and perform the rites of the church, making no account of the lusts of evil which beset them, and inwardly meditating thefts and frauds, adulteries and obscenities, hatred and revenge, lies and blasphemies; who thus live like devils in spirit, and like angels in body. These constituted the body of the dragon; but the tail was composed of those who, when in the world, lived in faith separated from charity, and were like the former in regard to thoughts and intentions.
Then I saw some of the rocks they inhabited sink down to the lowest depths; some transported to a great distance; some cleft in the middle, and those who were on them cast down through the openings; and others inundated as with a deluge. And I saw many spirits collected into companies, as into bundles, according to the genera and species of evil, and cast hither and thither into whirlpools, marshes, stagnant waters and deserts which were so many hells. The rest who were not on rocks, but scattered here and there, and yet were in similar evils, fled affrighted to the Papists, Mahometans and Gentiles, and professed their religions; which they could do without any disturbance of mind, inasmuch as they themselves had no religion at all; but still, lest they should seduce these spirits also, they were driven away and thrust down to their own companions in the hells. This is a general description of their destruction. The particulars I saw, are too numerous to be described here.
