ABSTRACT
Burns, with almost indecent haste, then makes excuses for his human weakness and frailty, seeming almost to blame God because of the nature that he had bestowed upon him. It is as if in this poem Burns is adopting the attitude that he so mocks in the later 'Holy Willie's Prayer'. In this poem we see all three of the recurring themes that the author has previously identified in Burns's religious thinking: a belief in a benevolent God, a speculation on an existence beyond the grave and an acknowledgement of his own accountablity. In the poem Burns suggests that as those who are quick to offer condemnation had better be more circumspect, as given similar circumstances to those whom they condemn they might well have found themselves acting similarly. Two factions within the Church of Scotland began to emerge as the implications of the Patronage Act began to set in.
