Skinner was induced to enlist his sympathies in the cause of the
Episcopal or non-juring clergy of Scotland. They bore the latter
appellation from their refusal, during the existence of the exiled
family of Stewart, to take the oath of allegiance to the House of
Hanover. In 1740, on the invitation of Mr Robert Forbes, Episcopal
minister at Leith, afterwards a bishop, Mr Skinner, in the capacity of
private tutor to the only son of Mr Sinclair of Scolloway, proceeded to
Zetland, where he acquired the intimate friendship of the Rev. Mr
Hunter, the only non-juring clergyman in that remote district. There he
remained only one year, owing to the death of the elder Mr Sinclair, and
the removal of his pupil to pursue his studies in a less retired
locality. He lamented the father's death in Latin, as well as in English
verse. He left Scolloway with the best wishes of the family; and as a
substantial proof of the goodwill of his friend Mr Hunter, he received
in marriage the hand of his eldest daughter.

Returning to Aberdeenshire, he was ordained a presbyter of the Episcopal
Church, by Bishop Dunbar of Peterhead; and in November 1742, on the
unanimous invitation of the people, he was appointed to the pastoral
charge of the congregation at Longside. Uninfluenced by the soarings of
ambition, he seems to have fixed here, at the outset, a permanent
habitation: he rented a cottage at Linshart in the vicinity, which,
though consisting only of a single apartment, besides the kitchen,
sufficed for the expenditure of his limited emoluments. In every respect
he realised Goldsmith's description of the village pastor:--

"A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a-year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change his place."