Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-26
BIRTHDAY OF BURNS.
An Anniversary That Gave DR.. Town.
send a Topic for a Sermon. =
RELIGION OF THE SCOTTISH BARD.
Rev. Mr.. Donehoo Gives Good Advice to the
Young Man of the Day.
SOME OTREE SERMONS OF YESTERDAY

Yesterday being the one hundred and
thirty-second anniversary of the birth of
Robert Burns the beloved Scotch poet, Rev.
DR.. j. G. Townsend, of the Unitarian
Church. delivered 4 sermon devoted to the
bard. There was large attendance, and
the discourse was attentively listened to.
After giving short biographical sketch
OF the poet, DR.. Townsend said: But turn
ing awav from tie outward incidents of his
life, in no way remarkable in themselves,
let us look at the man himself, aud ask
what he did with the gift he possessed.
And it is not formal praise to say there
never lived warmer, kinder, truer soul.
His love went out TO the Sorrowing and de-
feated ones. His sympathy overfowed ever
for the wounded hare, and the mountain
daisy uprooted by the pillow.
Wee. modest. crimson-tipped flower.
Tnou's met me in luckless hour.
There was in MIN right royal pride. In
the presence of the nobility there was no
fawning or cringing. When in Edinburgh,
praise encircling him like a cloud, he met
his old peasant acquaintance in the same
old hearty way.
Robert Burns was maL of transparent
sincerity. He wore no DISCUSSES, social or
religious. His heart was as crystalline as
his life. 1t is true he had his faults, his
sins. But his faults were faults of gener-
osity and affection, and as to his sins, who
ever mourned them with sincerer pain, or
made more heroic struggles to be free from
them? There was in him a mind of finest
grain and of commanding strength. He
was not a mere rhymester, but a poet, sent
into the world to be an inspiration and a
joy.
The Preachers Definition of Poetry.
But what is poetry? Poetry is the inter
prefer of the universal melody, the revealer
OF the real but invisible palaces, where the
mind may find refreshment and delight
All nature is one. Not only the star and
the stone, the bird and bee, but the spider
aud the snake, are true notes in the univer-
sal melody. The cyclone is as musical as
the sea waves laugh on the shingle, or the
caroling of the lark. Every sound is a
minor strain in the grand symphony of cre-
alton.
Now the poets ear catches the "primal
warblings." He translates the song of the
universe to US of duiley ears. Poetry and
religion are twin stars, shining in the same
sky. All those men who have the vision of
the infinite mountain, those 'archangels" OF
the human race, Paul, Dante, Milton,
Goethe, Burns, have the sense OF the Infinite
in them.
But what did Burns with this high and
awful gift? This is pertinent. But con-
slider what he contended with. Milton at 81
was the best educated young man of mis-
times. Burns had the education of peas
ants hut Look at his continuous poverty.
Carlyle speaks of Milton. old, poor and
blind, writing Paradise Lost" But there
is no comparison. John Milton was reared
in sfhuence, and, while poor in his old age,
always had sufficient for his simple wants
Then Burns had the poorest materials-he
must create his own materials. No one be-
fore him had shown the capacity of the
Scottish tongue for poetry.
A Builder of Palaces of Beauty.
But with his rude and scant materials
Burns built palaces OF truth and beauty
which will abide forever. But, notwith-
standing the mighty odds, what lasting
work he didi To the assertion that his
genius bore no adequate fruit, and that his
life was self-defeated, must dissent.
Adverse circumstances were too strong for
him. Poverty was the weight upon the
at last to the dust But was his work
small? Who ever did so much for Scot
land as the peasant poet? He gave Scot
land literature, taught how TO bend the
harsh words like wax, as Michael Angelo
was said to bend the marble. He evoked
the national sentiment and made Scotland
once more nation. Into the somber Pres
byterianism of his time he poured 3 sunny
warmth. He made ali Scotland richer
nay, all humanity richer-in beauty and
JOY. His words shine IN the speech OF the
statesman, adorn the composition of the
school girl, and relieve the traditional dull
ness of the ministers S sermon. But he made
no long poem? Aye, but even his crumbs
are better than other mems loaves.
Millions "Comus" surpassed the "Para-
disc Lost" in moral elevation, in musical
unity, in lyric beauty. But what is the
quality in Burns poems that gives un-
wonted value? 1t is their truth, their in
comparable fidelity, their simplicity, and
their humanity. He speaks what is in him,
and IN us, in our better hours. Out of the
common strands of the peasants life Burns
wove for us the "Cotter's Saturday Night, f"
the Holy Far" the "OwrIe Cottle'' The
Wounded Hare" suggests thoughts that
call out our scnrn or our tears.
The Religion of the Poet.
Was Burns religious? If to feel the pres
euce of the Infinite, if to keep heart warm
TO all human things, if to have a sympathy
which included even the "owrie cottle'' and
the 'silIie Sheep" is religion, then Burns
was one OF the most profoundly religion.
souls. Is not 'To Mary in Heaven" one OF
the most tender of prayers? In my estima
uon OF his geniusI do not place Burns abov'
his rank. He was not SO large a nature
as Shakespeare. Shakespeare was tn,
grand organ. every key OF which poured ou
music, but the genius of Burns was of tn,
same royal quality. 1t was pure gold.
cannot quote much. but these lines, worth,
10 be written on the white marble of per
petual remembrance-lines which will b,
fresh and beautiful in a Thousand Thousand
years come to me-
For a that and a. that
It's cOnli0rr for ~