Joshua Sprigg
1618–1684
Chaplain to Fairfax; historian of the New Model Army.
Biography
Of New Inn Hall Oxford under John Goodwin's influence, Sprigg became chaplain to Sir Thomas Fairfax through the campaigns of 1645-47. His Anglia Rediviva: England's Recovery (1647) is the indispensable contemporary military history of the New Model's first year — Naseby, Langport, Bristol, the storming of Bridgwater — written from inside Fairfax's headquarters and dedicated to him. His sympathies tilted Independent after 1647 and he was named to the Assembly's superaddition list, though his attendance was limited. He held a Fellowship at All Souls Oxford under the parliamentary visitation (1650-58) and pleaded for Charles I's life at his trial. Retired to private life under the Protectorate and Restoration. Died at Crayford in Kent in 1684.
Principal works
- Anglia Rediviva: England’s Recovery (1647)
Independent / Dissenting Brethren
A small but articulate minority of Congregationalist divines — the 'Dissenting Brethren' — who pressed for a gathered-church polity against the Presbyterian majority. Their Apologeticall Narration (1644) and their dissents in the Grand Debate over church government shaped the Confession's carefully worded chapters and anticipated the Savoy Declaration of 1658.