INTRODUCTION N Good Friday, April 17, 1747, Sterne ΟΝ preached at York in the parish church of St. Michael-le-Belfrey the annual sermon for the benefit of the Blue Coat schools. Besides the usual congregation of commoners, there were present the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, in full official capacity. The sermon must have been regarded as quite out of the ordinary run, for it was published as a sixpenny pamphlet, with a dedication to "the Very Reverend Richard Osbaldeston," then dean of the York chapter, and afterwards "the Lord Bishop of Carlisle." Sterne was at that time thirty-three years old. This is, so far as is known, the first of the more extraordinary occasions on which Sterne was invited to preach; and except for paragraphs in the newspapers, it was with this sermon that he first appeared in print. Sermon numbered V in this collection. Sterne took for his theme the story of Elijah, who fled from famine and the persecutions of Ahab to the "safe and peaceful " solitudes by the brook Cherith; and thence, when the stream dried up, to the city of Zarephath, where he received kind entertainment from a poor widow. As might be expected, the preacher enlarged upon the picturesque incidents in the Biblical narrative, such as the miracle that the prophet performed in behalf of the widow's dead child, and then proceeded to an eloquent appeal for the education of poor children. The appeal was heeded for the collection that followed amounted, it is said, to more than 647.* : But present-day interest in the sermon lies more in what it may contain that is peculiarly Sterne-Sterne the Shandean and the sentimentalist. It was certainly somewhat Shandean for the preacher to reinforce the testimony of Solomon on the pleasure of doing "York, April 21. On Friday last a charity sermon was preached at St. Michael le Belfry by the Reverend Mr. Sterne of Sutton for the use of the Blue coat schools of this City, when the sum of 64-11-8 was collected.' General Advertizer, April 25, 1747." (Quoted by Isaac Reed.) good with a paragraph on Epicurus, "the professed sensualist;" or for him to illustrate the effect of distress on the hard-hearted by citing the tears of Alexander the Tyrant of Pheres, who wept at the misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromache in the play. It was perhaps more Shandean for the preacher to go, as did Yorick, for his subject, not directly to the Bible, but to the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath as elaborated with imaginative details and moral reflections by Dr. Joseph Hall in his Contemplations, and then to put into the preface a sentence or two on the difficulty of saying anything new of charity. For not only did Sterne follow in a general way the homily of his predecessor, but now and then he appropriated a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph. All this-the whim, the anecdote, and the occasional paraphrase of an old writer-is in the manner of Tristram Shandy. The sermon points still more directly to the author of the Sentimental Journey. Yorick selected the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath for his discourse, he says, because of the " very interesting and affectionate " manner in which it "is related in Holy Writ." And the two miracles "wrought by Infinite Power" are considered "not merely as Testimonies of the Prophet's Divine Mission, but likewise as two encouraging Instances of God Almighty's Blessing upon Works of Charity and Benevolence." The widow of Zarephath, Sterne goes on to argue ingeniously, aided Elijah in his afflictions, not out of hope of reward, but because "she must have been wrought upon by an unmix'd Principle of Humanity." Elijah's prayer over the widow's dead son that God would restore him to life, was likewise "urgent, and bespoke the Distress of a humane Mind deeply suffering in the Misfortunes of another." And when in answer to the prophet's pleading, "the Soul of the Child came into him again," Sterne stopped to depict the touching scene where Elijah approaches "with the Child in his Arms," and places it once more in the bosom of its mother. The preacher waxed eloquent on "the Man who has a Tear of Tenderness always ready to shed over the Unfortunate." A good deed, it is said, sends a thrill of joy not only through the soul but through the body, as may be seen by the " Expressions of unutterable Pleasure and Harmony" in the looks of him who has just performed an act of kindness or charity. Indeed "nothing more contributes to Health than a Benevolence of Temper." From this it was but a step to the general conclusion that man is naturally disposed to pity all in distress; that it is only by long practice in vice that he becomes hardhearted. And finally the preacher asked his hearers whether the most universal conception of God is not that of a "compassionate Benefactor, stretching forth his Hands to raise up the helpless Orphan." Is not the pattern of human nature to be found in God become man, who "was willing to undergo all Kinds of Affliction; to sacrifice Himself; to forget his dearest Interests; and even lay down his Life for the Good of Mankind"? On his first printed sermon, in which compassion is exalted as the quality whereby man and God are made kin, Sterne might have written the very words he used in describing to Mrs. James the aim of the Sentimental Journey. 'My design in it," he told her, "was to teach us to love the world and our fellow-creatures better than we do so it runs most upon those gentler passions and affections, which aid so much to it." But many years had to |
