiving a commission to sweep the streets as though called to a service higher in the world’s estimation. We confess to something like a street-cleaning duty in removing the scandals which have settled about the name of John Rogers.
Since the enemies of Rogers have mainly taken their artillery from Pratt’s work, the falsity of which has in part been shown, we now proceed to give it further notice and refutation. Base coin is sometimes passed around and received as genuine; put to the test, its worth vanishes. Written in a malignant spirit, with no regard to truth whatever, the untrustworthiness of Pratt’s book can scarcely be overstated.
We will continue to quote from this book, and John Rogers, 2d’s “Reply” to the same.
It remains (says Pratt) that I speak of the third step in Quakerism taken by John Rogers, who received his first notions of spirituality from Banks and Case, a couple of lewd men[11] of that sort called Singing Quakers. These men, as they danced through this Colony, lit on John Rogers and made a Quaker of him; but neither they nor the Spirit could teach him to sing. However, he remained their disciple for a while, and then, being wiser than his teachers, made a transition to the church of the Seventh Day Baptists. But, the same spirit not deserting him, but setting in with the disposition of his own spirit to a vehement affectation of precedency, he resolved to reach it, though it should happen to lead to singularity; whereupon, after a few revelations, he resolved upon Quakerism again, though under a modification somewhat new. I call it Quakerism, not but that he differed from them in many things, yet holding with them in the main, being guided by the same spirit, acknowledging their spirit and they his, he must needs be called a Quaker.
Reply of John Rogers, Jr.:—