eS
25. PrO3Or Berna
50 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
strike you as being a message from on high—
a holy inspiration—and that a higher grade
of truth might be injured than that which you
believe to have protected now.
Priest: There exists nothing higher for me,
than my church, and the law of my church,
which is obedience, by reason of which infinite
blessing is radiated over the whole world, and
without which, the whole sphere of usefulness
might be lost.
Bernhardi: It scems to me, Your Rever¬
ence, that priests have existed, who only found
their true sphere of activity, when they ex¬
cluded themselves from the community, and
spread that which they considered truth and
Justice, regardless of trouble and danger.
Priest: And if I were one of them—
Bernhardi: Well—?
Priest: Then God would have made me
tell before the court today, what you alone
are now hearing within these four walls.
Bernhardi: Then it was God who sealed your
Ips in court today, and now it is the same God
who sends you to me, to tell me, eye to eye,
what he prevented you from saying in court.
1 must say that he makes it easy for yeu, your
God.
Priest: Pardon me Professor, I did not
come here to discuss matters which you and I
will never understand the same way.
Bernardi: So you close the door, as it
were, in my face, Your Reverence.
Well, 1
do not consider this as proof that you are in
and that T am on the outside There is nothing
further left for me to do, than to regret that
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAT 51
gou took the trouble of coming here in vain.
For I cannot absolve you as completely as
you may have expected, after such an ex¬
traordinary step.
Priest: Absolution! That is not what 1
wanted from you. I think that I have made
a mistake; I see it now. The true reason you
denied me admission to that death-bed, was not
your sense of duty or responsibility—that was
only a pretext. The real reason lies much
deeper—it is—how shall I put it—an antipa¬
thy—an uncontrollable antipathy—nay, it is
hostility—.
Bernhardi: You speak of hostility. Does
not all that has happened to me justify the
feeling you call hostility? Yes, I cannot deny
that in the last weeks, I may have felt antip¬
athy, not against vou personally, but against
the crowd that surrounds you. But I can as¬
sure you in perfect truth, that when I refused
vou admittance at the door, there was not a
shadow of hostile feeling in my soul. I stood
before you there in my capacity as a physi¬
cian, with as clear a conscience as that of any¬
one of your vocation performing his holy rite
at the altar; not less clear than yours when you
entered the room now. You confessed it to
me. You cannot suddenly change your opinion,
because you feel the same as I do, and per¬
haps never felt it stronger than at this hour,
that a certain something separates us which
even under the most favorable circumstances,
we cannot deny.
Priest: And you never felt this stronger
than at this moment?
7
25. PrO3Or Berna
50 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
strike you as being a message from on high—
a holy inspiration—and that a higher grade
of truth might be injured than that which you
believe to have protected now.
Priest: There exists nothing higher for me,
than my church, and the law of my church,
which is obedience, by reason of which infinite
blessing is radiated over the whole world, and
without which, the whole sphere of usefulness
might be lost.
Bernhardi: It scems to me, Your Rever¬
ence, that priests have existed, who only found
their true sphere of activity, when they ex¬
cluded themselves from the community, and
spread that which they considered truth and
Justice, regardless of trouble and danger.
Priest: And if I were one of them—
Bernhardi: Well—?
Priest: Then God would have made me
tell before the court today, what you alone
are now hearing within these four walls.
Bernhardi: Then it was God who sealed your
Ips in court today, and now it is the same God
who sends you to me, to tell me, eye to eye,
what he prevented you from saying in court.
1 must say that he makes it easy for yeu, your
God.
Priest: Pardon me Professor, I did not
come here to discuss matters which you and I
will never understand the same way.
Bernardi: So you close the door, as it
were, in my face, Your Reverence.
Well, 1
do not consider this as proof that you are in
and that T am on the outside There is nothing
further left for me to do, than to regret that
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAT 51
gou took the trouble of coming here in vain.
For I cannot absolve you as completely as
you may have expected, after such an ex¬
traordinary step.
Priest: Absolution! That is not what 1
wanted from you. I think that I have made
a mistake; I see it now. The true reason you
denied me admission to that death-bed, was not
your sense of duty or responsibility—that was
only a pretext. The real reason lies much
deeper—it is—how shall I put it—an antipa¬
thy—an uncontrollable antipathy—nay, it is
hostility—.
Bernhardi: You speak of hostility. Does
not all that has happened to me justify the
feeling you call hostility? Yes, I cannot deny
that in the last weeks, I may have felt antip¬
athy, not against vou personally, but against
the crowd that surrounds you. But I can as¬
sure you in perfect truth, that when I refused
vou admittance at the door, there was not a
shadow of hostile feeling in my soul. I stood
before you there in my capacity as a physi¬
cian, with as clear a conscience as that of any¬
one of your vocation performing his holy rite
at the altar; not less clear than yours when you
entered the room now. You confessed it to
me. You cannot suddenly change your opinion,
because you feel the same as I do, and per¬
haps never felt it stronger than at this hour,
that a certain something separates us which
even under the most favorable circumstances,
we cannot deny.
Priest: And you never felt this stronger
than at this moment?
7