"They talk religion in their mouth; They talk o' mercy, grace, an' truth, For what? to gie their malice skouth On some puir wight, An' hunt him down, o'er right an' ruth, To ruin straight." "Doctor Mac, Doctor Mac, Ye should stretch on a rack, To strike evil doers wi' terror; To join faith and sense Upon any pretence, Was heretic damnable error, Doctor Mac, Was heretic damnable error." But the greatest, the sharpest, the deadliest, the keenest, the wittiest thing ever said or written against Calvinism is Holy Willie's Prayer:-- "O Thou, wha in the Heavens dost dwell, Wha, as it pleases best thysel', Sends ane to heaven and ten to hell, A' for thy glory, And no for onie guid or ill They've done afore thee! "I bless and praise thy matchless might, When thousands thou has left in night, That I am here afore thy sight For gifts an' grace, A burnin' an' a shinin' light, To a' this place. "What was I, or my generation, That I should get sic exaltation? I, wha deserve sic just damnation, For broken laws, Five thousand years 'fore my creation, Thro' Adam's cause? "When frae my mither's womb I fell, Thou might hae plunged me into hell, To gnash my gums, to weep and wail, In burnin' lake, Where damnèd devils roar and yell, Chained to a stake. "Yet I am here a chosen sample, To show Thy grace is great and ample; I'm here a pillar in Thy temple, Strong as a rock, A guide, a buckler, an example To a' Thy flock." In this poem you will find the creed stated just as it is--with fairness and accuracy--and at the same time stated so perfectly that its absurdity fills the mind with inextinguishable laughter. In this poem Burns nailed Calvinism to the cross, put it on the rack, subjected it to every instrument of torture, flayed it alive, burned it at the stake, and scattered its ashes to the winds. In 1787 Burns wrote this curious letter to Miss Chalmers: "I have taken tooth and nail to the Bible, and have got through the five books of Moses and half way in Joshua. "It is really a glorious book." This must have been written in the spirit of Voltaire. Think of Burns, with his loving, tender heart, half way in Joshua, standing in blood to his knees, surrounded by the mangled bodies of old men, women and babes, the swords of the victors dripping with innocent blood, shouting--"This is really a glorious sight." A letter written on the seventh of March, 1788, contains the clearest, broadest and most philosophical statement of the religion of Burns to be found in his works: