That sense of sin and horror came upon me last night in the streets.
I suffered dreadfully."
She was silent, and, meeting Waymark's eyes so fixed on her own,
became conscious of the eagerness and fervour with which she had
spoken.
"Have you any experience of such things?" she asked nervously. "Did
you ever suffer in the same way?"
"It is all very strange," he said, without answering her question.
"This overpowering consciousness of sin is an anachronism in our
time. But, from the way in which you express yourself, I should have
thought you had been studying Schopenhauer. I suppose you know
nothing of him?"
"Nothing."
"Some of your phrases were precisely his. Your doctrine is simply
Pessimism, with an element of dogmatic faith added. With
Schopenhauer, the will to live is the root of sin; mortify this,
deny the first instincts of your being, and you approach
righteousness. Buddhism has the same system. And, in deducing all
this from the plain teachings of Christianity, I am disposed to
think you are right and consistent. Christianity _is_ pessimism, so
far as this world is concerned; we see that in such things as the
thanksgiving for a' person's death in the burial service, and the
prayer that the end of the world may soon come.
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