Note, 1. Prodigality is very bad husbandry. Those are not only justly
branded as fools among men, but will give an uncomfortable account to
God of the talents they are entrusted with, who are wasters of their
estates, who live above what they have, spend and give more than they
can afford, and so, in effect, throw away what they have, and suffer it
to run to waste. 2. Idleness is no better. He that is remiss in his
work, whose hands hang down (so the word signifies), that stands, as we
may, with his thumbs in his mouth, that neglects his business, does it
not at all, or as if he did it not, he is own brother to him that is a
prodigal, that is, he is as much a fool and in as sure and ready a way
to poverty; one scatters what he has, the other lets it run through his
fingers. The observation is too true in the affairs of religion; he
that is trifling and careless in praying and hearing is brother to him
that does not pray or hear at all; and omissions of duty and in duty
are as fatal to the soul as commissions of sin.