Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hieron, Samuel
HIERON, SAMUEL (1576?–1617), puritan divine, was the son of Roger Hieron, originally a schoolmaster, who became vicar of Epping in Essex in 1578 (Newcourt, Repertorium, ii. 248). Samuel Hieron is said to have been born in 1576, but Wood states he was about forty-five at the time of his death. He was taught by his father and admitted to the foundation at Eton in 1590. He passed to King's College, Cambridge, and after the death of his father he was assisted at the university by Sir Francis Barrington of Barrington Hall, Essex. He probably took orders about 1600, and, according to Hill, became at once eminent as a preacher. Harwood (Alumni Eton. p. 197) says that ‘Sir Henry Savile, the provost of Eton, conferred on him a pastoral charge, which he soon vacated for the living of Modbury in Devonshire’ (in the gift of Eton College), which he held till his death in 1617. His previous preferment appears to have been in London, where he immediately became so popular that many congregations, as well as the Inns of Court, desired to have him ‘settled’ as their minister. From the dedication to one of his sermons he appears at one time to have been employed by the Earl of Pembroke. His ministry at Modbury was most successful, and he was one of the preachers at a weekly lecture established by Sir Ferdinando Gorges [q. v.] at Plympton, and was a voluminous author in spite of chronic illness. Fuller says that he was ‘a powerful preacher in his printed works.’ He died at Modbury in 1617, and was buried in the church. His funeral sermon, preached by ‘T. B.,’ was published in 1618. He was inclined to puritanism, though he strictly conformed to the church of England. Samuel Hieron (d. 1687), one of the ejected ministers of 1662, was his grandson. Another Samuel Hieron (d. 1616), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, became vicar of Trumpington in 1588, of Kendal in 1591, and of Enfield in 1598, and rector of Tokenham, Wiltshire, from 1610 till his death in July 1616. He was incorporated D.D. of Oxford July 1598 (Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 279).
Besides many sermons Hieron published: 1. ‘The Preacher's Plea’ (a dialogue between a minister and a layman), 1604. 2. ‘An Answere to a Popish Ryme, lately scattered abroad in the West Parts, and much relyed upon by some simply-seduced,’ 1604, 4to; 2nd edit. 1608. 3. ‘The Dignitie of the Scripture together with the Indignity which the unthankfull World offereth thereunto,’ &c., 1607, 4to. 4. ‘A Helpe unto Devotion; containing certain Moulds or Formes of Prayer, fitted to severall occasions,’ 8th edit. 1616, 12mo. His works were published in folio in 1614, and were reprinted with additions in two volumes in 1624–5, together with a ‘Life of the Author by Robert Hill, D.D., Rector of St. Bartholomew, Exchange, London.’ A third edition appeared in 1635, in 2 vols. The following anonymous works are also attributed to Hieron: (1) ‘A short Dialogue proving that the Ceremonies and some other Corruptions now in question are defended by no other Arguments than such as the Papists have hitherto used and our Protestant writers have long since answered,’ &c., 1605. (2) ‘A Defence of the Minister's Reasons for Refusal of Subscription to the Booke of Common Prayer, and of Conformity in answer to Mr. T. Hutton, Dr. W. Covel, and Dr. T. Sparke,’ 1607. This work was printed in Holland and sent over packed with other goods; the booksellers refused to sell it on account of its pronounced opinions, and the edition was therefore given away, copies being sent to the writer's adversaries, the bishops, and the universities. The author, however, was never discovered. Second and third parts of this work were published in 1608, but the authorship of all seems very uncertain (see Brook, ii. 272).
[Hill's Life prefixed to Hieron's Works, 1624; Fuller's Hist. Cambridge, ed. Nicholls, p. 113; Harwood's Alumni Eton, p. 197; Wilkins on Preaching, p. 73; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ii. 270–3; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 279; Baker's MS. Collection, xiv. 50; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Bullen's Early Printed Books.]