Chapter I: Front Matter

_The Mourning Congregation reminded of the Work of their_
_Deceased Minister_.

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A Funeral Sermon
FOR
THE REV. JOSEPH KINGHORN,

PREACHED IN

ST. MARY’S MEETING-HOUSE, NORWICH,

ON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1832.

BY JOHN ALEXANDER.

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“THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED.”

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NORWICH:
PUBLISHED BY WILKIN AND FLETCHER, UPPER HAYMARKET; AND
BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, AND G. WIGHTMAN, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXII.

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TO THE BEREAVED AND MOURNING CHURCH
AND CONGREGATION WORSHIPPING IN ST. MARY’S MEETING-HOUSE, NORWICH,
THE FOLLOWING SERMON IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY

THE AUTHOR.

SERMON

II Peter, chap, i, verses 12–15.

“WHEREFORE I WILL NOT BE NEGLIGENT TO PUT YOU ALWAYS IN REMEMBRANCE
OF THESE THINGS, THOUGH YE KNOW THEM AND BE ESTABLISHED IN THE
PRESENT TRUTH. YEA, I THINK IT MEET, AS LONG AS I AM IN THIS
TABERNACLE, TO STIR YOU UP BY PUTTING YOU IN REMEMBRANCE; KNOWING
THAT SHORTLY I MUST PUT OFF THIS MY TABERNACLE, EVEN AS OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST HATH SHEWED ME. MOREOVER, I WILL ENDEAVOUR THAT YE MAY
BE ABLE, AFTER MY DECEASE, TO HAVE THESE THINGS ALWAYS IN
REMEMBRANCE.”

THESE words, my brethren, are impressively suitable to the present solemnity; especially when you consider that, if the life and health of your beloved pastor had been prolonged till to-day, he would probably have made them the subject of his own discourse. Having been engaged, for some time past, in preaching a course of sermons on some of the Epistles, he had proceeded in his expositions as far as the eighth verse of this chapter; and, by this time, perhaps, he would have addressed you on the following verses, including those of our text. He would, in that case, have enforced upon you the duty “to give diligence to make your calling and election sure;” and he would have encouraged you to do so by the promise, that “if ye do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” But whatever intentions or expectations he might have formed respecting future sermons, they have all been frustrated by the stroke of death. Instead of urging upon you the performance of this duty by his living voice, he now admonishes you from the grave. Instead of animating your minds by this “exceeding great and precious promise,” he now enjoys the fulfilment of it himself, in all its richness and perpetuity; and instead of attempting, with mortal lips, to describe to you the glories of that “everlasting kingdom,” he has had ministered unto himself “an abundant entrance” into its celestial palaces, where all the inhabitants are made “kings and priests unto God.”

The duty and the promise, to which I have referred, are immediately followed by the words of our text, which, on this occasion, we may, without impropriety, adopt as his own language. They were indeed practically the language of his life and ministry; and on this, or on some early sabbath, had his life been spared, they would have been made the subject of his discourse to you in this place of worship. They were evidently the motto which he adopted at the commencement of his ministry; and during the whole course of his labours among you, it was his endeavour that the doctrines which he preached might be retained in your remembrance, not only during his lifetime, but also after his decease. And often has he said to you, verbally in his discourses, and virtually by the conduct which he pursued in his life and ministry, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover, I will endeavour that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance.” His own remarks on this passage would probably have included the language of _determination_ and _anticipation_; ours alas! must include principally the language of _reflection_ and _remembrance_. Let us therefore consider the work in which he was engaged, the decease by which it has been terminated, and the remembrance of it which it now becomes you to cherish. Let us consider,