carded him but for his wife's intercession. On at third trial Rogers finished his university career with credit. In 1592 he became vicar of Honingham, Norfolk, and in 1603 he succeeded Lawrence Fairclough, father of Samuel Fairclough [q. v.], as vicar of Haverhill, Suffolk.
In 1605 he became vicar of Dedham, Essex, where for over thirty years he had the repute of being 'one of the most awakening preachers of the age.' On his lecture days his church overflowed. Cotton Mather reports a saying of Ralph Brownrig [q. v.] that Rogers would 'do more good with his wild notes than we with our set music.' His lecture was suppressed from 1629 till 1631, on the ground of his nonconformity. His subsequent compliance was not strict. Giles Firmin [q. v.], one of his converts, 'never saw him wear a surplice,' and he only occasionally used the prayer-book, and then repeated portions of it from memory. He died on 18 Oct. 1636, and was buried in the churchyard at Dedham. There is a tombstone to his memory, and also a mural monument in the church. His funeral sermon was preached by John Knowles (1600?–1685) [q. v.] His engraved portrait exhibits a worn face, and depicts him in nightcap, ruff, and full beard. Matthew Newcomen [q. v.] succeeded him at Dedham. Nathaniel Rogers [q. v.] was his second son.
He published: 1. 'The Doctrine of Faith,' &c., 1627, 12mo; 6th edit. 1634, 12mo. 2. 'A Treatise of Love,' &c., 1629, 12mo; 3rd edit. 1637, 12mo. Posthumous was 3. 'A Godly and Fruitful Exposition upon . . . the First Epistle of Peter,' &c., 1650, fol. Brook assigns to him, without date, 'Sixty Memorials of a Godly Life.' He prefaced 'Gods Treasurie displayed,' &c., 1630, 12mo, by F. B. (Francis Bunny?)
[Brook's Lives of the Puritans, 1813, ii. 421 sq.; Cotton Mather's Magnalia, 1702, iii. 19; Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 298; Granger's Biogr. Hist, of England, 1779, ii. 191 sq.; Davids's Annals of Evang. Nonconf. in Essex, 1863, pp. 146 sq.; Browne's Hist. Congr. Norfolk and Suffolk, 1877, p. 503.]
ROGERS, JOHN (1627–1665?), fifth-monarchy man, born in 1627 at Messing in Essex, was second son of Nehemiah Rogers [q. v.], by his wife Margaret, sister of William Collingwood, a clergyman of Essex, who was appointed canon of St. Paul's after the Restoration. In early life John experienced a deep conviction of sin. After five years he obtained assurance of salvation, but not before he had more than once in his despair attempted his own life. Thenceforth he threw in his lot with the most advanced section of puritans, and in consequence was turned out of doors by his father in 1642. He made his way on foot to Cambridge, where he was already a student of medicine and a servitor at King's College. But the civil war had broken out, and Cambridge was doing penance for its loyalty. King's College Chapel was turned into a drill-room, and the servitors dismissed. Rogers, almost starved, was driven to eat grass, but in 1643 he obtained a post in a school in Lord Brudenel's house in Huntingdonshire, and afterwards at the free school at St. Neots. In a short time he became well known in Huntingdonshire as a preacher, and, returning to Essex, he received presbyterian ordination in 1647. About the same time he married a daughter of Sir Robert Payne of Midloe in Huntingdonshire, and became 'settled minister' of Purleigh in Essex, a valuable living. Rogers, however, found country life uncongenial, and, engaging a curate, he proceeded to London. There he renounced his presbyterian ordination, and joined the independents. Becoming lecturer at St. Thomas Apostle's, he preached violent political sermons in support of the Long parliament.
In 1650 he was sent to Dublin by parliament as a preacher. Christ Church Cathedral was assigned him by the commissioners as a place of worship (Reid, History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, ii. 245). He did not, however, confine himself to pastoral work, but 'engaged in the field, and exposed his life freely,' for conscience' sake. A schism arising in his congregation owing to the adoption by a party among them of anabaptist principles, he wearied of the controversy, and returned to England in 1652 (ib. ii. 260). In the following year his parishioners at Purleigh cited him for non- residence, and, much to his sorrow, he lost the living.
Rogers was now no longer the champion of parliament. In its quarrel with the army it had alienated the independents whose cause Rogers had espoused. Amid the unsettlement of men's opinions, which the disputes of presbyterians and independents aggravated, the fifth-monarchy men came into being, and Rogers was one of the foremost to join them. Their creed suited his ecstatic temperament. They believed in the early realisation of the millennium, when Christ was to establish on earth 'the fifth monarchy' in fulfilment of the prophecy of the prophet Daniel. According to their scheme of government, all political authority ought to reside in the church under the guidance of Christ himself. They wished to establish a body of delegates chosen by the
