Transcribed from the 1847 Josiah Fletcher edition by David Price. THE CHRISTIAN SERVING HIS OWN GENERATION. * * * * * A SERMON OCCASIONED BY THE LAMENTED DEATH OF JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY, ESQ., AND PREACHED IN PRINCE’S STREET CHAPEL, NORWICH, ON SUNDAY EVENING, JAN. 17th, 1847, BY JOHN ALEXANDER. * * * * * * * * * * PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CONGREGATION. * * * * * * * * * * NORWICH: PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER, UPPER HAYMARKET; SOLD ALSO BY JARROLD AND SONS, LONDON STREET; LONDON: JACKSON AND WALFORD. 1847. * * * * * _The following sermon_, _which the Author composed and preached without the slightest intention of publishing it_, _and which he prepared for the press at the bedside of a dying son_, _is now presented to his congregation_, _in compliance with their earnest request_; _and to the public_, _in the hope that they will mildly censure its defects_, _and that they will imitate the example of Christian excellence which it describes_. _Some additional extracts from Mr. Gurney’s works are now inserted_, _which were omitted in the delivery of the discourse_. A SERMON. ACTS XIII, 36. “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.”