discovered new philosophies. I may add, by the way, that he's a friend
of my boyhood and almost as old as I. Now about 1820 he came upon the
so-called rational philosophy, that had already lain in its grave for
twenty years. With this system of thought, which was supposed to be a
master key, all locks were to be picked, all questions answered and all
opponents confuted--everything was clear and simple. In those days Uriel
was a strong opponent of all religions and in particular followed the
Mesmerists, as the hypnotisers of that age were called. In 1830 our
friend became a Hegelian, though, to be sure, rather late in the day.
Then he re-discovered God, a God who was immanent in nature and in man,
and found he was a little god himself. Now, as ill-luck would have it,
there were two Hegels, just as there were two Voltaires; and the later,
or more conservative Hegel, had developed his All-godhead till it had
become a compromise with the Christian view. And so Father Uriel, who
never wanted to be behind the times, became a rationalistic Christian,
who was given the thankless task of combating Rationalism and himself.
(Pause.) I'll shorten the whole sad history for Father Uriel's sake. In
1850 he again became a materialist and an enemy of Christianity. In
1870 he became a hypnotist, in 1880 a theosophist, and 1890 he wanted to
shoot himself! I met him just at that time. He was sitting on a bench in
Unter den Linden in Berlin, and he was blind. This Uriel was blind--and
Uriel means 'God is my Light'--who for a century had marched with the
torch of liberalism at the head of _every_ modern movement! (To the
STRANGER.) You see, he wanted to know, but he failed! And therefore he
now believes. Is there anything else you'd like to know?

STRANGER. One thing only.

PRIOR. Speak.

STRANGER. If Father Uriel had held to his first faith in 1810, men would
have called him conservative or old-fashioned; but now, as he's followed
the developments of his time and has therefore discarded his youthful
faith, men will call him a renegade--that's to say: whatever he does
mankind will blame him.

PRIOR. Do you heed what men say? Father Clemens, may I tell him how
you heeded what men said? (PATER CLEMENS rises and makes a gesture of
assent.) Father Clemens is our greatest figure painter. In the world
outside he's known by another name, a very famous one. Father Clemens
was a young man in 1830. He felt he had a talent for painting and
gave h