Nor is the crafty old subterfuge lacking here.

There are lost ones in this town who say, 'It is by our means that virtue is preserved to the rich: it is we who appease the wicked rage which would otherwise wreck society.' There are men who boast that they have brought their sins only to the houses of shame, and that they have respected purity in the midst of their foulness.

'Such things must be,' they say: 'let us alone, lest a worse thing ensue.' When they are filled full with sin, they cry 'Lo! our appetite has gone from us and we are clean.' They are willing to slake lust with satiety, but not to combat it with prayer.

They tread one woman into the mire, and excuse themselves because the garment of her sister is spotless.

How vain is this lying homage to virtue! How can Satan cast out Satan?
"Oh, my brethren, this hypocrisy is the curse and danger of our age.