“I am bold to affirm, that these unlettered men have help from God for the great work of saving souls from death. But, indeed, in the one thing which they profess to know, they are not ignorant men. I trust there is not one of them, who is not able to go through such an examination, in substantial, practical, experimental divinity, as few of our candidates for holy orders, even in the university, are able to do. In answer to the objection, that they are laymen, I reply, the scribes of old, who were the ordinary preachers among the Jews, were not priests; they were not better than laymen. Yea, many of them were incapable of the priesthood, being not of the tribe of Levi. Hence, probably, it was, that the Jews themselves never urged it as an objection to our Lord’s preaching, that He was no priest after the order of Aaron; nor, indeed, could be; seeing He was of the tribe of Judah. Nor does it appear that any objected this to the apostles. If we come to later times, was Mr. Calvin ordained? Was he either priest or deacon? And were not most of those whom it pleased God to employ in promoting the Reformation abroad, laymen also? Could that great work have been promoted at all, in many places, if laymen had not preached? In all Protestant churches, ordination is not held a necessary pre-requisite of preaching; for in Sweden, in Germany, in Holland, and, I believe, in every Reformed church in Europe, it is not only permitted, but required, that, before any one is ordained, he shall publicly preach a year or more _ad probandum facultatem_. And, for this practice, they believe they have an express command of God; ‘let those first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless’ (1 Tim. iii. 10). Besides, in how many churches, in England, does the parish clerk read one of the lessons, and in some the whole service of the Church, perhaps every Lord’s day? And do not other laymen constantly do the same thing in our very cathedrals? which, being under the inspection of the bishops, should be patterns to all other churches. Nay, is it not done in the universities themselves? Who ordained that singing man at Christ Church; who is likewise utterly unqualified for the work, murdering every lesson he reads; not endeavouring to read it as the word of God, but rather as an old song?”