Transcribed from the 1832 Wilkin and Fletcher edition by DavidPrice.
The Mourning Congregationreminded of the Work of their
Deceased Minister.
PREACHEDIN
ST. MARY’SMEETING-HOUSE, NORWICH,
ON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1832.
BY JOHN ALEXANDER.
“THE MEMORY OF THE JUST ISBLESSED.”
NORWICH:
PUBLISHED BY WILKIN AND FLETCHER, UPPERHAYMARKET; AND
BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, AND G. WIGHTMAN,LONDON.
MDCCCXXXII.
p. iiTO THEBEREAVED AND MOURNING CHURCH
AND CONGREGATION WORSHIPPING IN ST.MARY’S MEETING-HOUSE, NORWICH,
THE FOLLOWING SERMON IS MOSTAFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
II Peter, chap, i,verses 12–15.
“Wherefore I will not be negligentto put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in thepresent truth. Yea, I think it meet, as longas I am in this tabernacle, to stiryou up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off this mytabernacle, even as our Lord JesusChrist hath shewed me. Moreover, I willendeavour that ye may be able, aftermy decease, to have these thingsalways in remembrance.”
These words, my brethren, areimpressively suitable to the present solemnity; especially whenyou consider that, if the life and health of your beloved pastorhad been prolonged till to-day, he would probably have made themthe subject of his own discourse. Having been engaged, forsome time past, in preaching a course of sermons on some of theEpistles, he had proceeded in his expositions as far as theeighth verse of this chapter; and, by this time, perhaps, hewould have addressed you on the following verses, including thoseof our text. He would, in that case, have enforced upon youthe duty “to give diligence to make your calling andelection sure;” and he would have encouraged you to do soby the promise, that “if ye do p. 2these things ye shall never fall; forso an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into theeverlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour JesusChrist.” But whatever intentions or expectations hemight have formed respecting future sermons, they have all beenfrustrated by the stroke of death. Instead of urging uponyou the performance of this duty by his living voice, he nowadmonishes you from the grave. Instead of animating yourminds by this “exceeding great a