ABSTRACT
The comparison throws into relief some of the recurring tendencies in what I would like to call 'presbyterian political divinity' – the sphere of debate in which the clerical leaders of the Kirk sought to influence the policies of the kingdom, injecting a pastoral discourse into the political arena. Black had been appointed to the post at Holy Trinity in 1590, and can be regarded as a poster child for the more extreme brand of presbyterian political divinity. Several of these ministers had been exiled to England after the suppression of the presbyteries in 1584. But the political tide had turned, they had returned, and the presbyteries were revived in 1586. Their influence had grown through the late 1580s, and by the decade's end, they had clearly arrived. It was the political and intellectual pressures emanating from England. They feared that the religious laxity they associated with Episcopalianism was fuelling a general tendency towards scepticism.
