I am satisfied that the happiest minister is the man who most diligently discharges the office committed to him. None, I am sure, is so miserable as the minister, who, from laziness, or any other motive, lives below his light, and neglects his work. After all, no work is so satisfactory, and so lasting—as the work of a faithful preacher of the Gospel. None have so good a Master. None will receive such wages. A missionary who had labored for the Wesleyan Society, and died at the age of 95, heard his friends round his death-bed saying one to another, “What would our old friend do, if he had to live his life over again?” He rose on his pillow, and said, “The very best thing that a man can do, is to preach the Gospel!”

~ J.C. Ryle

Tract: Neglect Not the Gift