The “THINGS” to which the apostle here refers are evidently the various doctrines, and exhortations, and blessings, which he has recorded in the preceding parts of this chapter; and which, in the third verse, are emphatically called “_all things that pertain unto life and godliness_.” They are the “grace and peace,” which is multiplied to all the partakers of “precious faith”—the “promises,” which are “exceeding great and precious”—the influences by which we become “partakers of the divine nature”—the Christian graces, which include “faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity”—the admonitions by which we are warned lest we lack any of these things, and exhorted to give all diligence to secure them—and the motives and prospects which are presented to us, full of constraining and inspiring energy, “for if ye do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Such, my brethren, is the beautiful and comprehensive view, which the apostle gives us, of the doctrines, and promises, and influences of the gospel of Christ, and such is the evidence which he affords that it contains “all things which pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue,” and by whose precious blood and efficacious grace we are redeemed, and sanctified, and saved. To make these things known, for the conversion and salvation of the guilty and depraved, is the great work of the Christian _preacher_, to whom is committed the word of reconciliation, and who beseeches men to be reconciled to God. And to “stir up” the minds of those who know these things already, and are established in the present truth, in order that they may have them always in remembrance, is the peculiar work of the Christian _pastor_, whose office it is “to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood.” In the verses before us, the apostle directs our attention, however, more particularly to _the manner_ in which, as a minister of the gospel, he endeavoured to discharge this work; and the several statements which he has made are so strikingly descriptive of the ministerial labours of your own pastor and teacher, that I proceed at once to connect them with the work in which he was engaged.