Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

Chapter 1
The Darkness and the
Daybreak
ENGLAND, in reforming itself, worked mainly
from the political center. Scotland worked mainly
from the religious one. The ruling idea in the
former country was the emancipation of the throne
from the supremacy of the Pope; the ruling idea in
the latter was the emancipation of the conscience
from the Popish faith. The more prominent
outcome of the Reformation in England was a free
State; the more immediate product of the
Reformation in Scotland was a free Church. But
soon the two countries and the two Reformations
coalesced: common affinities and common aims
disengaged them from old allies, and drew them to
each other's side; and Christendom beheld a
Protestantism strong alike in its political and in its
spiritual arm, able to combat the double usurpation
of Rome, and to roll it back, in course of time,
from the countries where its dominion had been
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