Before we can get our tour into full swing, our tour guide thinks we need a little more background. In particular, he wants us to keep in mind the fundamental differences in the religious landscapes of England and Scotland, and the inherent inability of the king of both to deal with the consequent political problems of either.

Read the beginning of Chapter 2: pages 44-49. Gardiner succinctly shows us an England where the Church was a fulcrum balancing the challenges posed by Catholics on one side and puritans on the other. He contracts this with Scotland, where, under James VI, the Church quickly became exclusively associated with the equivalent of the puritan party. The Presbyterian Second Book of Discipline, which Gardiner mentions, is a Calvinist constitution.

Why should we tourists care about this? It is because, as Gardiner says, in those days every religious question was also a political one. And as Presbyterian ideas become more visible in the landscape, we will see their effects on the countries through which we tour. After all, the Book of Discipline says

It is proper to kings, princes, and magistrates to be called lords and dominators over their subjects, whom they govern civilly, but it is proper to Christ only to be called Lord and Master in the spiritual government of the kirk....

And if that idea takes hold south of Tweed, it will change the landscape considerabily.