Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

Then the news reached Perth that the men who
had been forbidden to appear before the queen,
were outlawed for not appearing, indignation was
added to the surprise of the nobles and the
townspeople. It chanced that on the same day Knox
preached against the mass and image-worship. The
sermon was ended, and the congregation had very
quietly dispersed, when a priest, "to show his
malapert presumption," says Knox, "would open
ane glorious tabernacle that stood upon the high
altar," and began to say mass. A boy standing near
called out, "Idolatry! " The priest repaid him with a
blow: the youth retaliated by throwing a stone,
which, missing the priest, hit one of the images on
the altar, and shivered it in pieces. It was the
sacking of Antwerp Cathedral over again, but on a
smaller scale. The loiterers in the church caught the
excitement; they fell upon the images, and the
crash of one stone idol after another reechoed
through the edifice; the crucifixes, altars, and
church ornaments shared the same fate. The noise
brought a stream of idlers from the street into the
building, eager to take part in the demolition.
Mortified at finding the work finished before their
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