Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/133

 the characteristics of a dictionary, a concordance, and a commentary; and sixthly, ‘The names of all the bokes in the Byble, and a brief rehersall of the yeares passed sence the begynnynge of the worlde unto 1538.’ In the ‘table of the princypall matters’ the passages in the Bible which seemed to Rogers to confute the doctrines of the Romish church are very fully noted. An introductory address to the reader prefaces the apocryphal books, which are described as uninspired.

By adopting the pseudonym ‘Thomas Matthew’ on the title-page, and when signing the dedication to Henry VIII, Rogers doubtless hoped to preserve himself from Tindal's fate. He was thenceforth known as ‘Rogers, alias Matthew,’ and his bible was commonly quoted as ‘Matthew's Bible.’

It was the second complete printed version in English, Coverdale's of 1535 being the first. Rogers's labours were largely used in the preparation of the Great Bible (1539–1540), on which was based the Bishop's Bible (1568), the latter being the main foundation of the Authorised Version of 1611. Hence Rogers may be credited with having effectively aided in the production of the classical English translation of the Bible (, Old Bibles, 1888, pp. 113 seq.;, English Bible, i. 309 sqq.; , Annals of the English Bible, i. 519 sq.).

Rogers returned to London in the summer of 1548. For a time he resided with the publisher, Edward Whitchurch, the partner of Richard Grafton, and Whitchurch published for him ‘A Waying and Considering of the Interim, by the honour-worthy and highly learned Phillip Melancthon, translated into Englyshe by John Rogers.’ Rogers's preface is dated 1 Aug. 1548. ‘The Interim’ was the name applied to an edict published by the Emperor Charles V's orders in the diet of Augsburg on 15 May 1548, bidding protestants conform to catholic practices. According to Foxe's story, which may be true, though some details are suspicious, Rogers in 1550 declined to use his influence with Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to prevent the anabaptist, Joan Bocher, from suffering death by burning. Rogers told the friend who interceded with him for the poor woman that death at the stake was a gentle punishment. ‘Well, perhaps,’ the friend retorted, prophetically, ‘you may yet find that you yourself shall have your hands full of this so gentle fire’ (, Commentarii Rerum in Ecclesia Gestarum, p. 202).

On 10 May 1550 Rogers was presented simultaneously to the rectory of St. Margaret Moyses and the vicarage of St. Sepulchre, both in London. They were crown livings, but Nicasius Yetswiert, whose daughter married Rogers's eldest son, was patron of St. Sepulchre pro hac vice. On 24 Aug. 1551 Rogers was appointed to the valuable prebend of St. Pancras in St. Paul's Cathedral by Nicholas Ridley [q. v.], bishop of London. With the prebend went the rectory of Chigwell, but this benefice brought no pecuniary benefit. Ridley formed a high opinion of Rogers's zeal. He wrote somewhat enigmatically to Sir John Cheke, on 23 July 1551, that he was a preacher ‘who for detecting and confuting of the anabaptists and papists in Essex, both by his preaching and by his writing, is enforced now to bear Christ's cross.’ Subsequently the dean and chapter of St. Paul's appointed him divinity lecturer in the cathedral. But Rogers's attitude to the government was not wholly complacent. The greed of the chief courtiers about Edward VI excited his disgust, and in a sermon at Paul's Cross he denounced the misuse of the property of the suppressed monasteries with such vigour that he was summoned before the privy council. He made an outspoken defence, and no further proceedings are known to have been taken. But at the same time he declined to conform to the vestments, and insisted upon wearing a round cap. Consequently, it would appear, he was temporarily suspended from his post of divinity lecturer at St. Paul's. According to an obscure entry in the ‘Privy Council Register’ in June 1553, orders were then issued by the council to the chapter to admit him within the cathedral, apparently to fulfil the duties of divinity-lecturer. In April 1552 he secured a special act of parliament naturalising his wife and such of his children as had been born in Germany.

On 16 July 1553, the second Sunday after the death of Edward VI and the day before Mary was proclaimed queen, Rogers preached, by order of Queen Jane's council, at Paul's Cross. Unlike Ridley, who had occupied that pulpit the previous Sunday, he confined himself to expounding the gospel of the day. On 6 Aug., three days after Queen Mary's arrival in London, Rogers preached again at the same place. He boldly set forth ‘such true doctrine as he and others had there taught in King Edward's days, exhorting the people constantly to remain in the same, and to beware of all pestilent Popery, idolatry, and superstition.’ For using such language he was summoned before the council. He explained that he was merely preaching the religion established by parliament. Nothing followed immediately, but Rogers never preached again. On the 16th he was again summoned before the council. The