“It is not, indeed, only Shakespeare, or Pushkin, or Molière, it is all the science and literature of centuries, that has prepared the way for this (as you call it) ‘new theory.’ In our hearts, we have already long ago accepted it; we are only hesitating to proclaim it loudly, because it destroys all our laws and all our religions, and the whole working of our worn-out social machinery. We are not yet rid of the ideals of the Middle Ages; we cannot tear ourselves away from the hell that we picture to ourselves as clearly as did Dante, nor from the heaven that, in our imagination, is quite as dull and colourless as that of the immortal Florentine. But time passes, and we have reached the last days of the Middle Ages. The New Era will begin when people will at last dare to proclaim loudly that there are no saints and sinners, but only the sick and the healthy. A healthy man can find heaven on earth, while a diseased nature lives in a worse hell than any that can be invented by the most glowing imagination. Only when we realize this, shall we understand the Gospel. Until now, during all these nineteen centuries, we have not understood it at all, but have preserved it, feeling instinctively that we shall need it in time. Christ’s love for ‘sinners’ will become clear to us, and we ourselves shall be filled with profound pity for these sufferers. Even to-day, no one dreams of hating the insane, or being incensed against them, or punishing them. Gradually we shall begin to regard in the same light all malicious, immoral, envious natures, pitying them boundlessly for being afflicted with such cruel diseases. The teaching of Christ, hitherto but half understood, will become clear and simple.” “But, allow me!”—interrupted Irene. “How about murderers? Will you expect us to pity them, too, and shed tears over their moral sufferings?”