Preston, John

PRESTON, JOHN: Puritan; b. at Upper Heyford (6 m. w. of Northampton) in the latter half of 1587; d. at Preston-Capes (12 m. w.s.w. of Northampton) July 20, 1628. He was educated at King's College (1604–06) and Queen's College, Cambridge (1606–07), and became fellow at the latter, 1609. He took orders and became dean and catechist at Queen's. On the nomination of the duke of Buckingham, he was made chaplain to Prince Charles, preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and master of Emanuel College (1622). He was the chaplain-in-waiting at the death of King James I. (1625). In his closing years, his stanch Puritanism cost him the duke's patronage. As a preacher, he attracted great attention. He was also a vigorous defender of Calvinism. His writings were very popular; a few of which are: The New Covenant, or the Saints' Portion (London, 1629); The Saint's Daily Exercise (1629); and The Breastplate of Faith (1630).

Bibliography: The life of the Renowned Doctor Preston, written by Thomas Ball in 1628, was abridged by Samuel Clarke and several times printed, e.g., in Lives of Thirty-two English Divines, pp. 75 sqq,. London, 1677, and is edited by E. W. Harcourt, Oxford, 1885. Consult further: D. Neal, Hist. of Puritans, ed, J. Toulmin, ii. 124 sqq., 5 vols., Bath 1793–97; B. Brooke, Lives of the Puritans, ii. 356 sqq., 3 vols., London, 1813; DNB, xlvi. 308–312 (gives a list of twenty-four works).