John Rodgers, a Presbyterian clergyman, was born on 5 August 1727 in Boston, Massachussets. He was a zealous pastor and preached with moving effect in several curches, always attracting a big amount of new members into congregation. Washington consulted him on several occasions during the Revolution.
Background
John Rodgers was born on 5 August 1727 in Boston, Massachussets, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Baxter) Rodgers, who six years before had emigrated to that city from Londonderry, Ireland. In 1728 the family moved to Philadelphia. During George Whitefield's visit there in 1739, young Rodgers held a lantern for him as he spoke to a crowd of people from the courthouse steps. So absorbed in the speaker's words did the boy become that he dropped the lantern. Whitefield's effect on Rodgers was lasting and finally led to his entering the ministry and being a stanch supporter of New Side views.
Education
His education was received, first, under a Mr. Stevenson, an Irishman who had established a grammar school in Philadelphia; next, at the school in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, conducted by Reverend John Roan; and finally, under Reverend Samuel Blair, at Fagg's Manor, Chester County, with whom he began the study of theology.
Career
On October 14, 1747, he was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle.
His first assignment was to accompany Reverend Samuel Davies to Virginia and assist him in evangelistic work. When, however, he presented himself to the general court at Williamsburg to qualify for a license to preach in the dominion, the court refused to consider his credentials, and he crossed over to Somerset County, Maryland, where he labored during the summer of 1748.
In the autumn he accepted a call to St. George's, New Castle County, Delaware, where on March 16, 1749, he was ordained and installed. His sixteen years' service here was marked by extraordinary success.
In 1765 he was elected a trustee of the College of New Jersey, to the duties of which office he gave faithful attention for more than twenty years.
His pastorate in St. George's was followed by one in New York, covering a period of forty-five years (1765 - 1810).
Here his congregation so increased that it was soon necessary to build a second church, the congregation utilizing both, but remaining one ecclesiastical body.
Driven from New York during the Revolution, he resided chiefly in Connecticut towns and ministered to several churches.
From April to November 1776, however, he was chaplain in General Heath's brigade, and in April 1777 was elected chaplain of the Convention of the State of New York, later serving the Council of Safety in the same capacity.
After the war he gathered his congregation together and restored its places of worship, which had been partly destroyed by the British. When the first legislature of the state convened he was its chaplain.
He was a member of the committee that revised the standards of the Presbyterian Church in 1788 and was moderator of the first General Assembly under the new arrangement, held in Philadelphia the following year. When the legislature in 1784 created the He was a member of the committee that revised the standards of the Presbyterian Church in 1788 and was moderator of the first General Assembly under the new arrangement, held in Philadelphia the following year. When the legislature in 1784 created the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, he was chosen vice-chancellor and served till his death.
He was a friend of Gilbert Tennent, Samuel Finley, and Alexander MacWhorter, and also of John Witherspoon, whose funeral sermon he preached. On the recommendation of Franklin, prompted by George Whitefield, the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him in 1768 the degree of D. D. His prudence and practical wisdom were widely recognized; Washington consulted him on several occasions during the Revolution.
Several of his sermons survive in published form. His death occurred in New York in his eighty-fourth year.
Achievements
Religion
He was an active member of the convention created in 1766 by non-episcopal churches to oppose an American episcopate.
Personality
He was a zealous pastor and preached with moving effect. His church, though more than once enlarged, was invariably filled, including aisles, doors, and windows.
Among the leaders of Presbyterianism during the late colonial period and the early days of the republic, Rodgers exerted a calm, wise influence.
In him evangelistic zeal and tolerance were united in a rather rare degree.
As he walked the streets, a middle-sized, thick-set person, grave and sedate, always punctiliously dressed, and wearing a large white wig, he was the personification of clerical solidity and dignity.
Quotes from others about the person
He refused to denounce the errors of others, saying, "let us out-preach them, out-pray them, and out-live them, and we need not fear" (Miller, post, p. 329).
Connections
His wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Bayard of Cecil County, Maryland, whom he married September 19, 1752, died in January 1763, having borne him four children, and on August 15, 1764, he married Mary (Antrobus) Grant, widow of William Grant, a Philadelphia merchant; by this marriage he had one child.