St. James assures us, that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all:” { 265} he who reserves to himself any particular indulgence or pursuit, which is clearly at variance with the will and word of God, obeys not, in any thing, from a real christian motive; and shews himself ready, if a sufficient temptation were offered, to disobey in any and every point. It is true, that there is no “good work,” which the Christian performs with uniform unvarying obedience; but neither is there any, in which he does not sincerely desire and endeavour “to be fruitful;” there is no act of righteousness, to which he is a stranger; no “besetting sin,” which he is unwilling or unmindful to cast away: though the good fruit, to his sorrow, does too frequently fail, after all his unqualified labour; yet the unprofitable branch is pruned again, and watered by the tears of repentance, and fructified with the dews of heaven, and bears another day. He believes, and fears, and “loves the Lord his God with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength;” and therefore, though there are many imperfections, there is no reserve in his obedience.
4. The latter clause of the text directs us to a very distinguishing feature in the christian character: “Increasing in the knowledge of God.” Knowledge must evidently here be taken, in a larger sense, to signify a lively comprehension of religious doctrines and duties, a practical understanding of the will and ways of God. In this knowledge it is absolutely essential that the true believer should be continually advancing: the objects of his faith are of such deep and overwhelming interest, that the longer they are studied and pursued, the more they will, of necessity, captivate his thoughts and strike root into his heart: the more he seeks for the treasures in God’s word, the more he will find: the more he knows of God, the more he will desire and delight to know: feeling the comfort and happiness of a reconciliation with his Maker, he is ever anxious to obtain a nearer and holier communion with Him; sensible of his absolute and entire dependence upon the Redeemer’s mercy, he is ever leaning upon Him with new satisfaction, with a growing spirit of confidence and complacency; the more he thinks of heaven, the more “his affections are set on things above;” the more he thinks of the wretchedness of the rejected, the further he flies, in terror, from their dreadful abode. The consequence of all this must be, a progressive “victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil;” a daily improvement “in all virtue and godliness of living.”