324 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



do well to consult the historical works of Ranke, 

 Draper, Kolb, Svoboda, etc. The truthful description 

 of the awful condition of the Christian Middle Ages, 

 which is given by these and other unprejudiced 

 historians, is confirmed by all the reliable sources of 

 investigation, and by the historical monuments which 

 have come down from this saddest period of human 

 history. Educated Catholics, who are sincere truth- 

 seekers, cannot be too frequently recommended to 

 study these historical sources for themselves. This 

 is the more necessary as ultramontane literature 

 has still a considerable influence. The old trick of 

 deceiving the faithful by a complete reversal of facts 

 and an invention of miraculous circumstances is still 

 worked by it with great success. We will only mention 

 Lourdes and the " Holy Coat " of Treves. The ultra- 

 montane professor of history at Frankfurt, Johannes 

 Janssen, affords a striking example of the length they 

 will go in distorting historical truth ; his much-read 

 works (especially his History of the German People 

 since the Middle Ages) are marred by falsification to an 

 incredible extent. The untruthfulness of these 

 Jesuitical productions is on a level with the credulity 

 and the uncritical judgment of the simple German 

 nation that takes them for gospel. 



One of the most interesting of the historical facts 

 which clearly prove the evil of the ultramontane 

 despotism is its vigorous and consistent struggle with 

 science. This was determined on, in principle, from 

 the very beginning of Christianity, inasmuch as faith 

 was set above reason and the blind subjection of the 

 one to the other was preached ; that was natural, seeing 

 that our whole life on earth was held to be only a prepa- 

 ration for the legendary life beyond, and thus scientific 



