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 the example of his predecessors who have spoken derisively of this “sect,” either in not knowing whereof he affirmed or in purposely misrepresenting these dissenters. We prefer to ascribe the former, rather than the latter, reason.

Trumbull, in his “History of Connecticut,” charged John Rogers with crimes from which the grand jury fully exonerated him, as by its printed records may be seen. These false and scandalous charges have been reiterated, again and again, and have found a place in Barber’s “Historical Collections of Connecticut” against the clearest testimony. His withdrawal from the standing religious order of the day aroused such hatred that many false accusations were made against him, which, like dragon’s teeth sown over the land, have been springing up again and again.

The article which called forth these remarks doubtlessly derived its errors from those sources. I will point out a few of its inaccuracies.

The author says, “The Rogerenes are a sect founded by John Rogers in 1720.” 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.

Again, 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. At the time James Rogers, senior, his wife, sons and daughters were thrust into prison in New London, John Bunyan was held in jail in England and said he would stay there till the moss grew over his eyebrows, before he would deny his convictions or cease to promulgate them. In the light of to-day, neither of these committed any offense whatever. Hundreds of the best of men suffered in like manner in England, and for a long period of time; and some were given over to death. The reverend father of Archbishop Leighton was, for conscience’s sake, held imprisoned for more than twelve years, and not released until his faculties, both of body and mind, were seriously impaired. Rev. John Cotton, one of Boston’s earliest preachers, came out of prison to this country. Religious thought was drenched, so to speak, with false notions, and many, even of those who had escaped from persecution in the Old World, became persecutors in the New.

Great praise is due to such men as Roger Williams, who fled from Salem to the wilderness to escape banishment for his principles, hibernating among Indians “without bed or board,” as he expressed it, and whose ultimate settlement in Rhode Island made that State the field of religious liberty. Equal praise is due to John Rogers and his associates, at a later day, for boldly enunciating the same principles, and bravely suffering in their defense, ploughing the rough soil of Connecticut and sowing the good seed there.

Nor was the treatment of the Rogerenes comparable for cruelty with that of the Quakers at Boston, a few years prior to the Rogers movement. We hear nothing of the cutting off of ears, boring the tongue with a red-hot iron, banishment, selling into slavery or punishment by death, which disgraced the civilization of the Massachusetts colony and which was Puritanism with a vengeance, almost leading us to sympathize with their persecutors in England. New London plantation was disgraced by no such heathenism as this.

St. Paul boasted that he was a citizen of no mean city. We shall find that the Rogerenes are of no mean descent, sneered at and held in derision though they have been, by men of superficial thought.

James Rogers, senior, a prosperous and esteemed business man of Milford, Conn., had dealings in New London as early as 1656, and soon after became a resident. Says Miss Caulkins:—

As James Rogers, senior, against whom even the tongue of slander has been silent, was among the first to feel the ecclesiastical lash, a few words more concerning him from the pen of Miss Caulkins are here given:—

Hollister, in his “History of Connecticut,” speaks of James Rogers in high terms; although, in an evidently faithful following of historical errors, he gives the common estimate of John Rogers and his followers. Says Miss Caulkins:—

This correspondent says, “The Rogerenes despised the authority of law.” But only that which infringed upon their natural rights and honest convictions of duty. To all other laws they were obedient. Says Miss Caulkins:—

The Rogerenes were the first in this State to denounce the doctrine of taxation without representation, the injustice of which is now universally acknowledged. All their offences may be traced to a determination to withstand and oppose ecclesiastical tyranny. Pioneers in every great enterprise are sufferers, and pioneers in thought are no exception to this rule. Other men have labored, and we have entered into their labors. That principle for which these heroes and heroines so valiantly and faithfully contended, in the grim face of suffering and hate, the total divorcement of Church and State, is now established. Has it not become the boast and glory of the nation, the torch of liberty held aloft in the face of the world? And does it not show the march of civilization that the right of all to equal religious freedom, then so obnoxious, is now fully confessed and sweet to the ear as chime of silver bells?

The venerable James Rogers, senior, with his wife, three sons and two daughters, were, as we have seen, arraigned and fined £5 each at one session of the court, within two years from the time of their alliance with the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Newport. Other arraignments followed, and in the case of John Rogers, the court ordered that he should be called to account every month and fined £5 each time. Draco’s laws were said to have been written in blood; Caligula set his on poles so high they could not be read; but it was reserved for a New England court, in the perilous times of which we are speaking, to pass sentence before the offense was committed or trial had!

Nor have we but just entered into the vestibule of that temple of ignorance, tyranny, and crime, which, even in the New London plantation, reared its front and trailed its long shadow down a century. 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 that such interruption was not uncommon in those days; Quakers doing the same in Boston, under like treatment.

We quote from the records of the court, 1685:—

The Quakers at Boston had been charged with having a similar spirit, and, almost simultaneously with this complaint, witches, so-called, were hung at Salem. Mr. Burroughs, a preacher, being a small man, was charged with holding out a long-barrelled gun straight with one hand. He defended himself by saying that an Indian did the same thing. “Ah! that’s the black man!” said the judge, meaning the devil helped him do the deed. Burroughs was hung! It was said of Jesus of Nazareth, “He hath a devil.”

There was no printing-press at that time in New London, and had there been it would have served the will of the dominant power, not that of the persecuted few. Bathsheba Smith had been previously fined £5 for attaching a paper to the side of the meeting-house, setting forth their grievances. If John Rogers had undertaken to harangue an audience in the street, it might have been regarded as a still greater offense. It may be said to be an unlawful act to present their case and assert their rights in this manner; but an unlawful act is sometimes justified by circumstances. It would be an unlawful act to go to your neighbor’s house in the night, knock loudly at his door, disturb the inmates and call out to them while quietly sleeping in their beds; but, if the house were on fire, it would be a right and merciful act. Great exigencies justify extraordinary conduct. What would be wrong under certain conditions would be right under others.

It may be said that this course would not be tolerated at the present day. Neither, we add, would the acts that led to it. The prophet was at one time commanded to speak unto the people, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear. With our imperfect knowledge of the circumstances of the case, it may be impossible, at this date, to judge rightly of its merits. Elizabeth Rogers was charged with stigmatizing the reverend clergy as hirelings, and with calling the Sabbath an idol. She was fined five pounds. There was not much freedom of speech in those days. As to calling the Sabbath an idol, that was no more than saying it was unduly reverenced. It was so among the Jews, at the time our Saviour endeavored to disabuse them of the fallacy and to teach them that “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” The brazen serpent ordained of God for the healing of the people, when it became an object of idolatrous worship, was ordered to be taken to pieces.

Miss Caulkins says:—

This was in derision of the full-bottomed wigs then worn by the Congregational clergy.

We sympathize with him in his contempt of the ornament, if such it may be called, of which the portraits of the Rev. Mr. Saltonstall present a rich specimen. An ancient bishop refused to administer the rite of baptism to one thus garnitured, saying, “Take that thing away; I will not bless the head of a dead man.” John Rogers made an apologetic confession of this offense, which may be seen upon the town records to-day, viz.:—

A young man, sensible that his life had not been what it ought to have been, and resolving upon amendment, sought his father and made frank acknowledgment of his faults. Having done so, he said, “Now, father, don’t you think you ought to confess a little to me?” We think some confessions were also due from the other side.

The nest in which is hatched the bird of Jove is built of rough sticks and set in craggy places. Again, it is stirred up that the young eaglet may spread its wings and seek the sun. The victor’s laurels are not cheaply gained; conflict and struggle are the price. Sparks flash from collision. Lightnings cleanse the air. The geode is broken to free the gem that lies within. Diamonds are cut and polished ere they shed forth their splendor. Great good is usually ushered in by great labor and sacrifice. It is so with liberty. Let us tread about its altars with reverence, with unshod feet; altars from which have ascended flames so bright as to illumine earth, and offerings so sweet as to propitiate heaven. The unjust and tyrannical laws by which the early battlers for religious freedom in this section were assailed have long since been erased from the statutes of the State. The tide of public sentiment had swollen to such height, in which all denominations except the standing order were a unit, that they were wiped out, and their existence was made impossible in the future. That the Rogerene movement largely contributed to bring about this result will be shown. Of the hardships, loss of liberty, loss of property, etc., which the Rogerenes endured for conscience’s sake, Miss Caulkins speaks thus:—

Further details of their sufferings will be omitted in this place; but the famous suit of Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall against John Rogers demands and shall receive dose attention.

It was while Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall was minister of the church of New London, and through his influence, that John Rogers was expatriated, so to speak, and mercilessly confined three years and eight months in the jail at Hartford, “as guilty of blasphemy.” Shortly after his release, Rev. Mr. Saltonstall brought a suit against John Rogers for defaming his character. The following is the record of the court:—

The £600 damages, equal perhaps to $10,000 at the present day, was not more remarkable than the suit itself, which had no legal foundation. Lorenzo Dow tells “how to lie, cheat and kill according to law.” But here is a deed—ought we not to call it a robbery?—done under cover, without the authority, of law. For the words alleged to have been spoken, action of slander was not legal. That this may be made clear to the general reader, we quote the language of the law from Selwyn’s “Digest”:—

To call a man a liar is not actionable; but the offensive words charged upon Rogers do not necessarily impute as much as this. There might have been a mistake or a misunderstanding on both sides, or Mr. Saltonstall may, for good reason, have changed his purpose. No crime was charged upon him, which we have seen is necessary to support the action. “Where the words are not actionable in themselves and the only ground of action is the special damage, such damage must be proved as alleged.” In this case no special damage, is alleged and of course none proved. The causes of the suit were too trifling for further discussion. Falsehood need not rest upon either. Duplicity was no part of Roger’s character, and, since we have spoken a word for him, we will let the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall speak for himself, as quoted by Mr. McEwen in his “Bi-Centennial Discourse”:—

We may suppose that Mr. Saltonstall thought he had done a brilliant act, to recover from John Rogers a sum equal to about six year’s salary. But there are scales that never grow rusty and dials that do not tire. Time, the great adjuster of all things, will have its avenges.

While the least peccadilloes of the Rogerenes have been searched out as with candles and published from pulpit and from press, no one of their enemies has ever found it convenient to name this high-handed act of oppression, as shown in the suit referred to. Perhaps they have viewed it in the light that the Scotchman did his text, when he said, “Brethren, this is a very difficult text; let us look it square in the face and pass on.” They may not even have looked it in the face.

Last, if not least, of the unauthenticated anecdotes narrated by Mr. McEwen of the Rogerenes, in his half-century sermon, which we would not care to unearth, but which has recently been republished in The Outlook, is here given:—

When we remember that Mr. Adam’s name was not Theophilus, and that, if it was on Sunday that the preacher was going to church, the gutters would not have been in process of paving, a shadow of doubt falls upon this story.

But Mr. McEwen throws heavier stones at the Rogerenes, which we are compelled to notice, and shall see what virtue there is in them.

Why, in speaking of the Rogerenes, in his half-century sermon, does he say: “To pay taxes of any sort grieved their souls”? when they were so exact to render to CÆsar the things that are CÆsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s? Miss Caulkins fully exonerates them from this charge. We repeat her words:—

Why should they not? Would not the Congregational church at that time have abhorred such a tax imposed upon them to support the Baptist ministry? Until we are willing to concede to others the rights that we claim for ourselves, we are not the followers of Him who speaketh from heaven. But the most glaring wrong done to these dissenters by the standing order, outvying perhaps Gov. Saltonstall’s groundless suit for damages, is found in the course taken by the magistrates, unrebuked, who, however small was the fine or however large the value of the property distrained, returned nothing to the victims of their injustice.

Says John Rogers, Jr.:—

As showing the absurd and unjust treatment that John Rogers endured at the hands of the civil and ecclesiastical power, we quote from Miss Caulkins. Clearly he was right with regard to the jurisdiction of the court:—

John Bolles, born in 1677, a disciple of John Rogers, in his book entitled “True Liberty of Conscience is in Bondage to No Flesh,” makes this statement, on page 98:—

His biographer adds, “Mr. Bolles was doubtless that man.”

We quote further from John Bolles:—

Mr. McEwen says derisively:—

It was not the apostles, but the Hebrews, to whom the apostle wrote, who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. A small matter, it may seem, to correct; but accuracy of Scripture quotation may be a Rogerene trait, and the writer will be proud if it be said, “Surely, thou art also one of them, for thy speech bewrayeth thee.”

The subject on which we have entered opens and broadens and deepens before us, blending with all history and all truth. It is not exceptional, it is not isolated. It may not be blotted from memory, as it cannot be blotted from existence, painfully interwoven as it is with the mottled fabric of time. The world’s greatest benefactors have often been its greatest sufferers. Socrates was made to drink the fatal hemlock, for not believing in the gods acknowledged by the state. Seneca, the moralist, was put to death by his ungrateful pupil, Nero. The first followers of Christ were persecuted, tortured and slain by the heathen world. Attaining to civil power, Christians treated in like manner their fellow Christians. Ecclesiastical history, wherever there has been an alliance of church and state, is blackened with crimes and cruelties too foul to be named. Recall the nameless horrors of the Inquisition, perpetrated under such rule. Think of Smithfield and the bloody queen.

Is it to be wondered at that the Rogerenes, meeting persecution at every turn, should have been aroused to a sublimity of courage, perhaps of defiance, against the tide of intolerance which had swept over the ages and was now wildly dashing its unspent waves across their path? Not until more than a century later did the potent word of Christian enlightenment go forth, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”

Passing a period of fifty years, darkened with wrongs and cruelties, the following notice of whipping is here given. It is necessary to present facts, that we may form a true judgment of the character and mission of this sect, which had at least the honor, like that of the early Christians, of being “everywhere spoken against.”

From the “Life of John Bolles” we take the following:—

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.

The Rev. Mr. Saltonstall began his ministry in New London in 1688, at the age of twenty-two. This was about twelve years after the prosecutions against the Rogers family, for non-conformity, had commenced. In 1691, he was ordained, and continued to preach until 1708, when he was chosen governor of the State and abandoned the ministry altogether. Bred in the narrow school of ecclesiasticism, and of a proud and dominant spirit, the day-star of religious liberty seems not even to have dawned upon his mind.

He was virulent in his enmity to John Rogers from the beginning. The Furies have been said to relent; his rancor showed no abatement.

In 1694, he presented charges of blasphemy against John Rogers, without the knowledge of the latter, and while he was confined in New London jail. We copy the following extract, from a statement made by John Rogers, Jr., writing in defence of his father, which shows how closely he was watched by his adversaries, that they might find grounds of accusation against him.

Peter Pratt, of whom we shall say more hereafter, an author mainly quoted by historians on the subject we are discussing, in a pamphlet traducing the character of John Rogers, and written after his death, had said of his treatment in Hartford: “His whippings there were for most audacious contempt of authority; his sitting on the gallows was for blasphemous words.”

To which John Rogers, Jr., thus replies:—

The words of John Rogers were perfectly scriptural, as will be understood by every intelligent reader of the Bible.

The Apostle speaks of the church as the body of Christ. Again, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” And other passages to the same effect.

The cry of blasphemy has been a favorite device with murderers and persecutors in all ages.

When Naboth was set on high by Ahab to be slain, proclamation was made, “This man hath blasphemed God and the King.”

“For a good work we stone you not,” said the Jews to Christ, “but for blasphemy.” And the high priest said of Christ himself, “What need we any further witness? Have we not heard his blasphemy from his own mouth?”

Miss Caulkins, in her “History of New London,” although inclined to favor the ecclesiastical side, says: “The offences of the Rogerenes were multiplied and exaggerated, both by prejudice and rumor. Doubtless a sober mind would not now give so harsh a name to expressions which our ancestors deemed blasphemous.”

It will be remembered that in 1677, “the court ordered that John Rogers should be called to account once a month and fined £5 each time,” irrespective of his innocence or guilt, and without trial of either. This unrighteous order would seem to have been in force fifteen years later, viz., in November, 1692. “At that time,” says Miss Caulkins, “besides his customary fines for working on the Sabbath and for baptizing, he was amerced £4 for entertaining Banks and Case (itinerant exhorters) for a month or more at his house.”—“Customary fines!”

In the spring of 1694, Rogers was transferred from the New London to the Hartford Prison. Why was this transfer made? Perhaps that the charges of blasphemy brought against him might with more certainty be sustained where he was not known. Perhaps that the sympathies of the people would not be as likely to find expression there as they sometimes did at his outrageous treatment in New London; as will be seen. Or, by a more rigorous treatment he might be made to submit.

In Hartford he was placed in charge of a cruel and unprincipled jailer, who was entirely subservient to the will of his enemies, and who told John Rogers he would make him comply with their worship, if the authorities could not.

What prompted, we might ask, the unusual and merciless treatment that he received during this imprisonment at Hartford? He had not offended the authorities nor the people there; he was a stranger in their midst. The same remorseless spirit that had delivered him up to them as guilty of blasphemy was doubtless the moving, animating cause of such savage conduct. Scarcely four months had elapsed after his release from the Hartford prison where he had been confined nearly four years, before the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall brought a suit of defamation against him, for the most trivial reasons, as we have seen (Chapter I), and upon no legal grounds whatever; yet a parasitical jury awarded the august complainant damages in the unconscionable sum of £600. Of this proceeding, Miss Caulkins, in her “History of New London,” says: “Rogers had not been long released from prison, before he threw himself into the very jaws of the lion, as it were, by provoking a personal collision with Mr. Saltonstall, the minister of the town.”

“Jaws of the lion!” Perhaps Miss Caulkins builded wiser than she knew. We had not ourselves presumed to characterize Mr. Saltonstall as the king of beasts; but, since John Rogers, so far as we know, was never charged with deviation from the truth, except in the above mentioned suit, while the Rev. Mr. Saltonstall was not above suspicion, as will appear by the false charge of blasphemy he brought against Rogers, and by other acts of which we shall speak hereafter, we will leave the reader to judge on which side the truth lay in this case.

It should be remembered that years had elapsed after the fines, imprisonments, etc., of Rogers had commenced—for non-attendance at the meetings of the standing order, for baptizing, breach of the Sabbath, etc.—before he was charged with entering the meeting-house in time of public worship and remonstrating there with the people. It was not in self-defence alone, it was in defence of justice that he spoke. Who were the first aggressors? Who disturbed him in the performance of the baptismal rites? Who interfered with his meetings? Who entered them as spies, to lay the foundation for suits against him? These things have not been referred to; they have not been confessed; they have not been apologized for, on the part of the standing order. If John Rogers was such a terrible sinner for what he did to them, how much greater accountability will they have to meet who, without any just cause, made their attack upon him!

There are fires burning in the heart of every good man that cannot be quenched. As well undertake to smother the rays of the sun or to confine ignited dynamite. We would not justify breach of courtesy, or any other law not contrary to the law of God; but there are times when to be silent would be treason to truth.

John Roger’s father was the largest taxpayer in the colony, and had himself alone been subjected to the payment of one-tenth part of the cost of building the meeting-house, while John Rogers and his adherents, who were industrious, frugal, and thrifty people—or they never could have sustained the immense fines imposed upon them without being brought to abject poverty—had probably paid as much more; so we may suppose that at least one-fifth of the meeting-house, strictly speaking, belonged to them, while they were constantly being taxed for the support of this church of their persecutors.

The meeting-house was, in those times, quite often used for public purposes; in fact, the courts were frequently held there. How, upon a week day, could he have found an audience of his persecutors, or permission to address them? If he had published a circular it would have been deemed a scandalous paper, for which he might have been fined and imprisoned. He could scarcely get at the ear of the people in any other way than by the course he took, and he could in no other way put as forcible a check upon the church party persecutions of his own sect.

There are volcanoes in nature; may there not be such in the moral world? Who knows but they are safety valves to the whole system. It cannot be denied that the church gave ample and repeated occasion to call from these reformers something more than the sound of the lute. These moral upheavings must tend to a sublime end, and like adversity have their sweet uses. We are now breathing the fragrance of the flower planted in the dark soil of those turbulent times. Of the Puritanism of New England, we must say it is bespattered with many a blot, which ought not to be passed over with zephyrs of praise. “Fair weather cometh out of the north. Men see not the bright light in the cloud. The wind passeth over and cleanseth them.” Let us revere the names of all who, in the face of suffering and loss, have dared to stand up boldly in truth’s defence.

To impress men to haul an apostle of liberty from jail to jail, break into the sanctity of family relations, imprison fathers and mothers, purloin their property, for no just cause whatever, leaving their children to cry in the streets for bread, and this under the cloak of religion, is an offence incomparably greater than to make one’s voice heard in vindication of truth, even in a meeting-house.

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.

Of the almost unprecedented suffering and cruelties which John Rogers endured for conscience’s sake, and in the cause of religious freedom, for many years, and particularly of his confinement in the Hartford prison, he here tells the story, written by himself about twelve years after his release from that prison. See “Midnight Cry,” pages 4-16:—

Friends and Brethren:—

I have found it no small matter to enter in at the straight gate and to keep the narrow way that leads unto life; for it hath led me to forsake a dear wife and children, yea, my house and land and all my worldly enjoyment, and not only so, but to lose all the friendships of the world, yea, to bury all my honor and glory in the dust, and to be counted the off-scouring and filth of all things; yea, the straight and narrow way hath led me into prisons, into stocks and to cruel scourgings, mockings and derision, and I could not keep in it without perfect patience under all these things; for through much tribulation must we enter into the kingdom of God.

I have been a listed soldier under His banner now about thirty-two years, under Him whose name is called the Word of God, who is my Captain and Leader, that warreth against the devil and his angels, against whom I have fought many a sore battle, within this thirty-two years, for refusing to be subject to the said devil’s or dragon’s laws, ordinances, institutions and worship; and for disregarding his ministers, for which transgressions I have been sentenced to pay hundreds of pounds, laid in iron chains, cruelly scourged, endured long imprisonments, set in the stocks many hours together, out of the bounds of all human law, and in a cruel manner.

Considering who was my Captain and Leader, and how well He had armed me for the battle, I thought it my wisdom to make open proclamation of war against the dragon, accordingly I did, in writing, and hung it out on a board at the prison window, but kept no copy of it, but strangely met with a copy of it many years after, and here followeth a copy of it. (See Part II, Chapter IV.) This proclamation of War was in the first month, and in the year 1694. It did not hang long at the Prison window before a Captain, who also was a Magistrate, came to the prison window and told me he was a Commission Officer and that proclamations belonged to him to publish; and so he took it away with him, and I never heard anything more about it from the Authority themselves; but I heard from others, who told me they were present and heard it read among the Authority, with great laughter and sport at the fancy of it.

But the Dragon which deceiveth the whole world, pitted all his forces against me in a great fury; for one of his ministers, a preacher of his doctrine, not many days after this proclamation, made complaint to the Authority against me, as I was informed, and after understood it to be so by the Authority, and that he had given evidence of Blasphemy against me; though nothing relating to my proclamation; and this following Warrant and Mittimus was issued against me, while I was in New London prison, which I took no copy of also; but the Mittimus itself came to my hands as strangely as the copy of the Proclamation did; of which here followeth a copy:—

“Whereas John Rogers of New London hath of late set himself in a furious way, in direct opposition to the true worship and pure ordinances and holy institution of God; as also on the Lord’s Day passing out of prison in the time of public worship, running into the meeting-house in a railing and raging manner, as being guilty of Blasphemy.

“To the Constable of New London, or County Marshal, these are therefore in their Majestie’s name to require you to impress two sufficient men, to take unto their custody the body of John Rogers and him safely to convey unto Hartford and deliver unto the prison-keeper, who is hereby required him the said John Rogers to receive into custody and safely to secure in close prison until next Court of Assistants held in Hartford. Fail not: this dated in New London, March 28th, 1694.”

By this Warrant and Mittimus I was taken out of New London Prison, by two armed men, and carried to the head jail of the Government, where I was kept till the next Court of Assistants, and there fined £5 for reproaching their ministry, and to sit on the gallows a quarter of an hour with a halter about my neck; and from thence to the prison again, and there to continue till I paid the said £5 and gave in a bond of £50 not to disturb their churches; where I continued three years and eight months from my first commitment. This was the sentence. And upon a training day the Marshall came with eight Musqueteers, and a man to put the halter on, and as I passed by the Train Band, I held up the halter and told them my Lord was crowned with thorns for my sake and should I be ashamed to go with a halter about my neck for His sake? Whereupon, the Authority gave order forthwith that no person should go with me to the gallows, save but the guard; the gallows was out of the town. When I came to it, I saw that both gallows and ladder were newly made. I stepped up the ladder and walked on the gallows, it being a great square piece of timber and very high. I stamped on it with my feet, and told them I came there to stamp it under my feet; for my Lord had suffered on the gallows for me, that I might escape it.

From thence, I was guarded with the said eight Musqueteers to the prison again. Being come there, the Officers read to me the Court’s sentence and demanded of me whether I would give in a bond of £50 not to disturb their churches for time to come, and pay the £5 fine. I told them I owed them nothing and would not bind myself.

About five or six months after, there was a malefactor taken out of the prison where I was and put to death, by reason of which there was a very great concourse of people to behold it; and, when they had executed him, they stopped in the street near to the prison where I was, and I was taken out (I know not for what) and tied to the carriage of a great gun, where I saw the County whip, which I knew well, for it was kept in the prison where I was, and I had it oftentimes in my hand, and had viewed it, it being one single line opened at the end, and three knots tied at the end, on each strand a knot, being not so big as a cod-line; I suppose they were wont, when not upon the Dragon’s service, not to exceed forty stripes, according to the law of Moses, every lash being a stripe.

I also saw another whip lie by it with two lines, the ends of the lines tied with twine that they might not open, the two knots seemed to me about as big as a walnut; some told me they had compared the lines of the whip to the lines on the drum and the lines of the whip were much bigger. The man that did the execution did not only strike with the strength of his arm, but with a swing of his body also; my senses seemed to be quicker, in feeling, hearing, discerning, or comprehending anything at that time than at any other time.

The spectators told me they gave me three score stripes, and then they let me loose and asked me if I did not desire mercy of them. I told them, “No, they were cruel wretches.” Forthwith, they sentenced me to be whipped a second time. I was told by the spectators that they gave me sixteen stripes; and from thence I was carried to the prison again; and one leg chained to the cell. A bed which I had hired to this time, at a dear rate, was now taken from me by the jailer, and not so much as straw to lie on, nor any covering. The floor was hollow from the ground, and the planks had wide and open joints. It was upon the 18th day of the 8th month that I was thus chained, and kept thus chained six weeks, the weather cold. When the jailer first chained me, he brought some dry crusts on a dish and put them to my mouth, and told me he that was executed that day had left them, and that he would make me thankful for them before he had done with me, and would make me comply with their worship before he had done with me though the Authority could not do it; and then went out from me and came no more at me for three days and three nights; nor sent me one mouthful of meat, nor one drop of drink to me; and then he brought a pottinger of warm broth and offered it to me. I replied, “Stand away with thy broth, I have no need of it.”

“Ay! ay!” said he, “have you so much life yet in you?” and went his way. Thus I lay chained at this cell six weeks. My back felt like a dry stick without sense of feeling, being puffed up like a bladder, so that I was fain to lie upon my face. In which prison I continued three years after this, under cruel sufferings.

But I must desist; for it would contain a book of a large volume to relate particularly what I suffered in the time of this imprisonment. But I trod upon the Lion and Adder, the young lion and the dragon I trampled under my feet, and came forth a conqueror, through faith in Him who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and hath overcome death itself for us, and him that hath the power of it also, who is the devil. But this long war hath kept me waking and watching and looking for the coming of the bridegroom and earnestly desiring that his bride may be prepared and in readiness to meet Him in her beautiful garments, being arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.