DUNCAN'S RELIGION. 213 



as has been abundantly seen, he was intense, and on the 

 the religious side, even more so than on any other ; reaching 

 deeper as the religious faculties do into the central forces 

 of life. If occasion had required, John would have once 

 more taken to the moors and mountains, like his ancestors 

 at Aird's Moss and Drumclog, to put down ecclesiastical 

 tyranny of every kind ; and, if need had been, he would have 

 cheerfully died at the stake for his opinions there is no 

 doubt of it. 



His historical and inherited sympathies inspired him 

 with an almost fierce hate of priestcraft in all forms, 

 especially as Prelacy and Roman Catholicism being, as 

 one expressed it, " horrid at them." While arguing with a 

 friend, on one occasion, on Popery and Erastianism, he in- 

 sisted, in the spirit of the old Scot and the ancient Jew, that 

 as it was impossible to convert the Catholics, they should be 

 shot. " You surely would not take the gun to them, John ? " 

 replied his friend ; " should you not try preaching and 

 reasoning with them ? " " Weel, weel," said John ; " but if 

 they winna hear, what then ? There's naething for 't but 

 shootin' ! " In all these prelatic and papal antipathies, 

 Duncan was merely a representative of the once universal 

 feeling in Scotland, scorched deep into the national heart 

 by its bloody religious history. He retained, however, 

 more of the strength and gloom of the old Cameronian 

 days than most, and was an example of survival, into 

 modern broader religious times, of the old Covenanting, 

 red-handed period. 



In this respect, he was a great contrast to his friend 

 Charles Black, whose womanly tenderness made him look 

 upon the use of the sword in religion as not of Christ, 



