John Sprint

, Son of Dr. Joh. Sprint, descended from those of his name living in the City of Bristow, was born, as I conceive, there, or in Glocestershire near to it, elected Student of Ch. Ch. in 1592. took the degrees in Arts, and some time after became Vicar of Thornbury in the said county. Thence he removed to London, was cried up by the Citizens for a godly and frequent preacher and by them much followed, but was cut off in the prime of his years when great matters were expected from him. He was a grave and pious Divine, yet for the most part disaffected to the ceremonies of the Church of England while he continued at Thornbury. At length upon the gentle perswasions of Mr. Sam. Burton Archdeacon of Glouc. he did not only conform, but was a great instrument in perswading others to do the like by a book that he wrote and published call’d Cassander Anglicus, which I shall anon mention. His works are these.

Propositions tending to prove the necessary use of the Christian Sabbath, or Lords day, &c. Lond. 1607. qu. and in 1635. in tw. or oct.

The practice of that sacred day, framed after the rules of Gods word—printed with the former.

The summ of Christian religion by way of question and answer. Lond. 1613. oct.

Cassander Anglicus: shewing the necessity of conforming to the prescribed ceremonies of our Church, in case of deprivation. Lond. 1618. qu. dedic. to Sam. Burton Archd. of Glouc. Whereupon came out a brief and plain answer to the first reason of it, which was replied upon by Sprint, but I have not yet seen it.

The Christians sword and buckler; or, a letter sent to a man seven years greviously afflicted in conscience and fearfully troubled in mind, &c. Lond. 1638. oct. These are all the pieces I think that he hath written, which are published, and therefore I shall only let the reader know that he was buried within the precincts of the Church of S. Anne situated in the place called the Blackfriers, in London (of which he seems to have been Minister or Lecturer) on the seventh of May in sixteen hundred twenty and three. 1623 See more of him in Hist. & Antiq. Univ. Oxon. lib. 1. p. 309. b. His Father Dr. Sprint, who was Dean of Bristow and a frequent preacher (but a Calvinist) I shall mention more at large in the Fasti, under the year 1574. not as a Writer but as a D. of D. and rich Dignitary.