---
title: 'John Rodgers on “a life of usefulness”'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2019-01-05
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2019-john-rodgers-on-a-life-of-usefulness
---

# John Rodgers on “a life of usefulness”

In November of 1808, [John Rodgers](/authors/john-rodgers) preached a sermon at the opening of a new Presbyterian church in New York City, at the conclusion of which he left us with profound words to meditate and act upon even today:

*As ever therefore sinners would wish to be reconciled to God — to escape eternal misery, and be prepared for unwasting blessedness — and as ever the people of God would wish to enjoy the comforts, the consolations of the religion of Jesus, as they pass through life — as they would wish to grow into a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, after a life of usefulness on earth — We most affectionately beseech both the one and the other, to be steady, uniform, and conscientious, in their attendance upon the house of God. Amen.* (John Rodgers, *The Presence of Christ the Glory of a Church: A Sermon Delivered November 6th, 1808, at the Opening of the Presbyterian Church in Cedar Street, New York*)