Basilikon Doron

In the paragraph that spans pages 75 and 76, our tour guide gives us a picture of James VI of Scotland that will help us when we meet him later as James I of England.
Strangely, Gardiner gives short shrift to the one document that is probably the most revealing of James's character: a treatise that that king wrote for the instruction of his son, Prince Henry, called Basilikon Doron.
For the most part, this book contains sound, if at times shallow, advice on the right behavior of a king towards God, his state and his people. But when it became known outside the royal family (it was not originally intended for publication, and originally only seven copies were printed), the Doron was criticized on many points by "the Godly sort". The chief problem was that James derived all his views of kingship from one basic principle: That kings derive their authority directly from God. He assumed that this fact gave him broad power, authority, even wisdom, in matters of religion. And this assumption could not go unchallenged by the ministers, who were among the few people in Scotland who could actually read a book.
To blunt the criticism, the king released the Doron for publication in 1599. He included a Preface "To the Reader" in which he tried to justify himself. If you read no other part of the book, read those nine pages because they reveal the internal logic that will govern James's decisions for the next 25 years: that he is "steadfast, true and plain", with a special mandate from God; and that those who oppose him either misunderstand or are driven by personal motives.
The introductory sonnet summarizes Basilikon Doron, and although it is well known, perhaps it will not be out of place here as a reminder:

God gives not kings the style of gods in vain,
For on the throne His sceptre do they sway;
And as their subjects ought them to obey,
So kings should fear and serve their God again.
If, then, ye would enjoy a happy reign,
Observe the statutes of our heavenly king,
And from His law make all your laws to spring.
If His lieutenant here you would remain,
Reward the just, be steadfast, true, and plain;
Repress the proud, maintaining aye the right;
Walk always so as ever in His sight,
Who guards the godly, plaguing the profane;
And so shall you in princely virtues shine,
Resembling right your mighty King divine.