Smith, John

Smith, John an English Wesleyan minister, styled "the revivalist," was born at Cudworth, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, January 12, 1794. Although trained religiously, he became profane, a gambler, and a pugilist. He was converted in 1812, and entered an academy at Leeds, where he enjoyed the instruction of David Stoner. He was received into the ministry in 1816, and labored on the York, Barnard Castle, Brighton, Windsor, Frome, Nottingham, Preston, Lincoln, and Sheffield Circuits. Like William Carvosso and Bramwell, he was a man of intense zeal and mighty faith. On his circuits the whole vicinity was stirred, the worst men were smitten, and hundreds were. added to the Church. His chapels were crowded, and his prayer-meetings were like the day of Pentecost. But his work wore him out, and in Sheffield, his last circuit, he died in his prime, November 3, 1831. See Treffrey, Memoirs of Reverend John Smith (Lond. 1832, 12to; 2d ed. with introduction by Dr. Dixon); Stevens, Hist. of Methodism, 3:285 sq; 468; Smith, Hist. of Wesleyan Methodism, 3:33, 153, 154; Minutes of the British Conference, 1832; West, Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers, page 33 sq.