36 chapters
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36 chapters
INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
While spending the summer at New London, in 1894, we were requested to aid Mr. John R. Bolles, in the capacity of reader and amanuensis, he being compelled, by reason of impaired sight, to depend upon such assistance. The work upon which he was engaged was a vindication of the Rogerenes. Having, from what we had read and heard concerning this colonial sect, regarded them as fanatics whose idiosyncrasies bordered upon lunacy, we could neither understand Mr. Bolle’s interest in the subject, nor wh
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
This chapter contains the substance of several letters, originally published in the New London Day (1860), in reply to an article which had previously appeared in that paper, misrepresenting the teachings and conduct of the Rogerenes. A communication in the New London Day of December 9, 1886, speaks of John Rogers and his followers, the Rogerenes, whose distinctive existence spread over a period of more than a century in the history of New London. The writer of the article referred to followed t
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CHAPTER II.
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 statemen
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Falsehood is the bane of the world. It links men with him who was a liar from the beginning. We would bruise a lie as we would a serpent under our feet. Not so much to defend persons as to vindicate justice do we write. It has been said that toleration is the only real test of civilization. But toleration is not the word; all men are entitled to equal religious freedom, and any infringement thereof is an infringement of a God-given right. Who was the most calumniated person the world has ever se
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CHAPTER IV.
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 pa
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
“Nine and twenty knives.”—Ezra i, 9. It would take more than that number of knives to sever the many threads of falsehood and malice wound about the name of John Rogers, a name that may yet emerge as the royal butterfly from its chrysalis, to dwell in the light and atmosphere of heaven. We must now charge the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall, governor of the State of Connecticut, and judge of its Superior Court, with concocting a plan whereby he and his ecclesiastical accomplices might incarcerate John R
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
It is with regret that we are compelled to make the following strictures upon “The Discourse Delivered on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the First Church of Christ, in New London, by Thos. P. Field, 1870.” Amiable as was its author, and highly esteemed, yet in this discourse, so far as it relates to the Rogerenes, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, showing how much easier it is to float on the surface, with the tide, than to dive deep and bring up gems from the bottom of the
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
We had not intended to make further reply (see Chapter II ) to Mr. McEwen’s Half-Century Sermon; but lest our silence should be construed by some as implying an inability to do so, we turn to it again. “The elder Gov. 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
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Among noticeable young men in the Colony of Connecticut, previous to 1640, is James Rogers. [27] His name first appears on record at New Haven, but shortly after, in 1637, he is a soldier from Saybrook in the Pequot war. [28] He is next at Stratford, where he acquires considerable real estate and marries Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Rowland, a landed proprietor of that place, who eventually leaves a valuable estate to his grandson, Samuel Rogers, and presumably other property to his daughter, w
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Week by week, the little band of Bible students on the Great Neck are becoming more and more familiar with the contents of the New Testament. Heretofore they have, like the majority, accepted religion as it has been prepared for them, as naturally as they have accepted other customs, fashions and beliefs. Now that they have begun to search and examine for themselves, it is in no half-way fashion. Doubtless to a bold, direct, enterprising mode of thought and action James Rogers owed his worldly s
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
A youth is growing up at Lyme, in regard to whom Matthew Griswold and his daughter Elizabeth may well feel some concern, although it afterwards appears that he is one of the brightest and manliest boys in the colony. This is none other than John Rogers, Jr. For five years past, his mother has been the wife of Peter Pratt, of Lyme, who has a son by this marriage. That gentleman is doomed to suffer no little trouble of conscience in regard to his marriage to the wife of John Rogers, having himself
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
The children of James Rogers having petitioned the General Court to divide their father’s estate according to his will,—which was entered on record with their agreement thereto,—certain persons are now appointed to make this division. At the same time, the court “desire John Rogers and Bathsheba Smith doe take the part doth belong to widow Rogers under their care and dispose that a suitable maintainance for her, etc.” 1692. In July, 1692, there is copied upon the land records a disposition by th
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
In May, at a special session of the Superior Court, at Hartford, John Rogers is tried upon the following charges:— 1. For that in New London, in Feb. last, thou didst lay thy hand upon thy breast and say: This is the humane body of Christ, which words are presumptuous, absurd and of a blasphemous nature. 2. For saying, concerning a wheelbarrow thou broughtest into the meeting house about a week or fortnight before, that Christ drove the wheelbarrow—an impious belying of Christ, accusing him to b
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
The long and close imprisonment of John Rogers in Hartford, attended as it was with a bitter sense of wrong, would seem sufficient to undermine the strongest constitution. To this was added anxiety regarding home affairs, including charge of his father’s estate and the care of his mother, which were devolving wholly upon his sister Bathsheba. His mother’s death close following his release, and business neglected during the past four years, must have borne hard on his enfeebled system, to say not
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
June 4, of this year, a complaint is made by Samuel Beebe against John Rogers, as executor of his father’s estate, for detaining from Samuel Beebe three cows, which, by the codicil of the will, were to be given to his wife Elizabeth after the death of her mother. The cows are evidently given up to him, since nothing further concerning them appears on the court records. The peculiarity about this complaint is that, while claiming what is given to his wife under the codicil, he is still (as will b
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
We left John Rogers on his way back to prison, there to remain until the March term of the Superior Court, because he would not promise “good behavior” (“as if I had misbehaved myself.” Part I., Chapter V. ). Against tyranny in high places, there is ever at hand the one highest appeal, that to the public at large, where is always in reserve a good measure of sympathy and sense of justice. Not only is our hero stirred through and through by this personal and ecclesiastical thrust, under guise of
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
One of the spasmodic attempts to secure more strict enforcement of ecclesiastical laws is instituted about this period. Edicts have been issued by the General Court charging the various officials to observe greater stringency in the execution of all these laws. That this sudden and severe pull on the rein does not occasion a general and continued uprising on the part of the Rogerenes, is only explainable on the supposition that the first attempt to lay hands on them anew having brought forth the
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
1721. Feb. 26, Sunday. —The Quakers at Meeting made a great disturbance; especially Sarah Bolles.— Hempstead Diary. Mr. Hempstead, in his usual brief style of chronicle, gives no further light upon this matter. By the records of the County Court, in the following June, it is shown that the Quakers referred to in the Diary were John Bolles, his wife Sarah and John Waterhouse, and that the impelling reason for this countermove was because John Waterhouse had been seized and maltreated for baptizin
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CHAPTER XI. YEARS OF TRUCE.
CHAPTER XI. 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. Under the ministry o
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CHAPTER XII. THE GRAND COUNTERMOVE (1764-1766).
CHAPTER XII. THE GRAND COUNTERMOVE (1764-1766).
It is not until 1757 that a new minister is installed over the Congregational church, in the person of Mr. Mather Byles, Jr., a talented and very resolute young man, twenty-three years of age. [160] This youth is of such character and persuasion as to resemble, in this particular community, a firebrand in the neighborhood of a quantity of gunpowder. (After the gunpowder has exploded and Mr. Byles determines to remain no longer in this vicinity, in taking leave of the Congregational church he say
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CHAPTER XIII. QUAKERTOWN.
CHAPTER XIII. 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
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CHAPTER XIV. DRAGON’S TEETH.
CHAPTER XIV. DRAGON’S TEETH.
Mr. J. R. Bolles has aptly compared the falsehoods sown by the author of “The Prey Taken from the Strong,” to dragon’s teeth constantly springing up anew ( Part I, Chapter I ). When Peter Pratt wrote the book thus entitled, he was evidently stimulated and encouraged by the ecclesiastical demand for such a publication, and trusted that lack of correct information on the part of the general public would secure credence for it. The falsities evident in the work, through its contradictions in one pa
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EXTRACTS FROM “EPISTLES.”
EXTRACTS FROM “EPISTLES.”
Christian Reader :— I direct this my book to thee, without any regard to one sect more than another, for the unity and fellowship of God’s people is Love, and this Love is the bond of perfectness, and by this Love shall all men know that we are Christ’s disciples; and if this Love be with us and dwell in us, by it we shall know that we are translated from death unto life; for that faith that purifies the soul works by this Love, and by this faith which works by Love we come to have the victory o
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EXTRACTS FROM “TWO MINISTRATIONS.”
EXTRACTS FROM “TWO MINISTRATIONS.”
... But before he came into the world, those that were under the second ministration were led and taught by a shadowing law, and were under typical judges, kings and priests, who were types of Christ’s kingly, prophetical and priestly offices; but since his coming in the flesh, they have ceased, and He himself is their alone King, Priest and Prophet, to rule and teach them, in a more evangelical or gospel way; and this was prophesied of before his coming into the world, Deut. 18, 15, Isa. 7, 6,
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CONCERNING THE SABBATH.
CONCERNING THE SABBATH.
Extracts from a Reply by John Rogers, Sr. (1721), to a Book by Benj. Wadsworth, entitled “The Lord’s Day Proved to be the Christian Sabbath.” ... When God’s children were in a holy frame and agreed to fast and pray, they did it not with a mixt multitude in public assemblies, as hypocrites are wont to do; as appears Neh. 9, 1, 2. The children of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, in time of offering up their prayers unto God. Acts 1, 13, 14. And we nowhere read, throughout the whole
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“ADVERTISEMENT.”
“ADVERTISEMENT.”
Whereas there is a printed law in her Majesty’s Colony of Connecticut, entitled only “Heriticks,” in the preface to it they say “To prevent the danger persons are in of being poisoned in their judgments and principles by hereticks,” etc. Which said law the queen by advice of her council hath condemned, repealed and declared it void and of none effect, it being contrary to their charter. And indeed there is a good hand of God in the Queen’s act, for I know of no sect worse poisoned in their judgm
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FOLLOWING FROM ACCOUNT OF SAMUEL BOWNAS OF HIS “CONVERSATION WITH JOHN ROGERS,” 1703.
FOLLOWING FROM ACCOUNT OF SAMUEL BOWNAS OF HIS “CONVERSATION WITH JOHN ROGERS,” 1703.
He (John Rogers) spoke very much of his satisfaction and unity with George Fox, John Stubbs, John Burnyeat and William Edmundson as the Lord’s servants, with sundry others of the first visitors of that country, that he knew them to be sent of God, and that they had carried the reformation further than any of the Protestants ever did before them, since the general apostacy from the purity both of faith and doctrine; first the church of England they did nothing in the end but made an English trans
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FROM REPLY TO J. BACKUS.
FROM REPLY TO J. BACKUS.
... Here I think he (Backus) does the government no honor by informing the world that they have made laws to debar such as differ from them in matters of religion the liberty of the king’s highway to pass to their own meetings, since our lord the king hath granted equal liberty of conscience to all dissenters to hold their meetings and serve God according to their consciences.... In his 13th page he gives a record (of his own making) relating to John Bolles, which record declares that J. Bolles
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FROM ANSWER TO A PAMPHLET BY COTTON MATHER.
FROM ANSWER TO A PAMPHLET BY COTTON MATHER.
... A travelling ministry are sent from town to town and from city to city, and from country to country, and over sea, so that they are not only taken from their own employment, but are also sent upon charges; their state and condition is like a man that is prest a soldier and sent away from his own living on charges and therefore maintained at the king’s charge. And hath not this man power to forbear work? though he tarry some days at a place, must he therefore maintain himself by his own labor
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FROM REPLY TO PETER PRATT.
FROM REPLY TO PETER PRATT.
As it has ever been allowed that the defaming of the dead is a mark of the most unmanly and base spirit of a coward and ought to be abhorred by all persons who bear the image of man; then how much more abominable is it of P. P. to sport himself with his own lies over a man in his grave? And I think no person of common reason will expect any apology of me on account of this my undertaking, since my silence in this matter would have rendered me very unmanly.... ... If John Roger’s books contain “b
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FROM ANSWER TO MR. BYLES, BY JOHN AND JOSEPH BOLLES.
FROM ANSWER TO MR. BYLES, BY JOHN AND JOSEPH BOLLES.
Considerable light is thrown upon the “Outbreak” of 1764-66 by a Rogerene pamphlet (of about 1759), which appeared in several editions, sometimes ascribed on the title-page to John Bolles, sometimes to his son Joseph, and probably the joint work of father and son, written out by the latter; thus having a style noticeably different from that of John Bolles, although equally clear-cut and forcible. John Bolles, being at the date of this work eighty-two years of age, may be supposed to have welcome
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EXTRACTS FROM “LOOKING GLASS FOR THE PRESBYTERIANS OF NEW LONDON.”
EXTRACTS FROM “LOOKING GLASS FOR THE PRESBYTERIANS OF NEW LONDON.”
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 se
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EXTRACTS FROM “A DEBATE BETWEEN REV. MR. BYLES AND THE CHURCH.”
EXTRACTS FROM “A DEBATE BETWEEN REV. MR. BYLES AND THE CHURCH.”
Minister. I have no particular objection to this church; but believe it to be a true church of our Lord etc.—but it is this mysterious call of Providence etc.—the churches of this and old England are equal to me. I am called from one to another where I can be of more usefulness, which is my duty.... And I believe you had better dismiss me, as you may get one that will do much better. You want one that will visit his parishioners—preach a lecture once in a while.... I was not made for a country m
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EXTRACTS FROM “THE BATTLE AXE,”
EXTRACTS FROM “THE BATTLE AXE,”
Satan, to all classes of the Ecclesiastical system that profess Christ’s name and prove traitors to his service. I now address you as my sworn subjects, under full power of my authority; feeling much gratified to see my kingdom established on the ruins of God’s creation. Though I have been wounded by Christ, the invader of my possessions, yet I hold before you the greatness of my power and the glory of my kingdom. I am the great and high prince and god of this world.... I am your god, and I warn
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THE SUBSCRIBERS PETITION TO HIS COUNTRYMEN FOR HIS RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.
THE SUBSCRIBERS PETITION TO HIS COUNTRYMEN FOR HIS RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.
Whereas I am once more called to suffer for conscience’s sake, in defense of the gospel of Christ; on the account of my son, who is under age, in that it is against my conscience to send him into the train-band. For which cause, I have sustained the loss of my only cow that gave milk for my family; through the hands of William Stewart, who came and took her from me and the same day sold her at the post. Which circumstance, together with the infirmity of old age, has prevented my making my usual
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ROGERENE WRITINGS.
ROGERENE WRITINGS.
The following works of John Rogers, Sr., are most of them still extant, although copies are very rare and command high prices. The locality of copies known to the author of this history will be found indicated:— 1. “ An Epistle to the Church Called Quakers. New York. Printed by William Bradford, 1705.” 2. “ An Epistle to the Seventh Day Baptists ,”—date unknown. 3. “ Treatise on Divorce. ” Copy of each of the above owned by H. Eugene Bolles of Boston. 4. “ An Epistle Sent from God to the World,
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