But, to return to the matter I was upon, which was to prove Peter Pratt’s assertion false, in saying John Rogers never suffered the loss of one hair of his head by the Authority for any article of his religion, nor for the exercise of it. And had not Peter Pratt been bereft as well of reason as conscience, he would not have presumed to have asserted such a thing, which the generality of the neighborhood knows to be false. In further proof of the falsity of Mr. Saltonstall’s assertions, and as showing also the spirit of those times, we quote the following from Dr. Trumbull’s History:— But though the churches were multiplying and generally enjoying peace, yet sectaries were creeping in and began to make their appearance in the Colony. Episcopacy made some advances, and in several instances there was a separation from the Standing Churches. The Rogerenes and a few Baptists made their appearance among the inhabitants; meetings were held in private houses, and laymen undertook to administer the sacraments. This occasioned the following act of the General Assembly, at their sessions in May, 1723.[10] “Be it enacted, &c., That whatsoever persons shall presume on the Lord’s Day to neglect the public worship of God in some lawful congregation, and form themselves into separate companies in private houses, being convicted thereof before any assistant or Justice of the Peace, shall each of them on every such offense, forfeit the sum of twenty shillings, and that whatsoever person (not being lawfully allowed minister of the Standing Order) shall presume to profane the holy sacraments by administering them to any person or persons whatsoever, and being thereof convicted before the County Court, in such County where such offense shall be committed, shall incur the penalty of £10 for every such offense and suffer corporal punishment, by whipping not exceeding thirty stripes for each offense.” ----- Footnote 10: This act was not materially different from the former laws of this kind. ----- Previous to this act, the penalty for baptizing by immersion was £5, which penalty was often inflicted upon John Rogers, as we have seen. In the Boston plantation, for merely speaking against sprinkling of infants the like penalty was incurred. Thus thick was the cloud of bigotry and ignorance which had settled down on the people at that day and which John Rogers, and his followers by the light of truth labored to disperse, deserving honor instead of the reproaches which they have suffered from prejudiced and careless historians and narrow-minded ecclesiastics. Still, in the face of facts like these, “all of which he saw and a large part of which he was,” the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall asserts “that no man hath suffered on account of his religious opinions,” etc. Dr. Trumbull says, “Mr. Saltonstall was a great man.”