Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/272

176 And mongrel Christian of our times, That expiate less with greater crimes, And call the foul abomination, Contrition and Mortification. Is't not enough we're bruis'd and kicked With sinful members of the wicked; Our vessels, that are sanctify'd, Profan'd and curry'd back and side; But we must claw ourselves with shameful And heathen stripes, by their example? Which, were there nothing to forbid it, Is impious, because they did it: This therefore may be justly reckon'd A heinous sin. Now to the second; That Saints may claim a dispensation To swear and forswear on occasion, I doubt not but it will appear With pregnant light: the point is clear. Oaths are but words, and words but wind, Too feeble implements to bind; And hold with deeds proportion, so As shadows to a substance do. Then when they strive for place, 'tis fit The weaker vessel should submit. Although your church be opposite To ours, as Black Friars are to White, In rule and order, yet I grant You are a reformado saint; And what the saints do claim as due, You may pretend a title to: