The Rogerenes. John R. Bolles
(so far as it relates to John Rogers) is notoriously false; for the proof of which I have taken these following testimonies from two of his ancient neighbors, which though they have always been enemies to his principles, yet have been very free in giving their testimonies to the truth, signifying their abhorrence of such an abuse done to a dead man.
“The testimony of Daniel Stubbins, aged about eighty years, testifieth, that from a lad I have been near neighbor and well acquainted with John Rogers, late of New London, deceased, to his dying day, and do testify that the time he first pretended to spiritual conversation and declared himself to be a converted man, upon which he broke off from the Presbyterian church in New London and joined with the Seventh Day Baptists, and his wife therefore left him and went to her father, Matthew Griswold of Lyme, was about the year 1674, and the time that Case and Banks, with a great company of other ranters, first came into this Colony was about twelve years after; and I never heard or understood that J. Rogers ever inclined to their way, or left any of his former principles on their account.
Daniel Stubbins.”
Dated in New London, June 27, 1725.
“The testimony of Mary Tubbs, aged about seventy-seven years, testifieth, that I was a near neighbor to John Rogers, late of New London, deceased, at the time when his wife left him and went to her father, Matthew Griswold of Lyme, and I had discourse with her the same day she went, and she informed me that it was because her husband had renounced his religion and was joined with the Seventh Day Baptists, and this was about the year 1674, and it was many years after that one Case and Banks, with a great company of ranters, first came into this Colony and came to New London and were some days at the house of James Rogers, where John Rogers then dwelt; but I never understood that John Rogers inclined to their way or principles, or countenanced their practices, but continued in the religion which he was in before.
Mary Tubbs.”
Dated in New London, June 29, 1725.
Now the first falsehood which I shall observe in this place is his asserting that “the first notions of spirituality taken by John Rogers were from Case and Banks,” etc. Whereas the above witnesses testify that he had broke off from the church of New London and joined with the Seventh Day Baptists; upon which his wife had left him, and that all this was many years before Case and Banks came into this Colony.
The second falsehood is his saying, “These men lit on John Rogers and made a Quaker of him.” Whereas these witnesses testify that he never inclined to their way, nor countenanced their practices, but continued in the religion which he was in before.
The third falsehood is his saying, “He remained their disciple for awhile;” since it is fully proved that he never was their disciple at all.
The fourth falsehood is his saying that “after he had remained their disciple awhile he made a transition to the church of the Seventh Day Baptists.” Whereas it is fully proved that his joining with the Seventh Day Baptists was many years before those people first came into this Colony.
And among his other scoffs and falsehoods, he asserts that John Rogers “often changed his principles.” To which I answer that upon condition that Peter Pratt will make it appear that John Rogers ever altered or varied in any one article of his religion, since his separating from the Presbyterian church and joining with the Seventh Day Baptists, which is more than fifty years past (excepting only as to the observation of the seventh day), I will reward him with the sum of £20 for his labor. No, verily, he mistakes the man; it was not John Rogers that used to change his religion, but it was Peter Pratt himself.
Here follow more of the false statements made by Peter Pratt, which have been repeated by Trumbull, Barber, and others:—
Great part of his imprisonment at Hartford was upon strong suspicion of his being accessory to the burning of New London meeting-house.
To which John Rogers, 2d, replies:—
As to this charge against John Rogers concerning New London meeting-house, were it not for the sake of those who live remote, I should make no reply to it; because there are so many hundreds of people inhabiting about New London who know it to be notoriously false, and that John Rogers was a close prisoner at Hartford (which is fifty miles distant from New London) several months before and three years after said meeting-house was burnt. And that this long imprisonment was for refusing to give a bond of £50, which he declared he could not in conscience do, and to pay a fine of £5, which he refused to do, for which reason he was kept a prisoner, from the time of his first commitment, three years and eight months, and then set at liberty by open proclamation, is so fully proved by the records of Hartford that I presume none will dare contradict.
And now, in order to prove Peter Pratt’s affirmation to be false, in that he affirms that “great part of his imprisonment at Hartford was upon strong suspicion of his being accessory to the burning of New London meeting-house,” take these following testimonies:—
“The testimony of Thomas Hancox, aged about eighty years, testifieth, That when I was goal keeper at Hartford, John Rogers, late of New London, deceased, was a prisoner under my charge for more than three years; in which time of his confinement at Hartford, New London meeting-house was burnt, and I never heard or understood that the Authority, or any other person, had any mistrust that he was any way concerned in that fact, nor did he ever suffer one hour’s imprisonment on that account.
Thomas Hancox, Kinsington, Sept. 17, 1725.”
“Samuel Gilbert, aged sixty-two years, testifieth and saith: That at the time when John Rogers, late of New London, deceased, was a prisoner several years at Hartford, I did at the same time keep a public house of entertainment near the prison, and was well knowing to the concerns of the said Rogers all the time of his imprisonment, and I do farther testify that New London meeting-house was burnt at the time while he was a prisoner in said prison, but no part of his imprisonment was upon that account.
Samuel Gilbert, October, 1725.”
Thus it plainly appears that this affirmation concerning New London meeting-house is a positive falsehood.
He (Pratt) further says that “Rogers held downright that man had no soul at all, and that though he used the term, yet intended by it either the natural life, or else the natural faculties, which he attributed to the body, and held that they died with it, even as it is with a dog.”
In answer to this notorious falsehood charged upon John Rogers, I shall boldly appeal to all mankind who had conversation with him in his lifetime; for that they well knew it to be utterly false: and for the satisfaction of such as had not acquaintance with him, I shall refer them to his books, and particularly in this point to his “Exposition on the Revelations,” beginning at page 232, where he largely sets forth the Resurrection of the Body, both of the just and unjust, and of the eternal judgment which God shall then pass upon all, both small and great. All which sufficiently proves Peter Pratt guilty of slandering and belying a dead man, a crime generally abhorred by all sober people; and so shall pass to his 3d chapter, judging that by these few remarks which have been taken, the reader may plainly see that the account he pretends to give of John Roger’s principles is so false and self-contradictory that it deserves no answer at all, and that it was great folly in Peter Pratt so to expose himself as to pretend to give an account of John Roger’s principles in such a false manner; since John Rogers himself has largely published his own principles in print, which books are plenty, and will fully satisfy every one that desires satisfaction in that matter of what I have here asserted.
In page 48 he (Pratt) tells the reader as follows: “But John Rogers held three ordinances of religious use; viz., Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and imposition of hands.” Again, “that all worship is in the heart only, and there are no external forms.”
Here the reader may observe that, first, he owns that Rogers held three external ordinances, viz., Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and imposition of hands; and in the very next words forgets himself and tells the reader that Rogers held all worship to be in the heart only, and that there were no external forms. See how plainly he contradicts himself.