Does, then, the sluggard disappoint and provoke his earthly master? See that we be not such sluggards to our Heavenly Master. Laodicean professors are especially hateful in his sight (Rev. iii. 16). The slothful minister carries in a tremendous account to _Him that sent him_. No more pitiable object is found that the man who has time to spare, who has no object of commanding interest, and is going on to the end as if he had spent his whole life in a children's play, and had lived to no useful purpose. . . . Why "standeth he idle in the market-place?" It cannot be--"No man hath hired him." His master's call sounds in his ears--"Go ye into the vineyard." And at his peril he disobeys it (Matt. xx. 7-30).--_Bridges._ Sluggishness is a cutting, vexing thing. If we are Christ's, we should crucify this self-pleasing affection of the flesh. . . . It is a sin to waste another man's time, so much as to waste his property. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." No doubt it is the natural disposition of some people to be slovenly and unexact. But what is your religion worth if it does not correct such a propensity? . . . If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. If the new life is strong in the heart, it will send its warm pulses down to the extremest member. . . . He who is a Christian in little things is not a little Christian; he is the greatest Christian, and the most useful. The baptism of these little outlying things shows that he is full of grace, for these are grace's overflowings; and they are ever the overflowings of the full well that refreshes the desert. The great centre must be fully occupied before the stream can reach that outer edge.--_Arnot._ _MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 27. LONG LIFE. This verse must be looked at--