would spew out angels, or even particles of God. These particles of God most high, of the true God, would have remained trapped in the fruit unless liberated by the teeth and belly44 of one of the holy elect! I believed, poor wretch, that it was accordingly a higher duty to show mercy to the fruits of the earth than to human beings, for whom they came into existence; for if some hungry person who was not a Manichee asked for one, it was believed that to give it to him entailed passing a death-sentence