“Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis!” echoed Sergius Thord--“Do you hear it, O men? Do you hear it, O women? What does it teach you? ‘Holy Mother of God!’ Who was she? Was she not merely a woman to whom God descended? And what is the lesson she gives you? Plainly this--that men should be as gods, and women as the mothers of gods! For every true and brave man born into the world has God within him,--is made of God, and must return to God! And every woman who gives birth to one such, true, brave man, has given a God-incarnated being to the world! ‘Sancta Dei Genitrix!’ Be all as mothers of gods, O women! Be as gods, O men! Be as gods in courage, in truth, in wisdom, in freedom! Suffer not devils to have command of you! For devils there are, as there are gods;--evil there is, as there is good. Fiends are born of women as gods are--and yet evil itself is of God, inasmuch as without God there can be neither evil nor good. Let us help God, we His children, to conquer evil by conquering it in ourselves--and by refusing to give it power over us! So shall God show us all goodness,--all pity! So shall He cease to afflict His children; so will He cease to torture us with undeserved sorrows and devilish agonies, for which we are not to blame!” He paused. The singing had ceased; the children’s procession had entered the Cathedral, and the doors still stood wide open. But the people remained outside, crowded in the square, and gathering momentarily in greater numbers. “Look you!” cried Sergius Thord--“The building which is called the Sanctuary of God, stands open--why do you not all enter there? Within are precious marbles, priceless pictures, jewels and relics--and a great altar raised up by the gifts of wicked dead kings, who by money sought to atone for their sins to the people. There are priests who fast and pray in public, and gratify all the lusts of appetite in private. There are poor and ignorant women who believe whatsoever these priests tell them--all this you can see if you go inside yonder. Why do you not go? Why do you remain with me?” A faint murmur, like the rising ripple of an angry sea, rose from the crowd, but quickly died away again into silence.