Quest. LIX. May a layman preach or expound the Scriptures? Or what of this is proper to the pastor's office?
Answ. 1. No doubt but there is some preaching or teaching and expounding which a layman may use. So did Origen; so did Constantine; so may a king, or judge on the bench; so may a parent to his children, and a master to his family, and a schoolmaster or tutor to his scholars.
2. It is not any one method or sermon fashion which is proper to a minister and forbidden to a layman; that method which is most meet to the matter and hearers, may be used by one as well as by the other.
3. It is not the mere publicness of the teaching, which must tell us what is unlawful for a layman. For writing and printing are the most public ways of teaching; and these no man taketh to be forbidden the laity. Scaliger, Casaubon, Grotius, Erasmus, Constantine, King James, the Lord Bacon, and abundance more laymen, have done the church great service by their writings. And judges on the bench speak oft theologically to many.
But that which is proper to the ministers or pastors of the church is, 1. To make a stated office of it, and to be separated, set apart, devoted, or consecrated and appropriated to this sacred work; and not to do it occasionally only, or sometimes, or on the by; but as their calling and the employment of their lives.
2. To do it as called and commissioned ministers of Christ, who have a special nunciative and teaching authority committed to them; and therefore are in a special manner to be heard, according to their special authority.
3. To be the stated teachers of particular churches, as their pastors and guides (though they may sometimes permit a layman when there is cause to teach them pro tempore). These three are proper to the ministerial and pastoral office.
But for the regulating of laymen's teaching, 1. They must statedly keep in their families, or within their proper bounds.
2. They must not presume to go beyond their abilities, especially in matters dark and difficult.
3. They must not thrust themselves without a just call and need into public or numerous meetings as teachers, nor do that which savoureth of pride or ostentation, or which tendeth to cherish those vices in others.