ABSTRACT
A preacher and writer known for his wit, Sydney Smith (1771–1845) was ordained as a priest at Oxford in 1796. In 1798 he moved to Edinburgh where he helped establish the Edinburgh Review in 1802, editing its first volume and contributing articles on religious, social and cultural matters over the next quarter-century. In 1803 he relocated to London, developing a reputation as a popular preacher and lecturer in moral philosophy. The long stretch of his career was spent as rector for the parish of Foston-Le-Clay. The sermon was the most prevalent form of religious discourse on suicide during the first half of the nineteenth century, and in its general outlines Smith’s contribution to the genre is relatively conventional. The selection of Saul’s self-inflicted death from the Book of Samuel was a common expository focus for sermons on suicide, and Smith’s treatment of the subject follows familiar lines of argument: self-murder is a crime against God and nature.
