SMITH, John Pye, an eminent dissenting divine, was born at Sheffield on the 25th day of May 1774. His father, John Smith, was a bookseller of some note in that town; and there is every reason to believe that young Smith was chiefly indebted for his early education to the books in his father's shop. At an early age he manifested great fondness for reading, and frequently when sent on errands he would be seen poring over a book by the roadside, sometimes even forgetting what he was sent to do. Some notebooks, written between his twelfth and sixteenth year, show his reading at that early age to have been of an extensive and miscellaneous character. However objectionable this mode of education may be in general, we believe that in Smith's case it was not without its advantages. It not only gave him a taste for extensive and varied reading, but it also fostered that freedom of thought, and fearlessness in the search of truth, that afterwards specially characterised him.
It was in his sixteenth year that the doctrines of Christianity took hold on his heart, and gave that direction to his thoughts and studies that eventually led to his devoting himself to the ministry. In the first place, however, he was in 1790 apprenticed to his father, and served for five years. During this period his readings partook more of a theological character, and his writings manifest a high and growing spirit of Christianity. In 1796, while Mr James Montgomery, the proprietor and editor of the Sheffield Iris, was undergoing imprisonment for his alleged libel, the editorial duties of that paper were entrusted to Mr Smith, and were satisfactorily discharged by him from February to August. In September of the same year he entered the Independent Academy at Rotherham, with a view to the ministry; and at that time he is said to have been not only a superior linguist, but to have been also skilled in natural history, anatomy, and several branches of medicine. During the four years that he remained there, his active mind was not content with mastering the regular studies of the place, but likewise carried him into other departments of learning; so that among his fellow-students he was distinguished as well by the variety of his attainments as by the comparative ease with which he imbibed all kinds of useful knowledge. Such was his scholarship that, on completing his curriculum at Rotherham, he was chosen Resident Classical Tutor at Homerton College, and then was formed a connection which existed for the long period of fifty years, till Homerton was merged in New College. In 1801 he married a lady, who unfortunately was a very unsuitable companion for one of his character and circumstances, but with whose weaknesses he uncomplainingly bore for more than thirty years. It is the more necessary to mention this, as it interfered in many ways with his usefulness, depriving
him of his times for study, and shutting him up from social intercourse with his students and others. It also led to his resigning his resident tutorship in 1807. In 1803 he opened the hall of the academy for public worship, and next year some of his stated hearers formed themselves into a church, and invited him to become their pastor. He was accordingly ordained on the 11th of April 1804, and retained the pastoral oversight of this congregation for almost forty-six years. Towards the close of 1810 his hearers had so increased that it became necessary to provide a larger place of worship, and accordingly they removed to the Old Gravel Pit Meeting House, and from this time Dr Smith had two regular services on Sunday, and two on week days, till the appointment of his colleague in 1846.
In 1804 appeared his "Letters to the Rev. Thomas Belsham (a Unitarian), on some important subjects of Theological Discussion," the first work that established his reputation, and led to his receiving, in 1807, the degree of D.D. from Yale College, Newhaven, Connecticut. On the commencement of the Eclectic Review Mr Smith became a contributor, and continued to furnish it with occasional articles for forty years. In 1806, a vacancy having occurred in the theological tutorship, Mr Smith was requested to occupy that chair, and a new classical tutor was appointed. In 1818 appeared the first volume of his largest work, The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, the second and concluding volume of which was published in 1821. A second edition, in 3 volumes, appeared in 1829; a third in 1837; and a fourth, in 2 volumes, in 1847. The second edition was much improved and enlarged, especially by the fruits of his greatly extended researches in German literature, and each succeeding edition was enriched by the results of his continued labours. Such was the high character of this work, that though by a Dissenter, it received the high honour of being admitted as an authority in the English universities. In 1835 he received the diploma of LL.D. from Marischal College, Aberdeen. Dr Smith's other great work, On the Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science, appeared in 1839, being eight lectures delivered for the congregational library in that year. This work was also, by the author, carried through four editions, each greatly improved and extended, and led to his being admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1840. Dr Smith was the author of a number of other works, which we have not enumerated,—as a list of them will be found appended to his Memoirs by Medway. In 1843, after more than ten years of widowhood, Dr Smith again married, and this time his choice fell upon one well suited to comfort and solace him in his declining years. He was now requested to again accept the office of resident tutor, which he cheerfully did, and continued to fill till the breaking up of the establishment in 1850. On retiring from active duty in last mentioned year, his friends and admirers testified their esteem for him by raising a sum of £2600, the interest to provide an annuity for him while he lived, and afterwards to form divinity scholarships in connection with New College, which were to bear his name. The testimonial was presented to him at a public breakfast of the 8th of January 1851, and on the 5th of the succeeding month his spirit quietly left its mortal tenement, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. For nearly the whole of his public life Dr Smith was afflicted with deafness, which increased so much that at length it was only with difficulty that he could be made to receive any communications by the ear.
Dr Smith's was an active and vigorous, rather than a high cast of intellect. Its power lay more in the arranging and systematising of facts, than in the discovering or exploring of them. It had little of what is called originality, but was marked by great power of imbibing and assimilating
all kinds of knowledge. This, coupled with his great industry and singular perseverance, which continued undiminished down to near the close of his life, earned the encomium passed upon him by his colleague, Dr William Smith, that "there are few men in the present day who have embraced a greater sphere of knowledge, or mastered a greater number of subjects."
But it is in his moral and religious nature that we meet with the most distinguishing features of his character. He was eminently a sincere and true man—sincere in his beliefs, true to his convictions. However much one may be inclined to differ from him on certain points, yet no one can doubt the sincerity with which he held them. His sincerity made him ever ready to do battle for what he believed to be the truth, and not the less ready to yield whenever he saw that his opinions were untenable—never maintaining a controversy merely for the sake of argument. His sanguine nature led him to throw himself heart and soul into whatever was before him, so that what many are content to hold loosely as matters of opinion, became to him matters of belief and principles of action. His whole powers seemed to be actuated and regulated by a high moral sense of duty, so that acts seemingly the most trifling were to him matters of conscience; and even a verbal error appeared to offend his moral feelings. High as was his standard of duty, he acted up to it to a degree that is rarely to be met with. "He lived," says his biographer, "in strict conformity, both as to letter and spirit, with his rules for others," to an extent that "was often matter of surprise and admiration while he was with us." Such was the strength of this principle within him, that towards his death, when his other powers are declining, it comes into painful prominence. He had for many years abstained from spirituous liquors, holding it to be "a duty which we owe to God and to our fellow-creatures, to bear a practical testimony against this usage;" and when, a few weeks before his death, a medical friend recommended his taking a little brandy, he emphatically said "Never;" and turning to his wife, added, "My dear, I charge you, if such remedy be proposed when I am incompetent to refuse, let me die rather than swallow the liquid." His piety was an eminently active and living principle, stimulating and directing his ardent desire in the pursuit of knowledge, as well as sanctifying his whole life and conduct. He took a lively interest in politics, especially in such questions as were more immediately connected with the social interests of the nation; and he was an active supporter of the peace society. His Memoirs, by Mr John Medway, appeared in 1853.