writing of excellent poetry at an early age. And, "his poems were as much the product of his own farm and its immediate neighborhood, as were the shoes he wore, or the oats and turnips he grew."

From this fact arose his power to turn the most trivial incident into a song, either pathetic or ludicrous. Seeing a louse on a fine lady's bonnet in church, led him to write a burlesque denunciation of the little intruder, winding up with the sublime wish

"O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion."

Turning up a mouse's nest with his plough brought out a most affecting poem of condolence with the little animal, the poet's "fellow mortal," including the philosophical thought,

"The best laid plans o' mice an' men,

Gang aft a-gley."

Yet the mouse is blest, compared with the poet, in the fact that it has only the present to fear, while

"Och! I backward cast my e'e

O'er prospects drear,

A' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!"

The daisy, uprooted by the poet's plough, is a type, at once, of suffering worth, a ruined maid, the unskillful financier, and the poet himself. A raging tooth gives rise to its appropriate poem, in which that particular pain is spoken of as "bearing the gree" of all the pangs known to mortals. doubt the memory of a drunken brawl at a tavern led to the composition of his inimitable Tam o' Shanter, the hero of which, drinking at a tavern bar until late at night, while his wife is at home

"Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm-"

No

finds himself assailed on the way home by a swarm of witches. His intense patriotism found expression in some stirring poems, directed to his countrymen, and rousing them to op

position to its enemies, real and imaginary. "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled," "Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?" and "Caledonia" are only samples of the poems full of burning Scotch patriotism, which have made his name, and that deservedly, a household word throughout his native country.

Judged, therefore, from the standpoint of originality, imagination, patriotism, and lyric skill, Burns stands in the front rank of poets. His work was purely spontaneous and directly inspired. "His fame-greater than that of any other poet of his country-rests upon poems written hurriedly, as men write their letters, and on songs which came to him naturally, as its carol comes to the blackbird."

As a man, Burns raised but little admiration during his life, because of his many failings and his evil repute. And it is a remarkable fact that the rapid degeneracy in his character was accompanied by a corresponding degeneracy in his poetry. But the memory of his virtues and the better poetry he has written, have been preserved to canonize his image in the hearts of his countrymen, whereby has been fulfilled his own prediction regarding himself. "Don't be afraid: I'll be more respected a hundred years after I am dead, than I am at present." If the claim of his admirers is true, that on account of his prominence and ability his faults have been held to the gaze of the world, more than those of his contemporaries, there is consolation for them in the thought that charity is becoming more and more apparent in estimates of his character, and harshness is rapidly disappearing. The evil he did is soon to be forgotten, except as a warning shadow (always growing dimmer) on the page of his biography; the inspired and inspiring poems he has written will shed everbrightening lustre on the history of Scotland and the memory of her favorite son.

"In Burns's songs, love finds an exquisite companionship; independence a backer and second; conviviality a roaring table; patriotism a deeper love of country, and a gayer scorn of death than even its own. And in so adding to, and purifying Scottish song, Burns has conferred the greatest benefit on his countrymen that it is in the power of a poet to confer."

BIBLE STUDIES.

(Concluded).

BY NEPHI L. MORRIS.

VI.

In this the concluding article of the series, we shall consider the very wonderful recommendation which the Bible itself carries to prove its own value and divine authority, or the witness of the book itself. It is possible that some of our readers may not consider themselves Bible believers, others may have once held a timid faith, but as a result of previous learning, have made an exchange of ignorance for that which is another kind of ignorance, and declare themselves disbelievers. To such we have a few observations to submit for their honest and straightforward consideration. And to those whose faith in the Bible is "as fixed as polar star," these same thoughts may have some interest.

Before going into the real matter itself, pause a moment and permit this thought, with its full weight, to rest upon the mind; after having existed for more than three thousand years, this set of old documents now called the Bible, always open to scrutiny and question, have been accepted as of divine origin; and they have been yielded to by men as an authority to guide their conduct and impose on them commands, often disagreeable to themselves; and this acceptance and obedience has been chiefly amongst the most thoughtful and highly cultured nations of the world; and this, mark you, has been going on, age after age, steadily increasing and never in any age has it made such marvellous progress as in this cultured, enlightened, all-questioning nineteenth century.

This is a wonderful history to be told of a number of old writings, coming from various men, and for the most part, unlearned and unlettered men, written too at different times and in different places. And we must not fail to mention that the time of composition and authorship of many of these books are absolutely unknown to us. In some cases we do not know the cause of their origin, or how they assumed their present form; and yet, strange enough, we can not reach back into history to a time when they were not regarded by man. with a sacredness and reverence which placed them as being superior to any merely human productions. And no miracle is claimed in their production; they came through human hands in each particular case. Yet, there they are, like one golden thread, running through the whole fabric of human history. Whence came this wonderful book? How came it possessed of such sovereign, self-asserting authority?

Remember this book does not rest upon any "formal decision of external authority," on no decree of church council, or pope or prelate, saint or synod; no, not even on the authority of the Lord Jesus himself; for before he came for ages they stood testifying of him, and pleading with, and pointing out to a darkened and dying world, the way to light and life. They were accepted as of divine origin for many generations before they were compiled into a fixed volume or collection. Some may say that the Great Synagogue collected the Old Testament writings and fixed its canon. when? Somewhere about the time of the Lord when the books had been for centuries recognized as of divine origin. And the same with the New Testament; its canon was formed centuries after the writings had been recognized as possessing divine authority. "It was not these being collected into a Bible that made them of authority, but rather the fact of their possessing authority made them be collected into a Bible."

But

Again we ask, what gave them that authority? There seems to be but one answer, and that is—they possessed it of themselves. By their own resistless power they commanded the position they have so long occupied. There is in them a voice that speaks to and will b heard by the heart and soul of man. There is in man a divinity, and when the divine

voice speaks to it it, must respond. And it is this higher, nobler, and purer self in man, that has placed the scriptures high upon the altar of his soul's reverence, and given to the Bible the eminence it occupies.

A Christian may say that he believes in the Old Testament on the authority of the Lord and His apostles. That certainly is splendid authority, (and beside it the claims of the cavilling critics of the presumptuously termed school of "Higher Biblical Criticism" is as nothing), but thousands believed that book without such excellent assurance, and it must have been from the reason above stated-they appealed irresistibly to the reason and moral sense of man, and thus compelled recognition. Just so the New Testament writings became recognized among the Christians by virtue of their inherent force and evidence. Thus the Bible has won its own way: built its own throne, and all that is good in human consciousness recognizes its right to rule. Let us emphasize this point, for men may doubt the judgment of men; they may doubt miracles and the competency of councils, but a sober, thinking man cannot so easily doubt the "conviction of a hundred generations." They have regarded it as their light and hope and peace, and for it all else on earth was counted as naught. Life has been regarded as a trifle, compared to such convictions, and human suffering only a just tribute to be paid to such a book. Listen to a few plain words from Wyclif's prayer: "God grant us all grace to ken well and to kepe well Holie Writ, and to suffer joiefulli some pain for it at the laste. "*

*We are aware that similar claims are made for the Koran and the Vedas, and some may think this argument weakened thereby. We freely admit that the appeal to the heart and conscience made by these books, is largely the cause of their success, and that broken rays of light from them find their timid way into the hearts of their believers. It would be sad indeed to think that truth dwelt within the Christian fold alone, that the sun shone only on the followers of the Nazarene. God gives to each nation all the truth it is capable of receiving, and often his message is conveyed through a deformed vessel. Omnipotence bends down to our deficiences, and truth has been found before this "through the gateways of delusion." But surely there is a most pronounced difference between these books and the Bible. All that is good in the Koran existed already in Christianity and Judaism, and it has taken its light from them as the moon borrows her light from the sun. The sacred books of India, with their pearls of spiritual truth gleaming here and there through a mass of rubbish, will not stand comparison with the Bible in point of the above argument. The very