St John's College W.29 and 30

John Rogers, Writings on freedom of conscience and other matters. English, c. 1838-43

John Rogers, of St John's College, Cambridge (1799-1843): drafts for extended essays on Church government, freedom, religious liberty and other matters. Not dated, and the title page of the first vol. has been torn away. They may have been written in response to the printed advertisement held loose in W.30 for prize essays on 'The tendency and effects of the alliance between Church and State', issued by the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty on 29 May 1838. Despite a much later claim to the contrary inside the front covers, these writings seem to have no immediate connection with Rogers' sole printed work, Antipopopriestian: or, an attempt to liberate and purify Christianity, from popery ... (London, 1839), subsequent editions of which bear the title Anti-popery. It seems more likely that they comprise the 'work (that has cost much time and thought) on Moral Freedom and Responsibility', which Rogers promises in his preface to the third edition of Anti-popery (1842). Rogers' journal for 1820-4 is held at SJC, MS W.28.

Manuscript extra information

355x220 and 330x210 mm. 112 and 352 pp. (author's pagination), with some further pages loosely inserted. Presented to the College by Mr Barclay Stacey, husband of the author's great-niece, Sep. 1973. Correspondence dated 31 Aug. - 25 Sep. 1973 between Mr Stacey, and Dr Lee and Dr Crook, respectively Librarian and President of St John's College, is held with SJC, MS W.28. Further correspondence and associated papers, including a sketch by Rogers, are held with the relevant College Admissions Register.

Autograph throughout, with many corrections. Paper. Commercial ledgers of the early nineteenth century, the first much damaged, and preserved within the covers of a Stationery Office volume, c. 1940, presumably by Mrs Stacey.