Life

A native of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, he was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

, graduating B.A. 1630, M.A. 1633, and B.D. 1640. He was incorporated at Oxford on 12 July 1653.

He was presented to the rectory of St Martin, Ironmonger Lane, London, 28 September 1639, but was ejected from his living and his church sequestered about 1645. In 1650 he was vicar of Isle of Grain, Kent. At the English Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 of 1660 he regained his rectory, but resigned it before 5 June 1661. He became minister of St James's, Clerkenwell, resigned it in 1666, and on 23 January 1666 was instituted to the vicarage of Tottenham

Tottenham

Tottenham is an area of the London Borough of Haringey, England, situated north north east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham...

. He was also vicar of Walthamstow

Walthamstow

Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...

, December 1662 to May 1666, and was chaplain to Charles II.

Works

Sparke wrote: ‘Scintillula Altaris, or a Pious Reflection on Primitive Devotion: as to the Feasts and Fasts of the Christian Church orthodoxally Revived’ (London, 1652). The second edition, published in 1660, was entitled ‘Θυσιατήριον vel scintilla altaris.’ The book was esteemed, and six editions appeared between 1663 and 1700. The later editions contain an engraved portrait. He also edited Josias Shute

Josias Shute

Josias Shute was an English churchman, for many years rector of St Mary Woolnoth in London, archdeacon of Colchester, and elected a member of the Westminster Assembly.-Life:...

's Sarah and Hagar.