Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/152

148 of his people of old—"What could have been done more to my vineyard, thai I have not done in it?" Furthermore, the "price" is placed into the hand of every man. 2d. That in the great day of account the finally impenitent shall not be able to show any reason why the sentence of condemnation should not be passed upon them for their neglect of improving it. In the parable of the talents the servant who had one, offered as an excuse for not improving it, his knowledge of the severity of his Lord; "reaping where" he had "not sown, and gathering where" he had "not strawed." But he thus condemned himself. And his Lord showed him, that the very excuse he offered, was a more urgent reason why he should have improved the talent intrusted to his charge. Hence he was struck dumb: stripped of every extenuating plea—forced