If we offer our obedience and worship, we have no desire for public display, but we find great pleasure in committing sins secretly.

Here, the poet offers a delightfully candid reflection on human nature and its contradictions. On one hand, he genuinely shuns religious hypocrisy—when he worships, he feels no need to put on a grand public performance. On the other, he playfully confesses that the forbidden pleasure of committing a secret indulgence holds an irresistible thrill. It gently mocks ostentatious moralists while celebrating the honest, imperfect heart of an ordinary human being.