Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Samuel (1584-1662?)
SMITH, SAMUEL (1584–1662?), ejected divine, born near Dudley about 1584, was the son of a clergyman. In the beginning of 1603 he entered St. Mary Hall, Oxford, as a batler, but left the university without a degree. He was presented to the living of Prittlewell in Essex on 30 Nov. 1615 by Robert, lord Rich [see under Rich, Penelope, Lady Rich]. On the outbreak of the civil war Smith retired to London for safety, and identified himself with the presbyterians. He became famed as a preacher, and in 1648 received from parliament the perpetual curacy of Cound and Cressage in Shropshire, on the death of Richard Wood, the rector, sequestered for delinquency (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. i. 26 a). On his settlement in the county he was appointed an assistant to the commission for the ejection of ‘scandalous and ignorant ministers and schoolmasters.’ In 1654 he was temporarily appointed to preach in Hereford Minster and the adjacent country, in place of Richard Delamain (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1654, p. 224). On the Restoration he was ejected from his living at Cound. The date of his death is uncertain. Wood says that he was living in 1663, but if he be identical with Samuel Smith of Sandon in Essex, as Calamy believes, he was buried on 2 April 1662 (Obituary of Richard Smyth, ed. Ellis, p. 55).
Besides many separate sermons, Smith published: 1. ‘David's Repentance, or a plain and familiar exposition of the Fifty-first Psalm,’ London, 1618, 12mo, which went through many editions. About 1765 a so-called thirty-first edition was printed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, which bears no resemblance to the original work. 2. ‘Joseph and his Mistress: five Sermons,’ London, 1619, 8vo. 3. ‘Christ's Last Supper, or the Doctrine of the Sacrament: five Sermons,’ London, 1620, 8vo. 4. ‘The Great Assize; or the Day of Jubilee,’ London, 1628 (4th ed.); 1642, 12mo; 47th ed. 1757, 12mo. 5. ‘The Ethiopian Eunuch's Conversion, the sum of Thirty Sermons,’ London, 1632, 8vo. 6. ‘David's Blessed Man: a short exposition of the First Psalm,’ London, 1635, 8vo; several editions. 7. ‘Malice Stript and Whipt,’ an attack on the Quakers, which called forth in answer ‘Innocency cleared from Lyes, in Reply to “Malice Stript and Whipt,”’ by I. B., London, 1658, 4to, and as a counter rejoinder, ‘Innocents no Saints, or a Pair of Spectacles for a dark-sighted Quaker,’ London, 1658, 4to. 8. ‘A Fold for Christ's Sheep,’ 32nd ed. London, 1684, 8vo.
Wood says he had seen many editions of Smith's ‘Christian's Guide, with Rules and Directions for a Holy Life.’
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 656; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial, ed. Palmer, ii. 214, iii. 144; Chambers's Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire, p. 115; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 501, xii. 200, 501; Bodleian Library Cat.]