ROGERS, JOHN (1627-1665?), English preacher, a Fifth Monarchy man, second son of Nehemiah Rogers, a royalist and Anglican clergyman, was born at Messing, Essex; he studied medi cine at King's college, Cambridge. In the quarrel between the army and the parliament Rogers sided with the army, and he was one of the first to join the Fifth Monarchy movement. He ap proved of the expulsion of the Long Parliament, but the estab lishment of the Protectorate at once threw the Fifth men into antagonism. Rogers addressed a warning letter to Crom well, and attacked him from the pulpit on Jan. 9, 1654. His house was searched and his papers seized, and Rogers then issued another denunciation against Cromwell, Mene, Tekel, Perez: a Letter la menting over Oliver Lord Cromwell. On March 28, on which day he had proclaimed a fast for the sins of the rulers, he preached a violent sermon against the protector. He was arrested in July. He confronted Cromwell with great courage when brought before him on Feb. 5, 1655, and was imprisoned successively at Windsor and in the Isle of Wight, being released in Jan. 1657. He returned to London, and, being suspected of conspiracy, was again im prisoned by Cromwell in the Tower (Feb. 3–April 16, 1658). On the protector's death and the downfall of Richard Cromwell, the ideals of the Fifth Monarchy men seemed nearer realization, but Rogers was engaged in political controversy with Prynne and became a source of embarrassment to his own faction, which en deavoured to get rid of him by appointing him "to preach the gospel" in Ireland. On the outbreak of Sir George Booth's royalist
insurrection, however, he became chaplain in Charles Fairfax's regiment, and served throughout the campaign. He was impris oned in Dublin in Jan. 166o by order of the army faction and released subsequently by the parliament. At the Restoration he withdrew to Holland, studied medicine at Leyden and Utrecht, where he obtained his M.D. in 1662. He was admitted to the degree of M.D. at Oxford in 1664, and is supposed to have died soon afterwards.
Besides the above pamphlet, Rogers wrote in 1653 Ohel or Beth shemesh, a Tabernacle for the Sun, in which he attacked the Presby terians; Sagrir, or Doomesday drawing nigh, from his new standpoint as a Fifth Monarchy man, Challah, the Heavenly Nymph (1653) ; Dod, or Chathan; the Beloved or the Bridegroom going forth for his Bride . . . (1653) ; Prison-born Morning Beams (1654) ; Jegar Sahadutha . . . (1657) ; Mr. Prynne's Good Old Cause stated and stunted io Year ago . . . (1609) ; ALcoroX,Thia a Christian Concertation (1659) ; Mr. Harrington's Parallel Unparalleled (1659) ; A Vindication of Sir H. Vane (1659) ; Disputatio Medica Inauguralis (1662).