'Giving all diligence, add to your faith ...'--2 Peter i. 5.
It seems to me very like Peter that there should be so much in this
letter about the very commonplace and familiar excellence of diligence.
He over and over again exhorts to it as the one means to the attainment
of all Christian graces, and of all the blessedness of the Christian
life. We do not expect fine-spun counsels from a teacher whose natural
bent is, like his, but plain, sturdy, common sense, directed to the
highest matter, and set aglow by fervent love to his Lord. The Apostle
paints himself, and his own way of Christian living, when he thus
frequently exhorts his brethren to 'give all diligence.' He says in this
same chapter that he himself will 'give diligence [_endeavour_, in
Authorised Version] that they may be able after his decease to have
these things always in remembrance.' We seem to see Peter, not much
accustomed to wield a pen, sitting down to what he felt a somewhat
difficult task, and pointing the readers to his own example as an
instance of the temper which they must cherish if they are to make
anything of their Christian life. 'Just as I labour for your sakes at
this unfamiliar work of writing, so do you toil at perfecting your
Christian graces.'
Now it strikes me that we may gain some instruction if we throw together
the various objects to which in Scripture, and especially in this
letter, we are exhorted to direct this virtue of diligence, and mark how
comprehensive its range, and how, for all beauty of character and
progress in the Divine life, it is regarded as an indispensable
condition. Let us then look, first, at the homely excellence that is the
master-key to all Christian maturity and grace, and then at the various
fields in which we are to apply it.