The world which issued from the Renaissance and the Reformation has been ravaged since that time by powerful and truly monstrous energies, in which error and truth are closely commingled and feed upon each other – truths which lie, and “lies which speak the truth.” It is the duty of those who love wisdom to try to purify these unnatural and deadly products, and to save the truths that they distort.

It would be fruitless to try to conceal from oneself that this is a particularly thankless task. Those who carry in the world the energies of which I am speaking think that they have no need of being purified; their adversaries see in them only utter impurity. In vain will the philosopher arm himself with perfect instruments of purification; he runs the risk of having the whole world against him. If he is a Christian, he knows this from of old, and scarcely cares about it, being the disciple of a God hated by both the Pharisees and Sadducees, condemned by the chief priests and by the civil power, and mocked and scorned by the Roman soldiers.