Henry Smith (ca. 1560 – 1591?) was an English clergyman, widely regarded as "the most popular
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
preacher of Elizabethan London." His
sermons
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...
at
St. Clement Danes
St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...
drew enormous crowds, and earned him a reputation as "Silver Tongued" Smith. The collected editions of his sermons, and especially his tract, "God's Arrow Against Atheists," were among the most frequently reprinted religious writings of the
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
age.
Life
Despite his popularity in the Elizabethan period, considerable uncertainty surrounds Smith's biography. Probably born in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
around 1560, Smith may have enrolled during the 1570s in colleges at both
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, but seems not to have taken a degree. He was, in any case, by 1589 among London's most popular preachers; however in that year, Smith seems to have contracted an illness which according to
Charles Henry Cooper's ''Athenae Cantabrigienses'' caused him to devote his remaining time to preparing his writings for publication:
During his sickness, being desirous to do good by writing, he occupied himself in revising his sermons and other works for the press. His collected sermons he dedicated to his kind patron Lord Burghley. . . He died before the collection came from the press, being buried at Husbands Bosworth
Husbands Bosworth is a large crossroads village in South Leicestershire on the A5199 road from Leicester city to Northampton and the A4304 road from Junction 20 of the M1 motorway to Market Harborough. The population of the village was 1,027 a ...
in his native country. In the register of that parish is this entry: Anno 1591, Henricus Smyth, theologus, m filius Erasmi Smyth, armigeri, sepult. fuit 4to. die Julii.
Smith's preparations allowed his writings to become among England's most popular, after his death. However, some sources indicate that Smith may have survived until around 1600, or even until as late as 1613.
See also
*
Erasmus Smith
Erasmus Smith (1611–1691) was an English merchant and a landowner with possessions in England and Ireland. Having acquired significant wealth through trade and land transactions, he became a philanthropist in the sphere of education, treading ...
References
*R.B. Jenkins, ''Henry Smith: England's silver-tongued preacher'' (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1983).
*John W Jordan, "Colonial And Revolutionary Families Of Pennsylvania" (New York and Chicago, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1911).
*
William Richard Cutter
William Richard Cutter (August 17, 1847 – June 6, 1918) was an American historian, genealogist, and writer.
Life
Born in Woburn, Massachusetts on August 17, 1847, he was the son of Dr. Benjamin Cutter and Mary Whittemore Cutter. He attended ...
, "Families of Western New York"
External links
*Gary W. Jenkins
‘Smith, Henry (c.1560–1591)’ ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Henry
1560s births
1590s deaths
16th-century English Puritan ministers
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge