ABSTRACT
There is a strand in Burns's thought that affects his attitude to religion. It has to do with the view that comes across so often, that somehow or other many of those who proclaim the Christian faith have got it wrong. Burns's muse is asserting that what drives him, what comes from the heart, what is felt on the pulse, what is derived from his quick bright imagination, what is passionately experienced is part of the nature that has been given him from heaven. In 1753, Smart married Ann Maria Carnan, the daughter by a former husband of Mary, the wife of John Newbery, and by 1756 had two daughters. However he was not good with money. Certainly the desire to kneel before God in public places displays an exuberance that might make others uncomfortable, but it also perhaps indicates a sense of someone who deems himself not worthy to remain upright in the presence of God.
