We prefer to
take leave of him as a Christian preacher, seeking only the edification of
his hearers. In a sermon on the Holy Communion, preached from the pulpit of
St. Paul's, he delivers this striking testimony to a religious truth,
which, if stated in a formal proposition, he would probably have
disavowed:--
"If you, who only _partake_ of this Sacrament, cannot fail to be
struck with its solemnity, we who not only receive it, but minister it
to every description of human beings, in every season of peril and
distress, must be intimately and deeply pervaded by that feeling....
To know the power of this Sacrament, give it to him whose doom is
sealed, who in a few hours will be no more. The Bread and the Wine are
his immense hope! they seem to stand between him and infinite danger,
to soothe pain, to calm perturbation, and to inspire immortal
courage."
What is the conclusion of the whole matter? It is, in my judgment, that
Sydney Smith was a patriot of the noblest and purest type; a genuinely
religious man according to his light and opportunity; and the happy
possessor of a rich and singular talent which he employed through a long
life in the willing service of the helpless, the persecuted, and the poor.
To use his own fine phrase, the interests of humanity "got into his heart
and circulated with his blood.
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