According to [William] Perkins, preaching involves

1. 1. Reading the text clearly from the canonical Scriptures.
2. 2. Explaining the meaning of it, once it has been read, in light of the Scriptures themselves.
3. 3. Gathering a few profitable points of doctrine from the natural sense of the passage.
4. 4. If the preacher is suitably gifted, applying the doctrines thus explained to the life and practice of the congregation in straightforward, plain speech.

Chad Van Dixhoorn, God’s Ambassadors: The Westminster Assembly and the Reformation of the English Pulpit, 1643-1653, 28.