Biography
John Rogers was born around 1500, in Deritend, near Birmingham, England. He was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1519. He was ordained as a priest and held a number of posts. In 1534, he became chaplain to the English merchants at Antwerp, in the Netherlands. There he met William Tyndale, the translator of the New Testament, who was living in the city in hiding. Rogers was drawn to the reformed faith through Tyndale's influence. He became convinced of the truth of the Reformation and left the old religion. He also married Adriana de Weyden, a Flemish woman, and the two had a number of children.
When Tyndale was arrested in 1535 and executed the following year, Rogers took on the task of continuing his work. Tyndale had been translating the Old Testament, and he had completed a part before his death. Rogers gathered his manuscripts and put them together with the Coverdale translation to produce a complete English Bible. It was published in 1537 under the name Thomas Matthew, a pseudonym that he used to hide his identity. It is known as Matthew's Bible. It was a revision of the translations of Tyndale and Coverdale, and it included notes and a table of contents. It was licensed by Henry VIII and became the basis of the Great Bible and ultimately of the King James Version.
He lived in Wittenberg for a number of years and served as a pastor of a Protestant congregation. He learned German and became a friend of Philip Melanchthon. In 1548, he returned to England, in the reign of Edward VI, and was given a series of church positions. He became a prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and he was a popular preacher. He was a man of firm convictions who stood for the doctrines of the Reformation. He was also known as a family man, and he cared for his wife and his large family of ten children.
When Mary became queen in 1553, the situation changed. Rogers was a leading figure of the reformed cause in London. In the first days of the new reign, he preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, in which he warned the people against idolatry and false doctrine. This was an act of courage. He was summoned before the council and told to keep to his house. He declined to flee, though he had the chance to leave the country. He stayed for the sake of his family and his flock.
He was arrested in 1554 and spent a year in Newgate prison. He was examined by Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, and he defended his faith with great skill. He was condemned as a heretic. On February 4, 1555, he was taken to Smithfield to be burned at the stake. He was the first of the Marian martyrs. His wife and ten children met him on the way to the fire and stood by as he was executed. He is said to have walked to the stake calmly, reciting the fifty-first Psalm. A pardon was offered him if he would recant, but he refused. He was about fifty-five years old.
His death opened the persecution that took the lives of nearly three hundred people. His courage was an example to the others. He is remembered for his work on the English Bible and for his steadfastness in death. His life shows how a pastor who gathers the scattered work of another may bring it to completion, and how a man who stays at his post may leave a legacy of faith.