He served his own generation _by a consistent and influential character_. He not only began well in his Christian course, but having obtained help of God, he continued in it, even to the end. Suppose it had been otherwise. Suppose that, after he had made a public profession of the gospel, he had renounced it; or, by some act or course of immorality, had profaned it. What a frightful supposition! Can you estimate the evil and the disservice of such an apostacy? How would the church have mourned, not as she did at his death, with sorrow softened with hope, but with bitter tears, and a broken heart; and how would the enemies of truth and purity have rejoiced and blasphemed! Can you then estimate the service which he rendered to Christ and to his church, by that long course of holy and consistent conduct which, by the grace of God, he was enabled to pursue; and during which he was neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame unto it. Brethren, let us watch and pray, that we may thus serve God ourselves, and let us devoutly listen to the charge which our divine Master is ever addressing to his servants, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” He served his own generation _by his liberal contributions_, which he rendered to the cause of humanity and religion. Giving money, in due proportion, and to proper objects, was placed by him among the duties inculcated by religion and benevolence; and his giving was distinguished, not only by the largeness of its amount, but by the manner in which it was conducted. He gave cheerfully, constantly, and religiously. If you have ever been refused money, when you have asked it for a really deserving case, the refusal was not from Mr. Gurney. If, after long and beseeching entreaty, you have received a donation grudgingly, it was not from Mr. Gurney. There were sometimes cases when he might have excused himself, by pleading the amount he had already given to similar objects, or the claims and the peculiarities of his own religious denomination; but, though he would not give against the convictions of his conscience, yet his giving was evidently limited only by those convictions, and by the range of his own means. “I only wish to keep my head fairly above water,” was the remark which he made to a friend, who had received a donation from him for a religious purpose, just after he had been giving some large sums of money; and when an effort was being made, some time ago, to induce persons to become collectors for a charitable institution in this city, to which he had given liberally, he said, “It sometimes requires more self-denial to ask for contributions than it does to give them, and the most liberal people are often those who beg, not those who give.” You know how he remembered the poor; and I shall never forget the gratification which he expressed when the District Visiting Society was established, because, as he then said, he had the means of sending money