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OBITUARY.
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< 111 )
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1824- April 7 , at Philadelphia , William Rogers , D . D ., in the 73 rd year of his age . He was born , 1751 , in Newport , Rhode Island ; his parents being respectable and pious members of the Particular Baptist denomination . Early impressed with the importance of religion , he made a profession of his faith by Baptism , and
became a member of the church , of which he was an ornament to the latest period of life . At the age of twelve years , he commenced his preparatory studies for the ministry , and in two years entered the College at Warren—which was afterwards removed to Providence . In 1769 , lie finished his studies and took his
degree of A . B . He was one of the first pupils of this Institution , for which he retained a predilection to the day of his decease . His gratitude to his Alma Mater could not be obliterated . Under the superintendence of Dr . Asa Messer , it is become one of the most flourishing Universities in America . It was indeed to
the suggestign of Dr . Rogers , that Brown University stands indebted for that valuable accession to its library , the books of the late William Richards , of Lynn , who admired the broad basis on which it was raised—at once favourable to the right of private judgment , and to the claims of Scriptural Christianity . In
1771 , Dr . Rogers was called to the Christian Ministry . Soon after , he left Newport , where he had taught an Academy , and settled at Philadelphia , hi March 1772 , he took the pastoral charge , by ordination , of the first Baptist Church in that city . Here commenced his
ministerial career amidst a people who recognized his merits ; whilst he , in return , did every thing in his power to promote their improvement . In this station he would have remained , pursuing the even tenor of his way , had not an event occurred which had been for some time
anticipated , and by . which the Continent was convulsed to its foundation . This was no other than the revolt of the Colonies , which brought on a war of seven long years with the Mother Country , but the successful issue of which ranked the United States among the nations of the earth !
At this momentous crisis , the energies , intellectual and moral , of Dr . Rogers were of too high an order to be suffered to remain dormant . In these spirit-stirring times , he was sejected to take an assigned station , where he discharged his duties with singular fidelity . In Jane 1775 , the Peuusylvauian Legislature voted
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three battalions of foot for the defence of the province , of which he was appointed Chaplain . Not long after , he was promoted to a Brigade Chaplaincy on the Continental Establishment , where he continued during the war , witnessing the incessant alternations of defeat and
victory which marked that eventful contest from its rise to its termination . In these conflicts , he mingled with correspondent emotions of sorrow or of joy . After an immense expenditure of money and of blood on the part of Britain , success crowned the cause of his native
country , which he had warmly and generously espoused . In 1781 , he exchanged the theatre of war for the scenes of a beloved privacy , and which he has been heard to declare he never would have quitted , but for the amor patrice which glowed so vividly in his breast . In his
letters to the writer of this article , he often touched on the favourite topic with delight , never mentioning the celebration of the return of the 4 th of JuJy , the day on which American Independence was proclaimed , but in terms of rapturous exultation . Having once
congratulated him upon the tranquillity of their rising empire , he , in his reply , spiritedly retorted , " Talk not , my dear friend , after this manner . You forget , we are a vast Republic , having on this side of the
water neither empires nor kingdoms amongst us , and of course neither kings nor emperors to disturb our tranquillity . '" The watchful patriot is never found slumbering over the hallowed liberties of his country .
The public situation held by Dr . Rogers during the war , brought him frequently in contact with General Washington , who seems to have entertained a more than ordinary regard for him . Indeed , he was of great service in introducing certain British emigrants to the illustrious President of the American
Republic ; one of which interviews was thus communicated by a young man to a friend in this country : — •< We waited ( June 1793 ) on Dr . Rogers , a most entertaining and agreeable man . We were with him great part of the time we remained in the city , and were introduced by him
to General Washington . The General was not at home when we called , but while we were talking with his private secretary in the hall , he came in , and spoke to Dr . Rogers with the greatest ea 9 e and familiarity , immediately asking us up to > the drawing room , where was Lady Wash-
Obituary.
OBITUARY .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1825, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2533/page/47/
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