ABSTRACT
The realities of parish life meant that a minister, Calvinist, anti-Calvinist or whatever, usually tried to get along with as many of his people as he could. Among those expectations was that a minister should play a part in parish discipline, and seek to sustain peace and order among his people. These are just a few examples of clergy seeking to deal with disciplinary matters in their own way and at parish level –sorting out contentions, warning sinners to mend their ways, rebuking misconduct and seeking public promises of amendment. The obligation of charity and exclusion from communion gave the clergy a powerful sanction in parish peacemaking. Clergy and churchwardens did not simply hand issues over to the bureaucratic procedures of ecclesiastical justice and forget about them. Ministers certainly remained engaged in cases, and sought to influence the courts' treatment of offenders. Scotland became 'a puritan nation', she declared; England did not, because 'Quite simply, England lacked kirk sessions'.
