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Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

IV. Sabbath: Worship: Creed

The Religion of Hudibras

Samuel Butler (1612–1680)

From “Hudibras,” Part I.

HE was of that stubborn crew

Of errant saints, whom all men grant

To be the true church militant;

Such as do build their faith upon

The holy text of pike and gun;

Decide all controversies by

Infallible artillery,

And prove their doctrine orthodox

By apostolic blows and knocks;

Call fire, and sword, and desolation

A godly, thorough Reformation,

Which always must be carried on

And still be doing, never done;

As if religion were intended

For nothing else but to be mended.

A sect whose chief devotion lies

In odd perverse antipathies;

In falling out with that or this,

And finding somewhat still amiss;

More peevish, cross, and splenetic,

Than dog distract, or monkey sick;

That with more care keep holiday

The wrong than others the right way;

Compound for sins they are inclined to,

By damning those they have no mind to;

Still so perverse and opposite,

As if they worshipped God for spite;

The self-same thing they will abhor

One way, and long another for.