Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/181

Rh Eternal who has made it obligatory upon us to be active and industrious in view of the temporal comforts of the body; has also made it our solemn and imperative duty, to be diligent, actively engaged with reference to the soul, upon which he has stamped his own image of immortality. What are you doing in this direction? What efforts are you putting forth to "enter in at the straight gate;"—"to lay hold on eternal life"—to have God for your reconciled friend and father, and your names written in the Lamb's book of life? Ah! you cannot nullify the charge of idleness here. You are compelled to acknowledge in your own minds that the charge is fully sustained in your case. You are aware of having suffered many hours to pass away, so far from having been employed to any good purpose, that they may be considered as total blanks in your existence. Your golden moments have flown swiftly by, and you have looked on with as much