BURNS AND RELIGION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 48

BURNS AND RELIGION.

The following address on Scotland'! national bard in his relation to religion was given by Mr R. Sandilands at a reoent meeting of the Men's Institute, and re-delivered by request at the last meeting of the Burns Club :— We have had in the institute all manner of subjects and men discussed, but this is the first time that [Scotland's national poet has occupied the post of honour. It has been said tbat it matters not what sabjeot is introduced, in some way or other, either in the subject itself or the discussion which follows, it invariably reverts to socialism. ' ~ I suppose there will be no exception to this rule on this occasion, because Burns in many of his writings seem? to have given the text. Writing on one occasion, he says :— "Whatever mitigates the woes or increases the happiness of others, that is my criterion of goodness, and whatever injures society at large,

And in two verses of the fame epistle he shows tbat it was not the spirit of Christianity at which he aimed his mockery, bub the false portrayal of it : — All hftfl, Religion, maid divine 1 Pardon a muse sac mean ns mine, \ Who in h«r rough, imperfect line Thus qaurs to name thse ; To stigmatise false fri ,nds of thine Can ne'er defame thee. Tho' blotched aud foul in mony a sta!n> An' far unworthy of thy train, .With trembling voice I tune my strain To join with those Who boldly dare thy cause maintain

In spite of foes.

In a letter to Mrs Duulop he says :— " Some things in your late letters hurb me — not that you pay them, but Ms at jou mistake me. Religion, my honoured madam, has not only been all my life my chW dppandence, but my dearest enjoyment. I have, indeed, been the luckless victim of wayward follies ; but, alas ! I have ever been • more fool than knave.' A mathematician without religion is a probable character ; an irreligious poet is a monster.— R B.»

or any indmdnal in it, tttia is my measure of iniquity." On another occasion he says: — "I despise the superstition of a fanatic, but I love the religion of a man." Brought up as a Presbj terian, the Gospel oame to him in the roar of Black Russell and the censure of Father Auld. As it is generally thought that the affection of all lovers of Barns is of the same kind as Tarn o' Shanter had for Souter Johrmie — you know the lines : Tarn lo'ed him as a vera brither, They had been fou for weeks thegither —I set myself. the task of showing that by his life and writings he is entitled to a higher place th«n- is given him by many would-be interpreter* ot his history. We have heard Burns described as a scoffer, a sceptic, and an atheist. Early in life he was repelled by the attitude of, religious sects one to the other, and the want of oharity shown by religious professors. And is it unknown in our own d*y p ' What about the Rer. Anderson Gardiner aud the Port Chalmers vacancy ? "Was charity or even fairplay shown to him P Burns tried to do away with cant and strip the cloak of religion off the shoulders of the hypocrjta ; and how severe he could be is shown by some anecdotes. His religious ideas are shown by his lectors to have been in accord with the most important articles of saving belief. In one of his letters he says : — '• My oreed is pretty well expressed in the last clause of ' Jamie Da*n'« Graoe,' an honest weaver in Ayrshire 5 ♦ Lord grant that we may lead a gurie life, for a gude life makes a gade end — at least it helps weel. ' " In a poem to the Rev. John M'Math, he says of some religions profetsors : For I gaed mad at their grimaces, Their sighing, canting, grace-proud faces, Their three-mile prayers and half-mile graces, Thetr raxin conscience, Whose greed, revenge, *nd pride disgraces Waur nor their nonsense. And in two verses of the fame epistle he shows tbat it was not the spirit of Christianity at which he aimed his mockery, bub the false portrayal of it : — All hftfl, Religion, maid divine 1 Pardon a muse sac mean ns mine, \ Who in h«r rough, imperfect line Thus qaurs to name thse ; To stigmatise false fri ,nds of thine Can ne'er defame thee. v Tho' blotched aud foul in mony a sta!n> An' far unworthy of thy train, .With trembling voice I tune my strain To join with those Who boldly dare thy cause maintain In spite of foes. In a letter to Mrs Duulop he says :— " Some things in your late letters hurb me — not that you pay them, but Ms at jou mistake me. I Religion, my honoured madam, has not only been all my life my chW dppandence, but my dearest enjoyment. I have, indeed, been the luckless victim of wayward follies ; but, alas ! I have ever been • more fool than knave.' A mathematician without religion is a probable character ; an irreligious poet is a monster.— R B.» This letter will give ur tbe text for many ot tbe errors of Burns and wrong ideas regarding him. And 6rst we mtisi think of the tim'w in whioh he lived. "Wayward follies ! " It has been said that in his works (the Kiltnarnook edition especially) there Are some poetns and songs whioh would have been better sad they never been written ; but we must remftnher that in hie day delicacy was not; e**i!y ] offended by vigour of ape-eh. In hi« last j interview with bit eeteemtd friend, Wr« Riddell, he lamented that ver»e* and totters written with unguarded and improper freedom, and which h« earnestly wished to have buried in oblivion, w«nUl now, h« fe»recl, be thrust upon the world. On this aoooußt he deeply regretted baring deferred putting his papers in a sttte of j arrangement, as he was now (that is a fortnight before hie death) q«ite inoapable of the exertion. If any man has had occasion to ory " Save me from my friends," it is Burna. In his latest, literally dying, hour* there was not one impure rentenoe bat he wfentd to blot out, •ad yet it is his professed friends, who speak of "D*ar Rabbie" as of a brother, who so studiously conserve all he condemned, repeated, and lamented. *nd seem to know nothing of him only io drinking songs. In his "Bird's Epitaph," composed 10 years before his death, he took a truer and humbler measure of himself than some of his critics and admirers have done : This poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know, And keenly felt the friendly glow And softer flame, But thoughtless follws kid him low And stained his name. Reader, attend, whether tby soul Soar* fancy's flight beyond the pole, Or, darkling, grubs this earthly hole In low pursuit : Know prudent, cautious self control Is wisdom's root. That Burns was of a deeply religious nature I believe, and having said thin, it will perhaps not be out of place to say firatly, that his poems and feelings and thoughts portrayed the upright lives of the Scottish peasantft ; secondly, that he restored nationality to the poetry of Scotland ; thirdly, that there is a catholic spirit expending to universal man in bis works, and he has welded Scotchmen throughout the world in a common bond of brotherhood, and elevated the tone and delicacy of feeling of the Scottish people above that prevailing b9fore his day. Be was also, in a word, as catholic, or as careless, some people would say, in his friendships as his dog Oremr, who Wad spend an hour care -gin Even wi' a tinker gipsy messan, and seeing true superiority in an honest, manly heart. The advice he gave to young Andrew to keep something to himself, nob to be told even to a crony, was a maxim of worldly prudence which he himself did not practice, and though that habit of unguarded expression as shown in "Holy Willies Prayer," "The Holy Pair," and other poemi brought upon him the wrath of the Philistines or the Church and others, aud kept him in material poverty all his days, yet, prompted as it always was by sincerity, and nearly always with absolute truth, it has made

This letter will give ur the text for many ot tbe errors of Burns and wrong ideas regarding: him. And 6rst we mtisi think of the tim'w in whioh he lived. "Wayward follies ! " It has been said that in his works (the Kiltnarnook edition especially) there Are some poeuas and songs whioh would have been better had they never been written ; but we must remember that in hie day deiicaey was not; e**i!y offended by vigour of ape-eh. In ht« last ratervww with bif esteemed fn>nd, Wr« Riddell, he lamented that vertex and totters written with unguarded and improper freedom, and which h« earnestly wished to have buried in oblivion, w«nUl now, h« fe»recl, be thrust upon the world. On this aoooust he deeply regretted ha-ring deferred putting his papers in a sttto of arrangement, as he was now (that is a fortnight before his death) q«ite inoapable of the exertion. If any man hiui had occasion to ory " S*re me from my friends," it is Burna. In his latest, literally dying, hour* there was not one impure rentenoe bat he wisntd to blot out, •ad yet it is his professed friends, who speak of "D*ar Rabbie" as of a brother, who so studiously conserve all he condemned, repeated, and lamented. *nd seem to know nothing of him only io drinking songs. In his "Bird's Epitaph," composed 10 years before his death, he took a truer and humbler measure of himself than some of his critics and admirers have done : This poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know, And keenly felt the friendly glow And softer flame, But thoughtless follws kid him low And stained his name. Header, attend, whether tby soul Soar* fancy's flight beyond the pole, Or, darkling, grubs this earthly hole In low pursuit : Know prudent, cautious self control Is wisdom's root.

That Burns was of a deeply religious nature 1 believe, and having said thin, it will perhaps not be out of place to say firatly, that his poem* and feelings and thoughts portrayed the upright lives of the Scottish peasantft ; secondly, that he restored nationality to the poetry of Scotland ; thirdly, that there is a catholic spirit expending to universal man in hie works, and he has welded Scotchmen throughout the world in a common bond of brotherhood, and elevated the tone and delicacy of feeling of the Scottish people above that prevailing b9fore his day.

Be was also, in a word, as catholic, or as careless, some people would say, in his friendships as his dog Oremr, who Wad spend an hour care -gin Even wi' a tinker gipsy messan, and seeing true superiority in an hone.sC, manly heart.

The advice he gave to young Andrew to keep aomethiug to himself, nob to be told even to a crony, was a maxim of worldly prudence which he himself did nofc practice, and though that habit of unguarded expression as shown in "Holy Willie'i Prayer," "The Holy Pair," and other poemi brought upon him the wrath of the Philistines or the Church and others, aud kept him in material poverty all his days, yet, prompted as it always was by sincerity, and nearly always with absolute truth, it has made manhood to-dur richer, Btroncer. and we mteht

also say nobler, and the world to-day has all the more the oourage of its opinions that Barns exorcised as a right the freedom of sincere and enlightened spaeoh, and suffered for his bravery. Bracken, the New Zealand poet, has said i To Nature's throne he offered heartfelt praiseHe scourged hypocrisy with satire's rod i In stirring tonea he called on man to raise

His head erect, a. reflex of his God. He robbed the angels of their sweetest notes : And when descending through the apecklaaa dome He caught the echoeß of the lavrook's throats, Aud brought them to thy peasant's humble home.

No one will deny that Barns was the man to describe every side of the Scottish life. He attacked the hypocrisy of the age, and he defended the simple and honest lives of the people, and inspiration can be got from the pages of many of his poems. From one point of view, if we consider the work he did as the ' only thing to be thought of, the life he did live was the best possible life he could have lived, as it was the best education that could have been given to one who was to write the pas-> flion&te songs which are now one of the most precious literary treasures of the world. Bub none but Burns ever knew the difficulties of his position, ac ha says in the last verse of the ; •• Address to the Unco Guid " i j Who made the hflart 'tis He alons Decidedly can try us. He knows each chord— its various tonal Eacb spring -its various bias. Than at the balance let's be mute ; We never can adjust it. What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted. No man endears himself to succeeding generations of his fello* men by any element of ill that may have belonged to him. It is alwaya the better things that keep his memory green — some noble attribute— not the bacchanalian merriment he sometimes displays. These thiags perhaps may continue to please a few who unite, in the chorus of his praise. Burns was a lovable man, who could sing of the daisy and think of the poor mouse, and made himself loved. Ha was a m«n merciful, forgiving, kind, and noble. 'Though he loved much, he was a generous hater. He hated all hypocrisies and hollowness. He went through tha compass of human feeling in his songs and poems, and .no other hfts sang more sweetly, feelingly, or honestly than Robert Burn«, and that will never be forgotten wherever Scotchmen gather. In- j dependence of thought and true manliness of soul were with Burns eminent characteristics. He loathed servility ; he bated meanness ; he despised all kinds of hypocrisy, and he fought for liberty. And the result with him was the same as in our own day, when we have professing Christians who are confident of their own salvation, based solely on their faith, when their daily lives show many unchristian aofcs, snob as robbing tbe widow and orphans and trampling I on the weak, until the non-profeeeing stand aloof and 'are ready to exclaim tbat professing religion is not as sure a proof of godliness a> a life of good and noble deeds. He nays : God knows I'm no the thing I should be^ Nor am I even the thing I could be, But twenty tirnei I rattier would be An atheist clean Than under gospel colours hid b8 Just for a screen.'' Certainly the best way to understand and appreciate Burn* is to re\d his poems through ; but evea among Scotchmen you would find it difficult to get one to stand an examination in some of Burns's words and meanings. By way of a change, let me quote a verse from the " Salutation to his Auld Mare." He says :

Thou never braing't an' fetch'tand fliaket, But thy auld tail thou wad has whisket, .At.' spread abreed thy well-filled brisket WY pith and power, Till spritty knowes wad raired and risket An' slypet owre. Let ns interpret it thus :— " Thou didst nevsr fret or plunge and kiok, but thou wouldst have whifikfd thy old tail and spread abroad tby large ohest with pith and power, till hillocks where the earth was filled with tough-rooted plants would have given forth a oraoktug flouad and. the oluds fallen gently over."

Or take a verae from "The Twa Douga," where he mukes Ctesar say i Then at Vienna or Versailles He rive* his father's auld entails. Or by Madrid hi taken the rout To thrum guitars or fecht wi' uowt. Mark fche word " nowt," meaning balls. The late Thomas Aird said if the poet had said our joang men went to Spain to fight with balls there would bare been some dignity in the thing ; bat think of them going all that wajr to " feobt wi nowt " ; it was felt at onca to be ridiculous, and • sarcastic rebuke of the folly. Or let us turn to the poem of " Halloween." H«r« he ik«t*hed tiie Ayrshire peasants as the; appear hi their hours of merrymaking, and preBarr«d for ever tho remembrance of ancient customs aad superstitious observances which bare now all bat disappeared, and in our own town arc kept up by a concert, whioh has led to the question being asked as to the mesning of Halloween Let anyone read the poem and proride themselves with a glossary. And so it is that the beat, because the most genuine, biography of Burns is furnished by his own writings. His letters will, if carefully studied, disprove many of the positions taken up by so many confident writers of his history. There is much wiedom, I think, in the saying, "He who falls into sin is a, man ; if he repents, he is a saint ; and if be boastelh of it he is a deyil." Well, no ooe will attempt to deny tbat Barm did fall into sin, and, as he himself said, deeply ; but that; he did not repent we will deny strenuously, and in bitter penitence bewailed his shortcomings. Very affecting is th« following story, rehted to' the " Bttrick Shepherd," by one Proudfoot who on one occasion detected Barns in prayer. " I wafcoh'd him weel, an' he grew exceedingly impatient, an' then, throwing himael' on his kuees wi' his face leaning on his arms, which were across the chair, he began to pray, and by degrees he got into such a feivent supplication for mercy and forgiveness for all his transgressions that it was awfu'— ib was dreatifu' to hear him. It made sic an impression on me tbat I crept quietly owre the bed, out o' his kennin', and kueeled down beside him. He oonieesed himself to be the chief o' sinner* wi' tears o1o 1 agony, and siccan fervour o' eloquence I never heard frae the lips o' man. It was awesome to hear him. I was even greetin' mjsel', although it's no little gars auld Sandie cry." And whuti is prayer ? Is it, as some say, of no avail ? Bather would we say that it is no invention, but was born with the flt6t sigh, the first joy, and the firat sorrow of the human h«*rt, and that Burns found it so. We rejoice in believing that the heart of Burns was always true. A tender father he has shown himself. His little children's hands were familiar to his neck in all their fliehterin noieo and glee, and no husband ever felt more deeply the love of home. The wee bit Ingle blinking bonnily— His clean hearthstane, his thrifty wifie's Bmile.

It has always been to me a matter of extreme regret that Burns was offered the post of exoiseman. He accepted it as if he was aihamed of it, bub ■omethina had to be done. As he says— ,

I ' . . '. Searching auld wives' barrels ! Oob hone the day I That Olartie barm should stain my laurels 1 Butwhafllyesay? These moving things cad wives and weans Wad move the very heart of stanes. Bums had a noble charaoter, bnt it 'was in thftf that the enemy came and sowed tares with thg wheat, especially as in those days there was no) disgrace in the saying to be "as drank as ft lord." - During the last illnesa of Barns he did very little in the writing of poetry, but anyone r«ad4 ing the account of how that beautiful song "O wert thou in the eauld blast on yonder lea" was composed wonld Me nevfr beauty in the words. Not that it has any beaf<r ing on the subjeor, bub I would like to recount! the followiog anecdote r— " A night or two be* fore Burns left Brow he drank tea with Mr* Craig, widow of the minister of Ruthwell. Hid altered appearance excited much silent synM patby. It being a beautiful evening, the surf was shining biightly through tbe oassmenfc. Miss Craig, who was afterwards Mrs Henry Dunoan, w«s afraid the light would be too much for him; and rose to let ' down the window blinds. Burns, on seeing what sha was aboat to do, said, ' Thank yon, my dear, for your kind attention, but oh, let him shine-* he will not shine long for me.' " Why I men> tion this is that I bnve ia my possession a song that he presented to this young lady; - " The Cotter's Saturday Nigkt " was a poem that Mts Dunlop admired so much that it was the beginning of a correspondence that ended only with the poets death. Nearly the last letter he wrote was to this lady, showing the feeling he had for religion. While staying with the Rev. Mr London he left in the roomin whioh he slept a short poem of six feeling stanzaf, - Tiriiiathelaiti WJjen soon ov late thsy reicb. that' coast!,O'er life's rough ocean driven, M*y they rejoice— no wanderer loit— Asf timily in heaven. Shakespeare has said t The evil that men do lives after them ; The good is oft interred with their bones. But this is not the case with Bnrns. There arfl some thiDgs in bis writing whkh some wish unsaid, but these are few and far between. Out; here uuder the Southern Cross we see again rise before u« the dear remembered features of one native land when reading some of his valuable additions to the literature of the world. Ha quickened the sympathy of men for each other and for the dumb creation. These are merit* that might outweigh the faults he committed.

I cannot close my. subject without saying something of the way in whioh Burns always insisted that the man was the "gold for a' that." The followers of fashion hold that a man'g lineage and the blood that courses through bis veins at once ~ stamp on him superiority over his fellows. If you were to ask, say, a laundress how she would' tell ' the gentleman f she would say by the fineness and whiteness of hfs linen ; ask another, it would be by his boots ; while another wonld say that complexion and deportment are infallible signs. If the word Is to be thus confined or defined, it oould only cexve as a name. Then give ns Nature's aristocracy— the good and the great, not artificial titles or accidental circumstances. Net one of the things mentioned make a man, nor all of them, together. The principles lie deeper. It is-a social virtue, and the study of it is to learn what is mos; agreeable to another. As Burns says : Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will, for a' that, That sense and worth o'er a' the earth 4l»y bear the gree and a' that.-' And elsewhere : And while we sing " God Save the King," We'll ne'er forget the people. No effort need be mad« on behalf of Burns*! songa here in New Zealand, as. thousands of Scotchmen, and also enthusiastic Englishmen and Irishmen, are found to join in singing what has been t&id to be the intense and lifebreatbing truth of hh songs,' and find in them a fresh tie of brotherhood. Sootchmen will always be interested in anything that relates to Burns and tb.^ personalities made conspicuous by his genius, and while Scotland stands where she dos« f it will always be "remembered that her national poet has quickened tbe love of country in all Scotchmen. Burns, as we all know, was fond of th« Usiei, and for this he has been Mveraly handlsd ; but looking at the lives of moat poets it seems they oann jt bs judged by our standard. I shou'd think, for instance, nobody oould undftcatand the peculiar soul of Shelley when he says on this subject : Pure love in this differs from droas and clay, That to divide i« not to take away. And we know that we are indebted to th« inspiration of Ohloris, Ckrinda, and many others for the beet songs ever written. As soon as a poet 1ot#« more than .one womd people think his nature mut be ooarm. They think of outward and material thinf f ; fee finds inspiration, and dreans of the blue sky and love. Over these matter* the Church had no influence — even with that birkieoa'd a lord, Lord Byron. Only Barns poured out in song his audacious raptures and half-hearted repentance. We may like it or dissike it, but we cannot deny the verity. None ever excelled him m the poet of manly independence or devoted patriotism. In sympathy with Nature and in sympathy with men, he rises jto the highest level ; in the breathing of the most tsnder and passionate affection he distanced all the singers of the »gcs ; in vigorous and varied humour he hat a plaoa peculiarly his own. In a word, no man has ever more spontaneously interpreted ia tha most simple and heart-moving strains all the sweeter and nobler emotions «f our common humanity ; and the lapse of years shows no abatement ot the admiration and affection he inspires, and his name has become a link of brotherhood among his fellow countrymen more than anything else that belongs to our native land. This only would I venture to hint, that those who celebrate his memory in social gatherings should not put forward so much of the royster* ing element in Burnt, and cease to sneer at tho " unco' quid," and not make so much of the exhilarating bnt moit dangerous cup. Tha lines he has left expressive of his remorse, and appealing to the mercy of forgiving Heaven, ought to silence all attacks an religion ; and as it is to religion we look for tbe regeneration of mankind, I hope its followers may yet strike oS their "isms," and put their brads together to see which would be the best way to bring conconsolation to the poor and unfortunate, and strength to all in the day of trouble. The land of Burns, in the West of Scotland, was also the land of Wallace and the Covananterf, and it is the combiuntion ot p^'iiob--ism, genius, and the martyr spirit of the aublimest piety th»t has furnished Scotland with her distinctive character, and marked hex out, small as are her boundaries, for her' moib Illustrious and influential career.