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ington and his two nieces . When we were seated , the General called for wine and cake , of which we partook , he drinking our health and wishing us success in all our under takings . The General asked us a number of questions concerning Europe , to alL which , you may he sure , we answered in our best manner . It is his
general custom to say little , but on this occasion we understood he was more than usually talkative . He made but one remark which , under the circumstances in which it was delivered , has a peculiar energy , that * we had chosen a happy country , and one large enough 1 ' After sitting about , half an hour , we retired ,
highly gratified . " —The hospitality of Dr . Rogers towards a large portion of Dissenting emigrants who crowded to America at the close of the war , has been the subject of j nst and general commendation . On his secession from public life , Dr . Rogers had numerous invitations to settle In the ministry . He declined , all , and
rather chose to be a supernumerary , officiating occasionally In Philadelphia and its vicinity . Though himself a strict Ca / - vmistic Baptist , and the head of the American Baptists , yet he preached for all denominations—Episcopalians , Presbyterians , Independents and Methodists —sharing alike in the favours of the
State , and , however diversified as to modes of worship , living together in peace and harmony . Towards Dr . Priestley , indeed , on his hearing that he had landed in America , an intemperate pulpit ebullition of zeal escaped his lips . But on his becoming acquainted with that great and good man > he behaved towards him with the utmost kindness and
attention . In one of his letters to the present writer , he says , " Dr . Priestley , when residing at Philadelphia , often took coffee at my house , and I passed some delightful evenings in his company . " And he also mentioned in the course of his correspondence , a circumstance honourable to his feelings , that in one of his excursions
to the Northern States , he sought out the grave of his old heretical friend Winchester , and shed tears to his memory . Here are no indications of rancour or of bigotry . The native kindness of his disposition responded to the spirit of
Christianity . Though very zealous and active in the promotion of what are usually denominated orthodox sentiments , he never ceased to maintain the sacred right ojf private judgment in matters of religion . There never existed a warmer friend to the
civil and religious liberties-of mankind . But while Dr . Rogers was thus engaged as a divine , he was not an idle member of the republic of letters . A
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warm friend to education in every useful department of knowledge , he would have the rising generation well fitted to discharge the duties of society . In 1789 , he was elected Professor of English atad of Oratory in the College of Philadelphia ,
and , soon after , in the University of Pennsylvania . The title of D . D . was now conferred upon him , having for many years bore the title of of A . M ., received from three different literary institutions . He sustained likewise a number of
responsible offices to benevolent , moral and religious societies in Philadelphia * whilst his zeal glowed most intensely for the abolition of slavery—the crying abomination of the land . In 1812 , he- resigned his Professorship in theUniversity * having for twenty-three years discharged its duties with an exemplary assiduity . The decease of such a man ratist be a *
loss to any community . Retiring into the bosom of his family , Dr . Rogers passed the remainder of his career with ease and tranquillity , employing himself in a correspondence with literary and religious characters in almost every part of the world . His letters are replete , with good
sense , benevolence and piety . The writer of this obituary y who became his honoured correspondent in 1818 , on the death of their mutually beloved friend , the Ret . TVilliam Richards , of Lynn , bears testimony to the urbanity of his disposition , and to the sensibilities of his heart . He
was married twice : his first wife , an amiable and pious woman , fell a victim to the yellow fever , that scourge of the " Western Continent His second worthy partner survives him- —with three daughters—who , living together , and devoutly
cherishing his virtues , await —blessed hope !—their reunion with him in heaven . Dr . Rog-ers did not distinguish himself a * an author ; but the publication of a volume of sermons is meditated , which > while it exhibits a faithful record of his
talents and attainments ., will embalm his memory . The decease of Dr . Kogers was sudden and unexpected . He sustained a severe shock by the death of an only sonv from which he never fully recovered , though his mind had subsided into a devout resignation to the will of Heaven . About a fortnight previous to his
dissolution , he was seized with an apoplectic fit , in the act of explaining a passage of script lire to a friend ! The stupor in- * duced by this ' attack was abated by the use of remedies , but a relapse produced a fatal termination ., Most placid was his dismission from the burden of mortality ; and it is said , that ? the day after his decease , the features of his countenance as-
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112 Obituary . — JViltiam Rogers , D . D .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1825, page 112, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2533/page/48/
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