IN these days when the idolatry of Robert Burns is carried to such a pitch it is not an uncommon thing to hear his worshippers comparing him to the sweet Psalmist of Israel. And as it is just possible that in the recent glorifications of the poet there may have been some such profane comparisons made, we take this opportunity of uttering an emphatic protest against such a vile practice. And we feel all the more inclined to do so after reading in an old volume of the Presbyterian Review (1889), a nobly worded protest by the late Dr. T. W. Chambers, of New York, in which he chastises with words of burning indignation the irreverence of a brother minister. Dr. Chambers is reviewing a book by Dr. Renan Thomas, in which the latter quotes the well-known blasphemous lines of Burns—“Thou know’st that Thou hast formed me with passions wild and strong.” And he asks why Burns should be condemned for this sentiment while David is uncondemned for saying, “Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This is what Dr. Chambers has to say on the matter: “This Dr. Thomas considers equivalent to saying to the Almighty, ‘I did not originate these tendencies; I inherited them.’ A more wicked and inexcusable misinterpretation of Scripture has never met our eye. The plain meaning of this utterance, by the unanimous consensus of all devout expositors, is that the broken-hearted penitent, awakened to the enormity of his offences, traces them back to the fons malorum within, and humbly confesses the sad estrangement from birth which has worked out such fearful results. He is not apologising or defending himself, but rather emphasizing his corruption and guilt. It is the very differentia of genuine repentance that instead of being confined to this or that act of transgression it takes in the whole man and acknowledges the fearful blight of nature. This is distinctly shown in the words of the Psalm, and for any Christian minister to drag down these words of inspiration to a level with the apology of a mere, human poet for his passionate excesses is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. The fifty-first Psalm is the classic statement of all Scripture on the important grace of repentance, stating with wonderful power its origin, its extent, its nature, and its results, and it is the last portion of Holy Writ to be touched with profane hands. Dr. Thomas owes an apology to all Christendom.”