religious procession and tore one of the great banners out of the hands
of the priest who held it, beating it against his head and face with so
much force that he fell backward to the ground under its weight, while
from a black cloud above, a flash of lightning gleamed, followed almost
instantaneously by a loud clap of thunder, which shook the square with
a mighty reverberation like that of a bursting bomb. The children
screamed,--and ran towards the Cathedral pellmell; and for a few
moments there ensued indescribable confusion, the priests, the people,
and the white-veiled girls getting mixed together in a wild hurly-
burly. Sergius Thord suddenly left his companion's side, and springing
on a small handcart that stood empty near the centre of the square, his
tall figure rose up all at once like a dark apparition above the heads
of the assembled crowd, and his voice, strong, clear, and vibrating
with passion, rang out like a deep alarm bell, through all the noise of
the storm.

"Whither are you going, O foolish people? To pray to God? Pray to Him
here, then, under the flash of His lightning!--in the roll of His
thunder!--beneath His cathedral-canopy of clouds! Pray to Him with all
your hearts, your brains, your reason, your intelligence, and leave
mere lip-service and mockery to priests; and to these poor children,
who, as yet, know no better than to obey tyrants! Would you find out
God? He is here--with me,--with you!--in the earth, in the sky, in the
sun and storm! Whenever Truth declares a living fact, God speaks,--
whenever we respond to that Truth, God hears! No church, no cathedral
contains His presence more than we shall find it here--with us--where
we stand!"

The people heard, and a great silence fell upon them. All faces were
turned toward the speaker, and none appeared to heed the great drops of