A shudder passed over our trio, as they read the blasphemy.
Now, suddenly, a richly-robed priest, holding a silver bugle to his lips, stood out on the altar steps. The shrill bugle call for "silence" rang through the great building, and a tomb-like hush fell upon the multitude.
Another priest, more gorgeously costumed than the first, came slowly forward chanting clearly and distinctly:
"We believe in Man, in the Religion of Humanity, Man is God, and God is man. We believe that all the excellencies which of old, were attributed to the God of the Bible, were but sparks struck out of the goodnesses that were within the man Himself. Hence we no longer need to be Divine by proxy." [1]
The organ rolled out a gay note to which the gathered thousands chanted a gay "Amen!"
"We believe," the priest went on in his chant—"that the living God, is the marriage of Force and matter, of Head and Hand. And we believe that the product of this co-ordination is in our Great Superman, the God of the Universe, Apleon, our Superior-God, and Him we worship and adore—"
The priest made a well-understood sign, and the whole mass of the people knelt—they were too crowded to prostrate themselves. The great organ pealed forth in some wondrous chordings, that were dying down into zephyr-like breaths, when the voice of the priest broke the comparative silence.
In harsh, commanding tones, he cried:
"You three rebels, kneel at once!"
The whole congregation lifted their eyes to see two men, and a beautiful woman between them, standing proudly, fearlessly, amid the great kneeling throng.