Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/492

474 Such was the state of things until the accession of George III. in 1760. From this time the Church of Scotland began to revive, a prospect of better days appearing. Ever since 1746 the members had only met privately: but now they ventured to make an attempt for an extension of privileges. In 1765

coming home one evening, from performing an occasional office in the way of his duty, he found his house in the possession of a military party: some of them guarding the door with fixed bayonets, and others searching the several apartments, even the bedchamber where Mrs. Skinner was lying in of her fifth child. No lenity was to be looked for from such unfeeling visitors, who pillaged the house of every thing they could carry with them, hardly leaving a change of linen to father, mother, or child in the family. The chapel with all the furniture was destroyed, and for several years the congregation could find no place to meet in for public worship but the Clergyman's house." Life of Skinner, p. ix. Prefixed to his Theological Works. He was subsequently imprisoned for officiating as a clergyman to more than four persons besides his own family. Life, xi. xii. Bishop Russell states, that many clergymen officiated sixteen times on the same Sunday, in order to keep within the terms of the law. Russell's History of the Church in Scotland, ii. 405. It seems that the Clergy went from house to house to visit their people and perform the service of the Church. Chambers's History of the Rebellion, 295, 298. Chambers also mentions instances of suffering. On one occasion a clergyman was obliged to baptize a child under a tree to avoid discovery, vol. ii. 339, 40. The circumstance is recorded in the Register of the Episcopal Chapel of Muthill in Perthshire. It is under the date of the 20th of March 1750. N. B. " With such excessive severity were the penal laws executed at this time, that, having neglected to keep his appointment with me at my own house this morning, and following me to 's house of Duncrub, we could not take the child into a house, but I was obliged to go under the cover of the trees in one of Lord Rollo's parks to prevent our being discovered, and baptize the child there." Bishop Walker's Charge, &c. p. 38.