Thank God, instead, who’s checked their boastful insolence!
Their hands were evil; evil were their feet, their eyes;
Their peace, their friendship, as their wrath, were all unwise.
From rule of meek obedience, customs handed down,
They’d swerved;—to follow mere devices of their own.325
They wished not for a teacher, asses obstinate;
Their own ideas alone they’d stoop to cultivate.
God therefore sent His servants, smoke and fire to wit,
From heaven, the miscreants to chase to dire hell-pit.”
Behold the damned and blessed, thus, in one scene conjoined;