Sproat, .I.\M^:.s, D.I)., a Presbyterian divine, was born at .Scituate, .Mass., Ajiril II, 1722. He graduated
at Yale College in 1741 ; was converted while in college; and having gone through the recjuisite course of prepa- ration for the ministry, was licensed to preach, and or- dained ()astor of the Fourth Congregational Church in Guilford, Conn., Aug. 23, 1743. Here he labored with great zeal and success for about twenty-five years, when, in October, 17()8, he became pastor of the church in Phila- delphia of which Kev. Gilbert Tcnnent had been pastor. He continued sole pastor till 1787, when he was relieved from a jiortion of his labors by the settlement of Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Ashbel Green. In 1780 the College of New Jersey conferred upon him the degree of D.D. The year 1793 was signalized by the prevalence of j^el- low fever in Philadelphia to an appalling extent. The family of Dr. Sproat was almost annihilated by it ; his own death took place Oct. 18, 1793. He was a master of the learned languages, and had made deep researches into systematic, casuistic, and polemic divinity. In his personal religion he was truh- eminent — his faith was built on the sure foundations of the Gospel, and it sup- ported him in the most tr}-ing hour. In his last mo- ments he said, "All mj' expectations for eternity rest on the infinite grace of God, abounding through the finished righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ." His only pub- lication was a Sei-mon, preached on the death of White- field in October, 1770. See Sprague, Anmds of the A mer. Pulpit, iii, 125; Allen, Bio(/. Diet. s. v.; Muss, Hist. Coll. x ; ,4 ssembly Miss. Mag. i. (J. L. S.)
Spry, WiLLTAM, a Methodist E))iscopal minister, was born in Queen Ann County, Md., Feb. 23, 1806 ; converted in 1822; admitted on trial in the Philadelphia Conference in 1832, and appointed to Cecil Circuit ; 1833, Salisbury Circuit; 1834, Elkton; 1835, on account of ill- health, supernumerary ; 1836, Caroline Circuit; 1837-38, Dorchester Circidt; 1839-40, Lewistown ; 1841, Easton, Talbot Co., Md.; and subsequently travelled Cambridge, Seaford, Georgetown, and Accomac circuits, on the last of which he died, Nov. 29, 1847. Mr. Sprj^ was an ex- cellent preacher and a model pastor. He was one of the sweetest singers in Israel. See Minutes of Annual Con- ferences, iv, 204; Manship, Thirteen Years in the Itiner- ancy, p. 14-16.
Spunge. See Sponge.
Spunkie, among the early Scots and Picts, was the name of a class of teasing spirits who appeared in the form of ignesfatui, and led wanderers astray into swamps and morasses.
Spur-money, a name for a fine levied by custom, on behalf of the choristers of certain old foundations (St. Paid's, Westminster, Lichfield, and Windsor), on [icrsons entering the Church.
SpurstO'we, Wii-t.iam, a Nonconformist divine, was educated at St. Katharine Hall, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow. He was minister at Hampden, in P>uck- inghamshire, when the Uebellion broke out. He joined the rebel army as chaplain, ami in 1643 became a mein- ber of the so-called Assembly of Divines, becoming at the same time pastor of Hackney. He was made master of St. Katharine Hall, but was turned out for refusing the engagement. He was obliged to give place to an ortho- dox clergyman at Hackney in 1662, and died in 1666. He was the author of a Treatise on the Promises: — The Spii-ilual Chyiiiist : — The Wiles of /Satan: — a L)iscou?se: —and Sc7-mous. He was also engaged in the attack on episcopacj' under the name of Smectymnus. See Alli- bone, //(■(■/. of Urit. and A mer. Authors, s. v. ; Hook,
F.crhs. liiiig, s, v.
Spy-'Wednesday, an old name for the Wednes- day in Holy Week, so called because of the work which .ludas Iscariot carried on upon that day when he went forth to make prei)aration for the betrayal of his Mas- ter.— Lee, Gloss, of Liturg. Terms, s. v.
Squarcione, Fuancesco, an Italian painter, was born at Padua in 1394, and, after performing many
SQUARE
969
SQUINCH
tours in Greece and Italy, lived in the latter countn' in great affluence and distinction until his death, in 1474. From his very numerous school (he had one hundred and thirty-seven scholars), he was called the father and jn-imo maestro of painters. The celebrated illustrated Book of Anihems in the Church of the Misericordia, which used to be commonly ascribed to Mantegna, is now by competent judges considered one of the com- missions of Squarcione executed by his scholars. See the Enr/lish Cyclop, s. v.
Square {'S'^'], reba, a. fourth part, as often render- ed), a side (as elsewhere), especially of a rectangle (Ezek. xliii, 16, 17). See Sculpture.
Square Cap, a cap worn in England by Church clerks, the use of which began in the 15th century.
Squassatiou, one of the three kinds of torture commonly used by the Inquisition to extort confession. It consisted in tying back the arms of the victim by a cord, fastening weights to his feet, and drawing him up to the full height of the place by means of a pulley. He was then suddenly let down to within a short distance of the Hoor, and by the repeated shocks all his joints were dislocated. This torture was continued for an hour or longer, according to the pleasure of the inquis- itors present and to what the strength of the sufferer seemed capable of enduring. See Barnum, Romanism as It Is, p. 383.