ABSTRACT
Historians studied the early modern sermon to understand the importance of a sermon's contextual environment. The 1596 General Assembly ordered that 'publick Sins and Corruptions of these times' should be reproved from the pulpit. The ex tempore preaching favoured in the Kirk increased the likelihood of political and ideological connections being made in Scottish sermons. The Covenanted Kirk placed theological weight on the sermon, but the pulpit's role in expressing allegiance became increasingly divisive, emblematic of the different local responses to a changing political climate. David Appleby's recent assessment of farewell sermons by ejected ministers after the Restoration in England illustrates 'the relationship between religion, politics and culture' meeting at the sermon. Ministers responded to the competing demands of the Kirk leadership and Royalist rebels with a mixture of pragmatism, learning and determination to survive. The Kirk leadership viewed the English Independents with increasing suspicion particularly after the Independents had prevented the successful establishment of Presbyterianism in England.
