Of the republic of uzbekistan andizhan state university faculty of foreign languages department of grammar and practical course of the english language

the blackguard Sterling of ordinary currency...'
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That Burns at times doubted the existence of an after-life, without which Christianity becomes simply an ethical code, is demonstrated in a stoical letter to Robert Muir, dated 7th March 1788: 'The Close of life indeed, to a reasoning eye is, 'dark as was chaos, ere the infant sun
"Was roll'd together, or had try'd his beams
Athwart the gloom profound..."
But the honest man has nothing to fear. If we he down in the grave, the whole man a piece of broke machinery, to molder with the clods of the valley — so be it; at least there is an end of pain, care, woes and wants: if that part of us called Mind, does survive the apparent destruction of the man — away with old-wife prejudices and tales! Every age and every nation has had a different set of stories: and as the many are always weak, of consequence they have often, perhaps always been deceived: a man, conscious of having acted an honest part among his fellow creatures; even granting that he may have been the sport, at times, of passions and instincts; he goes to a great unknown Being who could have no other end in giving him existence but to make him happy; who gave him those passions and instincts, and well knows their force.
'These, my worthy friend, are my ideas... It becomes a man of sense to think for himself; particularly in a case where all men are equally interested, and where, indeed, all men are equally in the dark.'
How deep was his doubting is shown by a passage in a letter to Mrs Dunlop, dated 13th December 1789:
'Jesus Christ, thou amiablest of characters. I trust thou art no Imposter, and that thy revelation of blissful scenes of existence beyond death and the grave, is not one of the many impositions which time after time have been palmed off on a credulous mankind.'
Burns's poetic references are no more assured -
"Courts for cowards were erected,
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Churches built to please the priest."
Being there to offset
"An atheist-laugh's a poor exchange
For Deity offended!"
The later references to religion in Burns's letters reveal the same the process of questioning is still going on. On 21st August 1792, writing to Mrs Dunlop, he declared that 'still the damned dogmas of reasoning Philosophy throw in their doubt'.
His last recorded thoughts on this subject, again set out in a letter to Mrs Dunlop dated 20th and 29th December 1794, eighteen months before his death, do not show him in an orthodox light:
`What a transient business is life! Very lately I was a boy; but t'other day I was a young man; and I already begin to feel the rigid fiber and stiffening joints of Old Age coming fast o'er my frame. With all my follies of youth, and I fear, a few vices of manhood, still I congratulate myself on having had in early days religion strongly impressed on my mind. I have nothing to say to any body, as, to which Sect they belong, or what Creed they believe; but I look on the Man who is firmly persuaded of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness superintending and directing every circumstance that can happen in his lot - I felicitate such a man as having a solid foundation for his mental enjoyment; a firm prop and sure stay, in the hour of difficulty, trouble and distress: and a never-failing anchor of hope, when he looks beyond the grave.
''Hope', be it noted: not faith. That, as Thomas Crawford has remarked, is not 'either orthodox or atheistic'.
The only fair conclusion to be reached from studying all Burns's references to religion is surely that his position lay somewhere between these two extremes: that he was, in fact, as C.E.M. Joad once described himself 'a wistful agnostic'.

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Religious poetry is generally considered the fruit of a people's long reflection on their relationship with their gods, with the ancestors, and with the partly seen and unseen universe. It is used to celebrate events in the life of the individual and the community, to express fellowship, and as a powerful means of communication. Thus, religious poetry is an integral element of a people's heritage. In this paper, I intend to present some forms of religious poetry, which are found among the Bakossi people of Cameroon, in order to show how magically-oriented formulaic expressions are used in order to maintain adherence to the normative order of society. The point I intend to make is that the incantatory form of religious poetry, was, and still is, used among the Bakossi people of Cameroon, as well as in other parts of rural Africa in terms of individual and communal education.

According to the autobiographical letter to Dr Moore, Burns was a deeply religious boy, for he described his beliefs at this time as 'enthusiastic, idiot piety'.
His knowledge of Scottish literature was confined in his childhood to orally transmitted folk songs and folk tales together with a modernization of the late 15th-century poem “Wallace.” His religion throughout his adult life seems to have been a humanitarian Deism.3
Why should students read religious poetry? What can religious poetry offer students at a secular school? Arguably, it offers students a different way of looking at poetry and looking at humanity. When people think of poetry, they might often think of love poetry. But there is another aspect of love: love of God. Whether students are religious or not, spiritual poetry allows them to see the reflection of love between Him and a soul. It often illustrates a soul’s longing for fulfillment and self- actualization, which for some people is only found in God. While his language is challenging, St. Augustine’s Confessions can illustrate the concept of a soul longing for fulfillment and love, but not finding fulfillment in material pleasures:
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To Carthage I came, where there sang all around me in my ears a
cauldron of unholy loves. I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself for wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares.
For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God . . For this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores, it miserably cast itself forth, desiring to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense (Augustine 30).
For I bore about a shattered and bleeding soul, impatient of being borne by me, yet where to repose it, I found not. Not in calm groves, not in games and music, nor in fragrant spots, nor in curious banqueting, nor in the pleasures of the bed and the couch; nor (finally) in books of poesy, found it repose . . . To Thee, O Lord, it ought to have been raised, for Thee to lighten; I knew it; but neither could nor would; the more, since, when I thought of Thee, Thou wert not to me any solid or substantial thing For Christians and non-Christians, religious poetry has much to offer, even if it is based on different ideas. Even T.S. Eliot supports the study of George Herbert: “It would, however, be a gross error to assume that Herbert’s poems are of value only for Christians. These poems form a record of spiritual struggle which should touch the feeling, and enlarge the understanding of those readers also who hold no religious belief and find themselves unmoved by religious emotion”. As Mark Taylor writes, love poetry is a reflection of divine poetry. He explains this concept: “Therefore, in the original Platonic terms, secular love poetry is somehow an imitation of divine poetry, or the subject of secular love poetry is somehow an imitation of God, and not an entity of a different order entirely” (Taylor 20). The question this essay poses is this: if the world’s pleasures do not bring happiness, can God bring happiness? This is a question that might be answered by studying religious poetry.
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