Perhaps no person who reads these paragraphs, will doubt the truth of
the general principle I have laid down. Thus far, it may be said, all
seems to be correct. We are, indeed, bound to do every thing we do, to
the glory of God; and he can hardly be glorified in the doing of a
thing in a manner which is short of the best in our power.

Yet, when we come to apply the principle, and say in what particulars
we should strive to make progress and do better, from day to day, and
from hour to hour, (if the thing is to be performed so often,) many an
individual will be found, I fear, to stand back; and among those who
thus shrink from the just application of admitted principle, will be
found not a few who, till now, supposed they had within them a strong
desire for perpetual improvement.

It is, my young friends, no _trifling_ matter to have burning
within a hearty desire for eternal progress. It is no small thing to do
whatever our hands find to do, which it is fit that an intelligent
being--one who belongs to the family of Christ--_should_ do, in
such a manner that it will contribute to the glory of God, and the good
of mankind.

And yet less than this, as Christians or even as rational and immortal
beings, we cannot do. I know, indeed, that many who profess to be the
disciples of Christ, actually do less than this. I know there are
hundreds and thousands who are called by his worthy name, and who seem
to be almost above the liability to do that which could be regarded as
positively wrong, who, nevertheless, are very far from striving to do
everything which their hands find to do _with all their might_--
or, in other words, as well as they possibly can. But it is to be hoped
that the standard of Christian character will ere long be much higher