Show BURNS THE POET I I 1 J T Though hough Man of Vices He Realized the Inmost Things of Life S SCOTLAND LOVES BURNS Preacher Illustrates How Poet Is Seer of the Future Life Before Defore an Interested congregation t tho he Rev Rov William Thurston Bro Brown n preached yesterday morning at Unity Unit i hall mall His themo was the tIme lIfo life of Robert Robrt Rob Rob- e ert elot rt Burns antI and Its legacy for tor future futuro generations Dr Brown said In part as follows Is It not at least a noteworthy noteworthy noteworthy note note- worthy timing thing that somehow this timis man manof manof of ot such a n checkered career this man whoso life was such a wretched failure b by every even measure of ot his time this this this' man whose vices were so shameless s. s i nevertheless holds a n place in the tho love and esteem of tho the best mon men of or today toda such Much as no single singie churchman of or his time In Scotland holds Not only IsIt is isIt It i t true as one ono of or his biographers writes that the fame of ot Burns urns has kept the whole literary generation of I his mis time from oblivion lon but hut It I Is also true that nothing but Iut their relation to this thus despised poet can keep from oblivion some somo of the hc cr very leaders le and pillars of at tho time Scottish church of or that day That the town In whose streets ho he walked an 1 0 outcast while ho lie 11 lived ved should toda today make malco Its proudest boast that It holds the ashes l of the ml mighty ht dead is a fact full of meaning menning Th love and reverence which Robert Burns Durns inspires toda today is something far moro more than a witness to time the degradation of mankind The power of ot Burns Is Ismore Ismore ismore more than merely merel the time power of oC a literary lit lit- orar genius Some of ot the time feelings which his words stir to life In human breasts are aro only such as belong to all that is highest and best beat In men of u a Religion TIme Tho truth I is is tho the thing which was almost universally caled a l religion In Inthe Inthe Inthe the Scotland of or Burns Burns' time had no Immediate no vital connection with will mens men's lives In no dl did It grow nut out of mens men's needs any need that men and could naturally feel leel That religion was totally foreign to life lire It has hns its roots In iii certain ancient teachings teach teach- ings God and heaven and hell which were born in an a age e of lC universal universal universal sal Ignorance and superstition Who Vho that has imas any knowledge of ot tho the Presbyterian Presby Presby- tonian terian creed then or now or of ot orthodox orthodox orthodox ortho ortho- dox beliefs anywhere or will say that Burns Durns was not holding time the mirror up to nature when whon In Holy Willies Willie's Prayer ho wrote O 0 Thou who In tho tIme heavens dost dos dwell Who as it pleases best thyself Sends one to heaven and ten to hen hell All for Thy TImy glory 1 And not for tOl an any good or Ill III They've dono done afore thee I bless and thy matchless ml might ht When thousands thou hast l left ft I Inight In night That 1 am here afore thy sight For Gifts and grace raco graceA A an nn a shinin lI light ht To a this place Spirit of the lime Truth The great reason wh why the time world wand fo for or orall all these years has Instinctively Instinctive felt and will for all the tho years cars to come conme in In- In feel teel something In th time the spirit of ot Robert Burns which it never nevo felt Celt and never will feel in anything the church of Scotland nd or the church pC other any ce stood or stands for tor o ought not to bo difficult tc to understand today faults and It Is because with all his an sins Burns possess possessed d the time spirit of ot rea real religion as that church did not In Instead himstead him In- stead of or It being a witness to tho tIme Irrell lr Ir- Ir rell religion lon of or men today that thoy they love Burns urns and have no care caro or concern about any priest or preacher of af tho eighteenth century Scotland It Is an aim evidence of ot the essential religiousness of human kind The er very thing timing which made Burns a poet also made him a of ot religion though It is doubtful doubt doubt- ful tul ul It If half a dozen people In the Scotland of ot his day were conscious of ot tho the fact What hat Is a poet Poet Man Inn Seeing God Not ot a versifier as many of tho time al alleged al- al leg legel poets of ot our out own are nrc Not Nota a man or woman who can manipulate language to please the ear The rhe poet is simply the man who sees God who hears Ills His voice the man of universal sweep S of ot sm sympathy aUn the tho man to whom not a distant past or equally equall remote future but the tho Immediate present Is tho time of or Infinite sacredness What hat separated Burns Durns from rom his contemporaries contemporaries contempo contempo- was Just this timis universal consciousness conscious ness of or his that his that grasp of or tho whole of life within tho the compass of crr j his sym sym- sympathies which manifested itself not only In tho the many of ot his verses but equally lb In his Imis own life Here ere was a aman aman aman man who felt fell all nil the while his intimate inti- inti mato mate kinship not kinship not In somo some I sense but In the most intimate intimate inti inti- I mate way way not not only with tho time great rent I mass ss of or mankind who titAn thon were treated treated treated treat treat- ed as no account and who were made of or no account by the social system of ot that da day as millions are by the time social I s system stem of ot our day but even with the humblest living ln thing The Time situation with respect to religion I Is being completely re re- re- re versed The Tho first aro arc ast last and the time thelast last are arc first Tho The artificial religion lon which made God a ster ater and man mana a victim of at endless evil is fading away and in Its pla place e I Is slowly coming comIns- over r tho the world the religion lon of ot here and now Not the men muon of church chUlch an and cathedral whether of ot tho the past or present who all their lives are worshippers wor wor- shippers of or an unknown God but tho time peasant poet who with all his faults still clearly saw that The Time Heart benevolent and kind The most resembles God GOll has imas proved pro himself tho the mouthpiece of tho the sweeter nobler diviner religion which holds the future in its heart |