After graduating at Oxford in 1657 he was ordained at Ermington in Devon in 1659. A more famous contemporary John Flavel (1628-1691) ministered at nearby Dartmouth. He served at Kingsbridge and then at Brixton near Plymouth.
Undeterred by the Acting of Uniformity (1662), he continued to preach.
He was arrested during a service on 13 December 1663 and imprisoned at Exeter. At his trial, he was nearly acquitted on a technicality, but since he refused to give up preaching, he was sent to prison.
After eight weeks, he was liberated by Sir Matthew Hale. The Bishop of Exeter, Seth Ward, then prosecuted Quick for preaching to the prisoners but he was acquitted.
Quick was licensed to preach at Plymouth.
When restrictions were imposed again the following year, he was imprisoned for three months with other nonconformists at the Marshalsea prison in Plymouth. On his release, Quick left the west of England for London. He then traveled to the Dutch Republic where he became a minister to the English church at Middelburg in 1679.
On the eve of easier times, his London ministry “successful to the conversion of many,” says Edmund Calamy was relatively undisturbed.
The Glorious Revolution and the Toleration Acting of 1688-1689 eventually brought persecution to an education Known as “a serious, good preacher” with a “great facility and freedom in prayer,” John Quick continued to serve his people faithfully until his death on 29 April 1706.
Their only daughter became the wife of Doctor John Evans (c 1680-1730) who completed the Matthew Henry"s commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.