John Rogers (1679–1729) was an English clergyman.

Life

The son of John Rogers, vicar of

Eynsham Eynsham is a village and civil parish in the West Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about north-west of Oxford and east of Witney. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648. It was estimated at 5,087 in 2020. Etymolo ...

, Oxford, he was born there. He was educated at

New College School New College School (officially St Mary's College School) is a private preparatory school for boys aged 4 to 13 in Oxford. It was founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham to provide for the education of 16 choristers for the chapel of New Coll ...

, and was elected scholar of

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, where he matriculated on 7 February 1693, graduating B.A. in 1697, and M.A. in 1700. Rogers took orders, but did not obtain his fellowship by succession until 1706. In 1710 he proceeded B.D. About 1704 he was presented to the vicarage of Buckland in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

(now

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

), where he was popular as a preacher. In 1712 he became lecturer of

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is now situated near the 19th-century Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in Aldwych. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th cent ...

The Strand, London The Strand (commonly referred to with a leading "The", but formally without) is a major street in the City of Westminster, Central London. The street, which is part of London's West End theatreland, runs just over from Trafalgar Square eas ...

, and later of

Christ Church, Newgate Street Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church afte ...

, with St Leonard's, Foster Lane. In 1716 he received the rectory of

Wrington Wrington is a village and a civil parish, civil and ecclesiastical parish on the north slopes of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset, England. Both include nearby Redhill, Somerset, Redhill. Wrington lies in the valley of the Congresbury Yeo riv ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and resigned his fellowship in order to marry. In 1719 he was appointed a canon, and in 1721 sub-dean of

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

. He seems to have retained all these appointments until 1726, when he resigned the lectureship of St Clement Danes. For his controversial writings the degree of D.D. was conferred on him by diploma at Oxford. In 1726 he became chaplain in ordinary to the future King George II, then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, and about the same time left London with the intention of spending the remainder of his life at Wrington. In 1728 Rogers accepted from the dean and chapter of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

the vicarage of

St Giles, Cripplegate St Giles-without-Cripplegate is an Church of England, Anglican church in the City of London, located on Fore Street (London), Fore Street within the modern Barbican Estate, Barbican complex. When built it stood without (that is, outside) the Lond ...

, but held the living little more than six months. Rogers died on 1 May 1729, and was buried on the 13th at Eynsham. His

funeral sermon A Christian funeral sermon is a formal religious oration or address given at a funeral ceremony, or sometimes a short time after, which may combine elements of eulogy with biographical comments and expository preaching. To qualify as a sermon, it sh ...

was preached by Nathaniel Marshall, and was the occasion of ''Some Remarks'', by "Philalethes" ( Arthur Ashley Sykes).

Works

Rogers gained a reputation in the Bangorian controversy, while he joined with Francis Hare in the attack on

Benjamin Hoadly Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 167617 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. Life ...

. In 1719 he wrote ''A Discourse of the Visible and Invisible Church of Christ'' to prove that the powers claimed by the priesthood were not inconsistent with the supremacy of Christ or with the liberty of Christians. An answer was published by Arthur Ashley Sykes, and to this Rogers replied. In 1727 he published a volume of eight sermons, ''The Necessity of Divine Revelation and the Truth of the Christian Religion'', to which was prefixed a preface containing a criticism of the ''Literal Scheme of Prophecy considered'', by Anthony Collins, the deist. This preface did not satisfy his friends, and drew a critical letter from Dr. A. Marshall .

Samuel Chandler Samuel Chandler (1693 – 8 May 1766) was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist minister and pamphleteer. He has been called the "uncrowned patriarch of English Dissenters, Dissent" in the latter part of the reign of George II ...

bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West M ...

, included remarks on the preface in his ''Conduct of the Modern Deists'', and Collins wrote ''A Letter to Dr. Rogers, on occasion of his Eight Sermons''. To all of these works Rogers replied in 1728 in his ''Vindication of the Civil Establishment of Religion''. This work prompted ''Some Short Reflections'', by

Thomas Chubb Thomas Chubb (29 September 16798 February 1747) was a lay English Deist writer born near Salisbury. He saw Christ as a divine teacher, but held reason to be sovereign over religion. He questioned the morality of religions, while defending Chri ...

, 1728, and a preface in Chandler's ''History of Persecution'', 1736. Many of his sermons were collected and published in three volumes after his death by John Burton. Rogers well acquainted with the writings of

Richard Hooker Richard Hooker (25 March 1554 – 2 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford Univer ...

and John Norris. After his death there were published his ''A Persuasive to Conformity addressed to the Dissenters'' (London, 1736) and ''A Persuasive to Conformity addressed to the Quakers'', London, 1747.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, John 1679 births 1729 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford People educated at New College School People from Buckland, Oxfordshire