JOHN ROGERS.

      Among the names that should be rescued from possible oblivion is that of John Rogers, born in Clark county, Kentucky, January 6, 1800; died January 4, 1867. When he grew to manhood it was under most trying conditions that preachers stood for a complete return to "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." But there are always men whose love of truth and loyalty to God lift them above the surface and change the currents of history. It is no extravagant claim to urge that among such characters John Rogers deserves to be enrolled. While apprenticed at Millersburg, Kentucky, at cabinet-making, he read omnivorously the books that came to his hands. When only nineteen he enlisted with Barton W. Stone in that great movement which was subsequently merged into what is known as the Reformation or Restoration. He preached in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri with dauntless courage and unswerving faith in God and in the plea of the fathers, becoming conspicuous for his power as an evangelist, and was regarded as one of the able co-workers with Stone, Johnson, Smith (Raccoon), Raines and others, whose names shine with undimmed luster upon the pages of that history which marks the beginning of the overthrow of all creeds. No student of the first quarter of last century can be ignorant of the fact that his association with Stone and Smith was a potent factor in the establishment of the churches in Kentucky.

      The trials of his early years developed patience and self-reliance. As his reading embraced the best literature, he became a master of choice English and his pen thrilled with the thoughts that burned in his soul. His contributions can be found in some of the best works published by Alexander Campbell, and as proof of his scholarship and mental equipoise he was chosen as one of the moderators in the debate between Campbell and Purcell. He was the author of the biographies of John T. Johnson and Barton W. Stone.

      Although economical and thrifty, he was ever ready to contribute his money to benevolent enterprises, being among the donors to the Midway Orphan School, Kentucky University and Missionary work. Alexander Campbell, by the payment of one hundred dollars, constituted him a Life Member of the American Christian Missionary Society.

      Preaching for forty-seven years for the church at Carlisle, he passed through the stormy period of the Civil War and, in spite of his staunch advocacy of the Union, held his congregation firmly under the sway of love and though many of them differed from him in his convictions they clung to him as children to the hand of a father.

      The ideals of life which came to him from deep study and profound research rose so high above his own realization and the uplift of his congregation that he was subject to deep despondency, and yet he possessed a keen appreciation of the humorous.

      His addresses delivered before the war read like prophecies and were forebodings of the coming storm. Although at one time a slave-holder, he believed in gradual emancipation and bravely advocated the claim of the oppressed, even when the billows of turbulent strife dashed over his head. He fought with unflinching courage the giant evil [450] intemperance, his lectures being grounded on the eternal principles of right. He was also a relentless foe to the use of tobacco, holding that the only shadow of justification for its use was in the text, "He that is filthy let him be filthy still."

      When this full and rounded life rises before us, whether we weigh it in the scales of good positively wrought, or evil negatively prevented, we must accord it a high place. More than four thousand souls brought to Christ, were they permitted to speak from the dead, would hold him up as a bright and shining light in the religious world. On his monument at Carlisle are inscribed the fitting words, "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and forever."

      The angel of death came while in mid-winter he was holding a meeting at Dover, Kentucky. It was the prayer of his life that he might die at his post.

      Without the hospitable home where he breathed his last, the wild waves and broken blocks of ice were beating against the shores of the Ohio, fit emblem of the storm through which he had fought his way towards perfection and success; within all was peace. His soul rested in Christ and from his dying lips there arose in sweet song, "Nearer My God to Thee, Nearer to Thee."

[COC 450-451]