For this space of nine years we lived seduced and seducing, deceived and deceiving, in divers lusts; openly, by sciences whch they call liberal; secretly, with a false-named religion; here proud, there superstutious, everywhere vain. Here, hunting after the emptiness of popular praise, down even to theatrical applauses, and poetic prizes, and strifes for grassy garlands, and the follies of shows, and the intemperance of desires. There, desiring to be cleansed from these defilements by carrying food to those who were called “elect” and “holy,” out of which, in the workhouse of their stomachs, they should forge for us Angels and Gods, by whom we might be cleansed.
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