John Quick (1636 – 29 April 1706) was an English nonconformist

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

Early life

Quick was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. After graduating at Oxford in 1657 he was ordained at Ermington in Devon in 1659. A more famous contemporary John Flavel (1628–91) ministered at nearby Dartmouth. He served at

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...

and then at

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

near Plymouth.

Imprisonment

Undeterred by the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayer ...

, he continued to preach. He was arrested during a service on 13 December 1663 and imprisoned at

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. At his trial, he was nearly acquitted on a technicality, but since he refused to give up preaching, he was sent to prison. After eight weeks, he was liberated by Sir Matthew Hale. The

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

, Seth Ward, then prosecuted Quick for preaching to the prisoners but he was acquitted. Charles II's Royal Declaration of Indulgence of 1672 brought a brief respite for the persecuted Puritan brotherhood. Quick was licensed to preach at Plymouth. When restrictions were imposed again the following year, he was imprisoned for three months with other nonconformists at the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, ...

prison in Plymouth. On his release, Quick left the west of England for London. He then traveled to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

where he became a minister to the English church at Middelburg in 1679. Returning to London two years later, Quick gathered a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

congregation in a small meeting house in Middlesex Court, Bartholomew Close and Smithfield. On the eve of easier times, his London ministry “successful to the conversion of many,” says Edmund CalamyAn Account of the Ministers...Ejected or Silenced after the Restoration in 1660, 2nd edition (London, 1713), ii. 333 was relatively undisturbed; the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

and the

Toleration Act 1688 The Toleration Act 1688 ( 1 Will. & Mar. c. 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration or the Toleration Act 1689, was an act of the Parliament of England. Passed in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, it received royal assent on 24 ...

eventually brought persecution to an end. Known as “a serious, good preacher” with a “great facility and freedom in prayer,” John Quick continued to serve his people faithfully until his death on 29 April 1706. His wife Elizabeth died in 1708. Their only daughter became the wife of Dr. John Evans (c. 1680–1730) who completed the

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition o ...

's commentary on the

Epistle to the Romans The Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament, and the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that Salvation (Christianity), salvation is offered ...

Publications

Quick was author of the ''Synodicon in Gallia Reformata'' - a collection of liturgical texts used by the Huguenots in late 17th-century England. During his early ministry, he became acquainted with the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

refugees, some of whom landed at Plymouth from

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

in 1681—the year the ''dragonnades'' began. Quick's interest in the Huguenots did not end with the ''Synodicon''. Besides published sermons of his own, he also prepared for publication a selection of fifty brief biographies of eminent pastors, theologians, and martyrs of the

French Reformed Church The Reformed Church of France (, ERF) was the main Protestant religious denomination, denomination in France with a Calvinist orientation that could be traced back directly to John Calvin. In 2013, the Church merged with the Evangelical Luthera ...

, the ''Icones Sacrae Gallicanae''. He also produced a similar selection of twenty

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

, the ''Icones Sacrae Anglicanae''. These ambitious ventures failed with the death in 1700 of

William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford (August 1616 – 7 September 1700) was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the House o ...

(the dedicatee of the ''Synodicon'') who had offered to assist with the cost. Advancing illness also prevented Quick from collecting subscriptions for the work.See “Translated Abstracts from the Act Book of the

Consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of the Threadneedle Street

rench The Rench is an eastern tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau in Central Baden, Germany. It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of ...

Church, 1693- 1708,” entry for 6 March 1702-3: “M. Quick returned the 25s paid him as subscription for the book called Icones which he proposed to give to the public, his indisposition compelling him to refrain from printing it” (Proceedings 7 901-4 40. Following the Quick's death, the manuscript volumes were eventually deposited at Dr. Williams's Library in London.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Quick, John 1636 births 1706 deaths Clergy from Plymouth, Devon 17th-century English clergy