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* MAR 30 1900 *)
Forty Years
IN
TheChurch of Christ
Rev. Charles Chiniquy, D.D.
Author of "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome," etc.
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Chicago, New York, Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
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Copyrighted 1899
By Fleming H. Revell Company
PREFATORY NOTE
This book, " Forty Years in the Church of Christ," is
now offered to the public with the belief that it is eminently
adapted to interest as well as to instruct.
For several years before his death. Dr. Chiniquy had in
contemplation the preparation of an account of his life
and career after he left the Church of Rome, and the last
years of his life were largely devoted to this work, so that at
the time of his departure it was substantially complete.
While it abounds in striking incidents and events in the
author's wonderful career, this book is not designed to be a
connected autobiography. As may be easily inferred from
what himself says in his preface, Dr. Chiniquy aimed to re-
late only what he considered could be made subservient to the
illustration and application of the great truths of the Gospel
he so ardently loved. Had he lived longer, however, he
would probably have added other matter at his command.
In editing this work, there have been no essential
changes made. It bears the impress throughout of the
author's marked individuality and, as to matter and style, the
flavour of his great soul permeates every page.
Although each chapter is substantially complete in
itself, there is a general stream of characteristic thought and
feeling running through the whole.
The responsibility of issuing this book having been
committed to me by the author, my revered father=in=law, I
have spared no pains to have the work as near perfection in
every respect as possible, and, in this connection, I am glad
to acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from
Rev. Prof. John Moore, of Boston, and Rev. Principal Mac
Vicar, D. D., of Montreal.
3
4 . Prefatory Note
I feel that this book cannot be better introduced to the
readers than by the following character sketch from the pen
of Dr. MacVicar, which incorporates his address to the
thousands present at Dr. Chiniquy's funeral.
J. L. MOBIN.
65 Hutchison Street, Montreal.
INTRODUCTION
CHARLES CHINIQUY: HIS LIFE AND WORK
A Character Sketch, by the Rev. Principal D. H. Mac Vicar, D. D., LL. D,
The death of Dr. Chiniquy on the 16th of January has
called forth in the daily press, both French and English, in-
numerable notices of his unique career. The general fairness
by which they are characterized is in impressive contrast
with the treatment he often received in his lifetime, and may
be regarded as an encouraging sign of the times.
It need hardly be said that good and great men are often
misunderstood and misrepresented. It is a favourite method
with the devil and his servants to direct their envenomed
shafts against those who prominently represent and uncom-
promisingly propagate the truth of God. So not a few of
them are forced to pass through life in a tempest, but the end
is peace. So it was with Chiniquy.
His life has been so often sketched that it seems a work of
supererogation to ofPer anything further regarding it. For
beauty, for graphic and dramatic efiPect, I cordially commend
the autobiography from his own pen. It covers the first
fifty years of his life, and the manuscript recording the events
of the remaining forty years he completed before his demise
and forms the present work. If, to some, the record seems
unduly voluminous, let them remember that the man and his
work were extraordinary. Taken all in all, we shall not look
upon his like again.
To put ourselves in possession of the key to his conduct,
and to' understand the foundation of his training for his great
mission, we must begin with his childhood. It is in early
years, when the faculties are pre=eminently plastic and recep-
5
6 Introduction
tive, that lasting impressions for pood and evil are made. In
the seclusion of home, more than in the bustling arena of the
outside world, character is determined and moulded. It is
there that boys and girls receive their life vocation. The
ministry of "the church in the house " is usually most influ-
ential. This was the experience of Dr. Chiniquy.
He was born at Kamouraska, Quebec, on the 30th of July,
1809. His father passed through a full course of literary and
theological training for the priesthood in his native city,
Quebec, but never took holy orders. He studied law and
became notary, and ultimately settled at Murray Bay. " That
place," says Dr. Chiniquy in his autobiography, " was then
in its infancy, and no schools had yet been established. My
mother was, therefore, my first teacher." A wise and ad-
mirable one she certainly was, and taught him the lessons
which governed his course in life, and which, with boundless
enthusiasm and singular success, he pressed upon the accept-
ance of hundreds of thousands, especially during the last
half of his career.
Here I use his own words as descriptive of the religious
and educational discipline he enjoyed in the home of his
childhood :
" Before leaving the Seminary of Quebec my father had
received from one of his superiors, as a token of his esteem,
a beautiful French and Latin Bible. That Bible was the fir.st
book, after the ABC, in which I was taught to read. My
mother selected the chapters which she considered the most
interesting to me; and I read them every day with the great-
est attention and pleasure. I was even so much pleased with
several chapters that I read them over and over again till I
knew them by heart. When eight or nine years of age I had
learned by heart the history of the creation and fall of man;
the- deluge; the sacrifice of Isaac; the history of Moses; the
plagues of Egypt; the sublime hymns of Moses after crossing
the Red Sea; the history of Samson; the most interesting
event of the life of David; several Psalms; all the speeches
Introduction 7
and parables of Christ; and the whole history of the suffer-
ings and death of our Saviour as narrated by John."
He then tells how his mother used to question him regarding
the meaning of what he read, and how, one day when engaged
in studying the scene upon Calvary, she suddenly burst into
tears, and both wept for joy as the love of the crucified Son of
God touched their hearts.
" No human words can express what was felt in her soul
and in mine in that most blessed hour: No, I will never for-
get that solemn hour, when my mother's heart was per-
fectly blended with mine at the feet of our dying
Saviour."
The evidence of the sincerity of these words, and of the
spiritual light then shed upon his soul, is seen in his subse-
quent conduct. God's Word does not fail in its mission, or
return to Him void. Immediately the lad becomes a witness
for the truth. He imparts to others the good word of life
which he has himself received. And with the glimpses we
possess of the history of the early life of Samuel and Jere-
miah and Timothy, and of " the children crying in the tem-
ple and saying, ' Hosanna to the Son of David,' " we need not
doubt that boys and girls at eight and nine are capable of
rendering such blessed services. Hence the narrative in
young Chiniquy's case proceeds:
" We were some distance from the church, and the roads,
on the rainy days, were very bad. On the Sabbath days the
neighbouring farmers, unable to go to church, were accustomed
to gather at our house in the evening. Then my parents used
to put me up on a large table in the midst of the assembly,
and I delivered to those good people the most beautiful parts
of the Old and New Testament. The breathless attention,
the applause of our guests, and — may I tell it — often the
tears of joy which my mother tried in vain to conceal, sup-
ported my strength and gave me the courage I wanted to
speak when so young before so many people. When my par-
ents saw that I was growing tired, my mother, who had a fine
8 Introduction
voice, sang some of the beautiful French hymns with which
her memory was filled,
"Several times, when the fine weather allowed me to <j^o to
church with my parents, the farmers would take me into their
caldches (bus^fjies) at the door of the temple, and request me
to give them some chapter of the Gospel. With the most
perfect attention they listened to the voice of the child whom
the Good Master had chosen to give them the bread which
came from heaven. More than once I remember that, when
the bell called us to the church, they expressed their regret
that they could not hear more."
In this simple narrative we have the secret of Dr. Chini-
quy's extraordinary power in after life. The child was father
to the man. His heart and thoughts were permeated with
Gospel truth. He received in these early years the education
which stood him in good stead to the end of his days, and
proved the solace and joy of his heart in the last hour.
This being the case, why should we for a moment yield to
the presumptuous folly of those who regard the Bible super-
annuated, and useless as a school book? It is nothing of the
sort. Next to the Saviour, it is God's best gift to men, fitted
to enlighten their intellects, their hearts and consciences, and
designed by Him to hold the first place in the home, the
school and the college. It was for this supremacy of the
Word that Chiniquy fought his thousand battles.
It is hardly necessary to say that on leaving home for more
advanced and literary and theological studies, he entered
upon a course of training, much of which he afterwards de-
plored and condemned. Possibly some of his best friends
were right in thinking that they saw occasionally traces of
this bad education in his after life. It is no easy task to
emancipate oneself fully from the infiuence of what is incor-
porated in one's very nature by the efficient drill of the class
room. And, yet, upon a broad view of the case, this training,
which Dr. Chiniquy publicly repudiated in its distinctive
features, was essential as a preparation for his subsequent
Introduction 9
polemical undertakings. He thus gained an intimate ac-
quaintance with — an inside view of — the mighty system he
was destined to oppose. It is a great matter to be able to
speak of what we have seen and learned by hard personal
experience. An experience of fifty years should give
weight to any intelligent and honourable man's statement.
And, with regard to Dr. Chiniquy, we say only what his
Romish co=religionists with practical unanimity acknowledge
that w^hile in their communion he was distinguished for
purity of life and actuated by lofty motives. And the same
can be said of him since he renounced Romanism. The True
Witness, the English organ of the Roman Catholic Church
in Montreal, in an article on his death, said: "That the late
Father Chiniquy had been the author of great good in his
time, it would be untrue and unjust to deny; that he crowded
into the space of forty years more than any other man in
this country — or perhaps in any other one — is equally un-
deniable."
This is strong testimony and in accordance with facts that
have been repeatedly published. It is not possible in the
space at our disposal to give even a brief epitome of what is
here referred to. A few outstanding instances may be se-
lected without giving details. We mention his great cam-
paign as " Apostle of Temperance." In this he closed nearly
all the distilleries, breweries and saloons of the province. In
1850 he accepted the invitation of Bishop Vandeveld, of
Chicago, to establish a colony of French=Canadians in Illinois.
He set out on this mission with the blessing of the Bishop of
Montreal, and was successful in organizing a strong settle-
ment at St. Anne, Kankakee County. Bishop Vandeveld,
being removed from Chicago, was succeeded by Bishop
O'Regan, of whom Father Chiniquy complained as oppressing
the colonists. The rupture between them became serious, and
the upshot was the Bishop was deposed by the Pope. This
was brought about by his opponent soliciting the aid and in-
tervention of Napoleon III., who had powerful influence at the
lo Introduction
Vatican. Was this an instance of what has so often occurred
— clerical meddling with politics? 0'Rep;an was succeeded
by Bishop Smith, of Iowa, and the troubles between him and
Chiniquy, after many keen disputations regarding auricular
confessions, the authority of the church, etc., reached a crisis.
The Bishop pronounced sentence on him in these words,
"You can no longer be a Roman Catholic priest." Father
Chiniquy raised his hands to heaven, and cried, "May God
Almighty be forever blessed." He returned to his colony,
told them what had occurred, and soon after was received,
along with over two thousand converts, into the Presbyterian
Church of the United States. Two years later he visited
Canada and entered the Presbyterian Church, in connection
with which he continued to labour to the end with unflagging
energy and zeal.
During forty years, all along the line of action, he was
privileged to see the abundant results of his strenuous toils
and hard- fought battles. Thousands upon thousands in this
and other countries joined the ranks of his followers. In
1874 he became the champion of British rights and liberties
in Montreal. He began to preach the Gospel in the French
Protestant Church on Craig Street, and was soon driven from
it, narrowly escaping death, all the windows being smashed
with stones by the mob. It then became almost impossible
to find any church that would allow him to speak within its
walls. I finally secured for him the basement of the old
Erskine church for one night, and thereafter the pastor, the
late Dr. R. F. Burns, and his elders and deacons, granted him
the use of "The Free Church Cote" for several months.
Thousands pressed to hear him night after night.
The determination was to let the multitudes of French
people who desired to hear the Gospel do so, and thus to
vindicate and secure for all the right of free speech. It was
rough and even dangerous work. We retained the services
of over thirty policemen every night inside and outside the
church. We were often followed on the streets, and treated
Introduction ii
to showers of stones, by thousands who shouted, "Kill
Chiniquy!"
Victory was ultimately, not on the side of the mob, but of
right and fair play. And who will say that the principles at
stake were not worth the trouble and exposure we were forced
to encounter?
But what a contrast to these turbulent scenes appeared on
our streets and in Erskine Church on the 19th of January!
That great and beautiful edifice could not contain half the
people who pressed for entrance to do honour to Chiniquy's
memory. The funeral procession was the largest witnessed
in our city since the death of the Hon. Mr. McGee. More
than ten thousand French Roman Catholics, and Protestants
of all nationalities, lined the streets or moved in the solemn,
silent procession that bore his remains to the church. At
least four thousand, chiefly French Roman Catholics, dur-
ing three days, reverently entered the home of Father Chini-
quy and looked upon his calm and peaceful face, silent in
death. One old man walked ten miles to get this last look.
Many begged souvenirs of him, and were given such in the
form of photographs and tracts and pamphlets written by
their deceased friend. Some fell upon their knees by the
corpse and wept, exclaiming, " How wicked we were to have
stoned the dear old servant of Christ." What a change!
They had received the Gospel from his lips, and now felt in
their hearts that he was fallen asleep in Jesus, for with his
latest breath he had expressed his unfaltering trust and joy
in His redeeming love.
Truly history repeats itself. Centuries ago Paul and
Barnabas were unlawfully and brutally beaten at Philippi for
preaching the Gospel — the same ofiPense for which Chiniquy
was repeatedly stoned. But when the jailer who had thrust
them in the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stocks received the word of the Lord " he took them the same
hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was bap-
tized, he and all his, straightway." It was the church thus
12 Introduction
founded in a stormy conflict that afterwards sent gifts by the
hands of Epaphroditus to Paul when a prisoner in Rome.
So we have seen it with our own eyes — the people who had
denounced and hunted and stoned Chiniquy, when renewed
by Divine grace, vying with each other to do him honour. In
the face of these facts who will say that his life has been a
failure, or that there has not been the most cheering and
significant growth of the spirit of toleration in this old
province of Quebec? In this all patriotic Canadians should
rejoice, and quit them like men and true Christians by seek-
ing to promote the true unity and prosperity of our great
dominion by bringing the entire population under the power
of the Gospel.
I close this imperfect sketch with the words which I
uttered before the thousands assembled in Erskine Church,
regarding the late venerable Dr. Chiniquy:
Now that his life=work is done, and he rests from his
labours, it may be profitable to ask, how are we to regard him?
I answer:
He was a distinguished man, of unique personality and
mission, who will not soon be forgotten. In many respects
he stood alone, a commanding figure in our country and cen-
tury. His ancestry and education I need not trace. This
has been done by his own pen, and his exceptionally high
endowments, his literary, theological and dialectic skill and
genius have been sufficiently dwelt upon by the press. His
numerous publications, translated into many languages, and
widely circulated in many parts of the world, are a lasting
monument to his al)ility and industry.
His missionary labours were not confined to one country or
continent. His apostolic zeal in disseminating the truth
carried him through Canada, the United States, Britain,
Australia, Tasmania, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand
and portions of Europe; and by means of his printed works,
brilliant and fascinating in style, he has been heard, and will
continue to be a powerful factor in the thought and life of
Introduction 13
regions upon which his eyes never rested. " He being dead
yet speaketh."
He will be remembered as an enthusiastic reformer. In
early manhood, and, indeed, to the end of his own life, this
was his proper role, not an easy one, as proven by all true
reformers — religious, social, and scientific. The qualities re-
quired for such a mission are of the highest order — faith in
God and man, courage, patience, gentleness, love, indomita-
ble perseverance, a spirit of self=sacrifice and willingness to
work and suflPer and die for the truth and the vindication of
human rights.
It will be too much to say of the deceased, or of any mere
man, that he possessed these and kindred attributes in per-
fection, but the record of his many struggles gives evidence
of the high degree in which he manifested many of them;
and that he achieved memorable successes has been acknowl-
edged by all. This was conspicuously the case in his heroic
single-handed battle with the demon of intemperance, when
he gained a glorious victory, for which he received marked
recognition by the citizens of Montreal, and was publicly
thanked by the parliament of the province in 1851. This is
but one instance of victory. Need I remind you that he
lived to see many other views for which he contended tri-
umphant? We all know how toleration, independent thought
and action regarding matters civil and religious, have ad
vanced during the last forty years. In these respects Quebec
of to=day is not what it was for the preceding century, and,
by the blessing of God upon the labours of the deceased and
others who will continue his mission, brighter days are yet to
dawn. What is needed is a larger measure of his faith and
manly fortitude. How often in his multitudinous contro-
versies did he appear hedged in upon all sides — surrounded
by frowning, impassible, mountain difficulties, but his
courage never gave way. In the face of them all, like heroes
of the past whom we delight to honour, his cry was ever,
"Who art thou, O great mountain? Who is weak, and I am
14 Introduction
not weak? I can do all things through Christ who strength-
eneth me."
What if in the conflicts through which reformers necessa-
rily pass there is more than a little which they and we,
as well as timid, easedoving, peace-loving onlookers deplore:
shall we not in spite of this, and in the exercise of that
broad Christian charity which rejoiceth in the truth, and
thinkt'th no evil, credit them in the face of convincing evi-
dence to that eflPect with sincerity of purpose, and manliness
of conduct in seeking to be first pure and then peaceful? I
tell you what you all know, that men of this type are
especially needed in our day, and should be highly esteemed
— men of undaunted boldness and holy rashness, if you will,
who fear not to challenge things as they are and have been,
and who risk everything in the effort to secure to their fel-
low men the full enjoyment of their God given heritage of
civil and spiritual freedom. This was the practical altruism
by which Dr. Chiniquy was largely characterized.
Hence, I venture to think, further, that he will be remem-
bered as a true patriot. The fire of loyalty to our sovereign
and country burns with ardour in the breasts of his fellow
countrymen, but in none with greater intensity thai\ was felt
by the heart of him whose remains lie silent before us. His
was a patriotism, a love of country, which was thoroughly
outspoken, based upon Christian principles, and therefore
united with a catholicity of spirit which enabled him to
rejoice in the good and prosperity of the many other coun-
tries that enjoyed his labours. Hence, with the Master he
could heartily say, "The field is the world," and with the
apostle of the Gentiles he uniformly felt and said, "My
heart's desire and prayer to God for my countrymen is that
they may be saved." With all his love of freedom, and as
the champion of the right of private judgment and free
speech on the phit form and in the press, this was the great
impelling motive of his life: that his dear countrymen might
Introduction 15
enjoy the liberty with which Christ makes His people free.
We do not say that in his strenuous efforts for this purpose
he never erred. God forbid. None could be more ready
than Dr. Chiniquy to confess to God in the closet his weak-
nesses and failures and sins. And how often have thousands
heard him say so in public, and declare that his only hope
was in the alhsufficient and infinitely efficacious blood of
atonement, which cleanseth from all sins. In this faith he
lived, and in this faith he died. You have read his testimony
on his death -bed to this effect; and were the lips that are now
silent once more unsealed they would declare with an elo-
quence inspired from the kingdom of glory, " It is true — 1
know by blessed experience that Jesus Christ, and He alone,
saves to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him."
It is no exaggeration to say that the strongest wish of Dr.
Chiniquy's heart through life was that his countrymen, whom
he passionately loved, might accept this glorious message.
I testify what I have seen. I have been with him in the
solitude of his chamber, when he prayed for them with an
earnestness which reminded me of what is recorded of Knox,
the great Scottish reformer, when he cried to God, " O give
me Scotland or I die."
Finally, I venture to think that the memory of Dr. ChiniT
quy, as a broad=minded, far-seeing. Christian patriot, will
have a permanent place in the history of Canada, and prove
an inspiration to thousands of his countrymen to cling to the
truth and the Saviour he so fervently proclaimed. That truth
he ever sought to put into the hands of every man as his
birthright. To its supreme and infallible authority alone,
and not to any man or council, he yielded unquestioning
submission, and by the preaching of his blessed Saviour, who
is " the way, the truth, and life," he was honoured of God in
bringing many thousands from darkness to light. These
shall be his joy and crown of glorying before our Lord Jesus
at His coming; and then it will appear that the struggles and
i6 Introduction
sorrows of life, however painful and prolonged, are not worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed, for
" They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma-
ment; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars
forever and ever."
PREFACE
I had no thought of writing this book till the meeting of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in
1889 I was then on the eve of celebrating my eightieth
birthday, and on the motion of the Rev. Dr. Mac Vicar, Prin-
cipal of the Presbyterian College, Montreal, and Rev. Dr.
Warden, Secretary=Treasurer of the Board of French Evan-
gelization, the Assembly passed a vote of congratulation as
a public expression of Christian esteem towards me. At the
same time, a resolution was unanimously adopted to invite
me to write a new book under the name of "Thirty Years in
the Church of Christ," as a sequel to my last book, " Fifty
Years in the Church of Rome."
I could not but yield to that request, for I felt that it would
not be doing justice to my God and to myself to write of my
half -century of bondage under Rome, and not give an account
of my glorious liberty under Christ; so I have taken steps to
prex^are a book containing some of the most striking inci-
dents and events since I came into the possession of the full
and blessed light of the Gospel, covering now nearly forty
years.
During this last period of my life, which has been very
eventful, I have traveled in many countries and visited dif-
ferent continents, and I have given thousands of sermons and
lectures, and thus in spreading the Gospel I have had the
opxoortunity of seeing human nature in its varied aspects. As
these experiences of mine illustrate the saying, "truth is some-
times stranger than fiction," I feel that what I have to say in
this work is adapted to interest as well as to impart very use-
ful knowledge.
The Christian readers of this book will wish to know at
17
1 8 Preface
first some of the ways throuu'li which our merciful God has
brought me from the feet of the Pope to those of the Lamb
who has made me free and pure with His blood. In the
first part of this work I aim to satisfy such a reasonable
desire.
As history is philosophy teaching by example, I endeavour
to give in the book, as a whole, facts which suggest and teach
lessons, and stir up greater activity on the part of Protestants
to resist the aggressions of Romanism, and to spread the
truth among the benighted dupes and slaves of the Pope.
In an important sense, I have written this book because I
could not help it. The truth I have is not my own— it be-
longs to my heavenly Father, and the treasure in the earthen
vessel I am bound to give to others as far as I can.
With this feeling and purpose, I send forth this volume on
its mission, hoping that it will be doing good after I am gone,
and thus, though dead, I still may speak to others.
CONTENTS
^B^^^os 23-2i
Invocation ^^
CHAPTER I
A Sketch of My Life Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 27-45
CHAPTER II
The Light Breaks npon Me. After Much Struggle I Accept
Christ and Eternal Life as a Gift. I Present the Gift
to My People Who Likewise Accept It 46-55
CHAPTER III
My Dear Bible Continues to Lift Me Up Above the Dark At-
mosphere of Romanism. The First Publication of the
Holy Scriptures in Canada 56-66
CHAPTER IV
The Darkest Hours of the Night Before the Bright Rays of
*^« I^^y 67-78
CHAPTER V
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago. Auricular Confession . 79-91
CHAPTER VI
The Temptation 90-99
CHAPTER VII
Father Brunet a Prisoner in My Stead 100-106
CHAPTER VIII
The Famine 107-117
CHAPTER IX
The Angel of Mercy and the Manna from Heaven. God is
Our Father, We are His Children 118-127
CHAPTER X
A Lesson of the Mercies of God in Disguise .... 128-135
19
20 Contents
CHAPTER XI
The Debts Paid 136-141
CHAPTER XII
New Laborers in the Lord's Vineyard 142-147
CHAPTER XIII
A Macedonian Cry from Canada 148-15-1
CHAPTER XIV
The Gospel Preached to Thousands of Roman Catholics in
iMontreal, and Hear the Priest of Napierville Denounce
Me from His Pulpit 155-164
CHAPTER XV
My Missionary Tour Continued. The Dagger of the Assassin 165-174
on My Breast at Quebec
CHAPTER XVI
How Roman Catholics Understand Liberty of Conscience.
My Letter to the Bishops of Quebec and the Priests of
Canada 175-180
CHAPTER XVII
A French Officer Saves My Life at Beloeil. Grande Ligne and
Longuevil Visited. Rev. Theodore Lafleur 181-188
CHAPTER XVIII
Admitted into the Presbyterian Church with the Bible Alone
in My Hand 189-193
CHAPTER XIX
Muskegon— On the Borders of Lake Michigan 194-199
CHAPTER XX
Second Day at Muskegon. A Narrow Escape 200-205
CHAPTER XXI
The Assassination of Lincoln 206-23:^
CHAPTER XXII
A Great and Good Institution: The Presbyterian College, Mon-
treal. The Rev. Dr. MacVicar 233-239
CHAPTER XXIII
Antigonish Riot of the 10th of July, 1873 240-245
Contents 2i
CHAPTER XXIV
My Resbaptism 246-256
CHAPTER XXV
The Stratagem 257-264
CHAPTER XXVI
Deplorable and False Liberality in High Protestant Quarters
With Respect to the Church of Rome 265-281
CHAPTER XXVII
A Presbyterian Minister Approves. The Romanists Condemn
and Persecute 282-293
CHAPTER XXVIII
Rebuked by a Prominent Presbyterian Minister— Approved by
His Congregation 294-302
CHAPTER XXIX
On My Way to Australia. California, Oregon, and Washington
Territory 303-325
CHAPTER XXX
On Board Steamer City of Sidney 326-335
CHAPTER XXXI
On My Way to Australia. Sights on the Pacific 336-345
CHAPTER XXXII
On My Way to Australia. The Dangers of the Deep .... 346-354
CHAPTER XXXIII
A'lstralia 355-364
CHAPTER XXXIV
Visit to Hobert Town. Account of the Disturbances. Closing
Lecture. Dramatic Scenes 365-384
CHAPTER XXXV
Ballarat and Horsham. Riots— Narrow Escapes. A Woman
Spits in My Face to Obey Her Father Confessor. The
Muddy Ditch 385-391
CHAPTER XXXVI
Abbe Fluet's Conversion, Temptation and Final Triumphs . . 392-401
22 Contents
CHAPTER XXXVII
The Truth Proclaimed at Moiitaj^ue. Narrow Escape — Brutally
Struck whilst on the Steamer. I Forgive My Aggressor . 402-404
CHAPTER XXXVIII
A Vindication 405-416
CHAPTER XXXIX
Senator Tasse's Dastardly Attack Answered 417-437
CHAPTER XL
Priests' Efforts to Reach My Bed of Sickness Frustrated. Chal-
lenge to Archbishop not Accepted 438-449
CHAPTER XLI
My Fourth Visit to Europe in 1896. The Challenge of Father
Begue Accepted. The Roman Breviary. Discussion at
Oben 450-469
CHAPTER XLII
My Fourth Trip to England Continued. Severe Illness and Re-
covery. Invitation to Lecture in Holland Accepted. A
Week in Paris. Germany Visited — The Pulpit and Tomb
of Lutlier. Return to Canada. The Close of this Book
and of Life's Voyage 470^77
CHAPTER XLIII
The Final Triumph. Requiescat in Pace! I. The Last Mes-
sage of Father Chiuiquy: His Ante=Mortem Declaration
of Faith, Signed and Attested Six Days Before His
Death. Reasons Why He Could not Return to the
Church of Rome. II. Address Delivered at the Funeral
service of Father Chiniquy on Thursday, 19th January,
1899, by the Rev. C. E. Amaron. D. D., Pastor of St.
John's French Presbyterian Church, of which the De-
ceased was a Metnber. III. Memorial Service. Ser-
mon Preached by the Rev. A. J. Mowatt, in Erskiue
Church, in Montreal, on Sunday morning. Jan. 22, 1899.
The Apostle of French Evangelization. IV. Resolutions
of the Presbytery of Montreal, of which Father Chiniquy
was a Member, Montreal, March, 14th 1899 .... 478^98
INVOCATION
Merciful Heavenly Father: — To obey Thee, when speak
ing to me through Thy Church, I will tell Thy children some
of the things I have seen, heard and done since the blessed
day that Thou hast given me Thy saving light. Do Thou help
me . . . guide my thoughts and my pen in such a way that
everything I say will be for Thy glory and the good of Thy
redeemed ones. Amen!
25
Fa'iiii-,k CiiiNK.ii s ai so \i-..\ks of A(;e
CHAPTER I
A Sketch of My Life Before the Dawn of the Saving Light
When relating the story of the mercies of God towards me
these last forty years, I cannot ignore that my Christian readers
will like to know something of my priestly life; so I will give
them a sketch of the most remarkable events of my life be-
fore the dawn of the saving light of the Gospel came in its
fulness upon me.
I was born at Kamouraska, on the 30th of July, 1809. My
father, Charles Chiniquy, was a notary. My mother's name
was Marie Reine Perreault. My grandfather, Martin Et
Chiniquia, was a fearless sailor from French Biscay in the serv-
ice of the king of France. His ship, like many of the ships
of those days, being half military and half merchant, was well
known by the English wardships with which he had several
encounters. Wolf, on his way to capture Quebec, in 1759,
seized and forced Et Chiniquia with other pilots to navigate
the fleet through the dangerous St. Lawrence river.
Several times, when a young lad, I heard him telling us
how, during the way up the river to Quebec, there were two
soldiers with i^istols close to his ears, in order to blow out his
brains if his ships touched the bottom; but he did his duty
so well, though reluctantly, that his new masters, after the
conquest of Quebec, rewarded him by putting him the head
master of the harbour of that city.
My father went to Murray Bay w4ien I was still young, and
died thete suddenly. It was in a year when the crops had
failed and there was a famine raging all around. Our only
support was the milk of a cow which had been given me when
a calf by the landlord, Nairn. But the priest wrenched that
27
28 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
providential support from my mother on the pretense
of takinijj the soul of my father from the flames of purgatory.
We came very near starvin.LC to death; fortunately, my mother
had a sister married to a very rich merchant of Kamouraska,
Mr. Dionne, who came to take me as his own child. My
father had studied to be priest before being married,
taking a complete course of theology in the seminary of Que-
bec, and had received as a token of esteem from the Superior of
the seminary a magnificent Sacy Bible, half in Latin and half
in French. As there were no schools near us in Murray Bay,
my mother was my first teacher, and the book in which I
learned to read was the Bible, and the fiist word I learned
to spell, by the providence of God, was ''B-i-b-1-e."
I was exceedingly fond of reading that Book and the time
I was not giving to fishing, or catching hares, was spent in
reading its marvelous pages. I not only read them, but
learned by heart, under the guidance of my mother, the most
interesting parts. It was not without childish pride that I
recited those chapters to the farmers who used to come to my
father's office. I will never forget one beautiful Sabbath
day, going to church with my mother. A farmer asked me if
I would not recite before the whole crowd the chapter he had
heard from me the week before in my father's house. Hav-
ing consented, he took me in his arms, placed me in his
caldche and there I recited in my best style the story of the
Prodigal Son. There was not a dry eye when I finished; but
the priest, his name was Courtois, having heard that a child
had given a chapter of the Bible to his people, thought it ad-
visable to put a stop to such a scandfil. The next morning
he was early at my father's house to get that Bible and burn
it. Trembling by the side of my mother, lest my Bible,
be given up to be destroyed, I was listening with a breathless
attention for my father's answer, and my heart leaped with
unspeakable joy when I heard him showing the door to the
priest, saying, "You know what door by which you entered,
take the same door and go." It was the first and last time I
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light ig
ever saw one of the priests in my father's house, they not being
on good terms, though I never knew why.
Not very long after I was at Kamouraska, the celebrated
Bishop Duplessis came to give the confirmation. He was a
personal friend of my uncle Dionne, who received him as his
guest. He had siaecially noticed me among the little boys in
the choir and learning that I was his host's nephew, he called
for me in the parlour when surrounded by his priests. He
took me by the hand, and said, " Look at me, my little boy.
How old are you ? . . . Would you not like to be a priest ? "
My mother had asked me that question many times before and
I had always answered: " Yes, mother." Li my mind there
was nothing so exalted on earth or in heaven, after God, as a
priest, so with a trembling voice I answered the Bishop:
" Yes, my lord, I would like to be a priest." Then the Bishoj)
looking at my uncle said to him, "Mr. Dionne, have you
any objection to sending that dear little boy to my college in
Nicolet, perhaps we shall make a bishop of him? " My uncle
answered: "My lord, I will be very happy to send him to
your college," and he kept his word. The next fall it was my
privilege to begin a course of study in the college of Nicolet
which I finished with good success in the year 1829.
After spending four years as a teacher of Belles^Lettres in
the same college of Nicolet, I was ordained a priest on the
31st of September, 1833, by Archbishop Sinai, of Quebec.
The next day I was sent to St. Charles, Riviere Boyer, as
vicar of the Reverend M. Perras, where I remained only eight
months. The Reverend M. Bedard, curate of Charlesbourg,
who had been one of my father's teachers in theology, having
expressed the desire that I should take charge of his parish
during the summer while he would accompany the Bishop in
his visits in the diocese, I left St. Charles for Charlesbourg
in the beginning of June. It was there that God had pre-
pared me one of the most terrible trials of my life. I had
hardly been a week in my new charge when my parish was
attacked by the cholera morbus. In the short space of a
30 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
month I buried more than thirty of my parishioners. Day
and ni,ii:ht I had to be about, consoling the sick and preparing
the dying. After having spent the day in visiting the sick,
besides the burials, I had to spend the night in hearing con-
fessions. As there were no physicians around, I had to take
care of the bodies as well as the souls. And those of my
readers who would like to know anything about that terrible
plague, which made so many victims in Canada during that
year, may read it, in my book " Fifty Years in the Church of
Rome." When M. B^dard came back from his visits with
the Bishop, the plague was over, and I, after two months of
deserved rest, was named for one of the vicars of M. Tetu,
curate of St, Rock, Quebec, It was there that I had the
providential opportunity of studying the laws of anatomy in
the Marine hospital of Quebec, under the celebrated Dr,
Douglas, and it was there, after studying four years the rav-
ages of alcohol in the human frame, I went on my knees and
swore that I would never drink any more of those deadly
alcoholic beverages, and that I would do all in my power to
persuade my countrymen to do the same thing. To=day peo-
ple would hardly believe me, would I tell them the commotion
it created when the next day I refused to take my glass of wine
and beer at the table. A few days later the Bishop sent for
me to know if what he had heard was true. He gave me a
severe lecture and ordered me to give up that resolution; but
I stood firm as a rock. In vain he tried to persuade me that
it was a heresy, already condemned by the church, to have such
narrow views concerning wine and beer, but to everything
he said I told him that I had studied that question in the
best book, written by God himself, which was the human
body, and that I had seen with my eyes that every drop
which goes into the body is a poison, Aniong my arguments,
I opened his Bible and read in the twenty^hird chapter of
Proverbs, verse thirty=one, " Look not upon the wine when it
is red, whenitgivetli his colour in the cup, when itmoveth itself
aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like
Before, the Dawn of the Saving Light 31
an adder." It was evident to me that the good Bishop did
not remember ever having seen those words: he was so
amazed at them.
But I must not omit here to say a word about the bloody
insurrection of 1837-88. We knew that a conspiracy among
our parishioners of St. Rock was organized to upset the Eng-
lish Government and to unite themselves with the United
States. In the month of December, a few days before the
battle of St. Denis, we noticed a great excitement, and we
were all in fear that we were fast approaching a terrible crisis.
One evening Dr. Rousseau, who had been one of my classmates
in Nicolet and who, of course, was very familiar, came about
nine o'clock to our parsonage where there were five priests.
We knew that he was a leader of the conspiracy against the gov-
ernment and he had evidently come to gain our influence to
his views, and, with a freedom which filled me with disgust
and distress, he revealed to us a part of their plans. Although
we were in favour of reforms we were opposed to a civil war
by which we poor, weak French Canadian people w^ould
be crushed by the mighty English nation. I tried to show
him the absurdity of the plans he was just speaking of to us,
as hundreds of cannon of the impregnable citadel of Quebec
could, in a few minutes, make a pie of the citizens of St.
Rock.
With impassioned words he answered me, "Ah, the citadel!
the citadel! We are sure to get it opened when the day of
justice comes. The Irish Catholic guards are pledged to open
the doors, and then we will put to the sword our merciless
English tyrants inside and outside the citadel." I could not
restrain myself any longer. I jumped at him saying, "You
miserable traitor, you are not satisfied to be a traitor yourself,
you want to make us your accomplices," and addressing my-
self to M, Tetu, I said, "You ought not to allow that man to
come here to try and enroll us under bis traitorous banner. I
see now that they are preparing here a new St. Bartholomew
slaughter. I have suspected it for some time, but I will
32 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
oppose it so long as I have a drop of blood in my veins. I
prefer to be ruled by the noble English nation. You ought
to turn that traitor out of here, but as you do not do it, I
will do it for you " Then taking hold of the back of his
neck by my right hand, I pushed him down stairs more
quickly than he had ever gone down before. Then coming
up, I said to the priests: "It is evident that they are prejaar-
ing one of those horrible tragedies which are a shame to our
religion and our nation. They want to slaughter the English
under the pretext that they are Protestants. They rely on
the treachery of the Irish Catholics, who, being on guard at
the citadel, will oi)en the doors. I will go immediately to
the governor to warn him of the danger." Half an hour
later, I was with Governin- Gasford. It was after ten o'clock
at niglit. "My lord," I said, "I come here on a solemn
errand. I want you to keep my message a secret between
you and me. There is a conspiracy among the Irish soldiers
of the garrison to o]5en the door of the citadel and there will
be a general slaughter of you and the English j)eople of Que-
bec in a few days if the insurgents of Montreal are victorious
in the first battle which is to be fought there." The gov-
ernor thanked me and said, " Please give me the names of
the leaders of the conspiracy." I replied, " No, I cannot do
that. I do not come here as an informant or traitor against
my own countrymen, I only want to save them from their
own folly as I want to save the English from the impending
danger. I hope your lordship will thus understand the deli-
cacy of my position as I risk my life in what I am doing now.
You caiiiiot ask any thing more. I ask on your honour not to
betray me. Put oidy Protestants to guard your citadel."
A few days later the battle of St. Denis was fought and
gained by the French Canadian patriots, but the plot of tak-
ing the citadel of Quebec had failed because, to the unspeak-
able dismay of the Quebec patriots, all the Irish guards at
the citadel had been changed.
It was not long after this incident that the Bishop, having
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 23
heard that I had given two lectures on the reasons we had to
give up the use of intoxicating drinks, called me to his palace
to ascertain if it were true that I had given these two ad-
dresses. Then, on my answering in the affirmative, he was
beside himself with anger and, pacing up and down the room,
said, " This teetotalism is only a Protestant afPair. I will not
allow any of my priests to proclaim those principles in
Canada." I answered, "My lord, be calm, please, you are
mistaken. Father Mathew now is blessed all over the world
for preaching teetotalism in Ireland. It is only a few days
since we read that the Pope had sent him his aiDostolic bene-
diction." " Well," said he, "it may be very well for Ireland to
have those doctrines preached, for is it a welbknown fact that
drunkenness is the great plague of that nation; but it is a
different thing with our dear Canada. It is an insult to com-
pare that nation with ours. Read that paper and you will
see my opinion about you," and he presented me a sheet of
paper written with his own hand, but not signed. What was
my surprise and my dismay to read in that paper that he
absolutely forbade me to preach teetotalism and if I did not
submit to his will he threatened me with excommunication.
"It is not signed," said he, "but I will sign it the first time
you disobey me." I replied: " My lord, evidently, if you
had been near Zacharias when the angel came to tell him that
his son would be great in the sight of the Lord, and would
neither drink wine nor strong drink, you would have excom-
municated that angel, and if you had been near the angel
when he brought his message to the mother of Samson
telling her not to drink wine or strong drink, you would also
have excommunicated him as you want to excommunicate
me." My words fell upon him as a thunderbolt, and with a
much subdued voice, he said, "I have not signed that, but
will do it, if you do not what I say. I am your superior."
Then I said, " I will see what I will have to do when you ex-
communicate me," and I left him, trembling with indigna-
tion at his tryanny. A few weeks later the Bishop again
34 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
called me to his palace and said: " Your father was my per-
sonal friei;d and my pupil. Like you, he had some good,
but also some very bad (jualities, and you have inherited only
his good qualities. You oifended me the other day by your
stubborn resistance to my will. I want to punish you by
putting you at the head of the parish of Beaui^ort which has
the reputation of possessing the greatest number of drunk-
ards in Canada. If you wish to fight the demon of intem-
perance you will have opportunities to do it there to your
heart's content."' Had he told me he would send me to the
penitentiary, he would not have distressed me more, but in
spite of all my objections, I had to accept the charge.
Reverend M. Begin, who was my predecessor in Beauport,
was one of those good old Canadian priests who had taken
his views on temperance from St. Ligouri, who says that so
long as a man can distinguish a pin from a load of hay he is
not drunk. Not to be too long on this question, I found that
the parish of BeauiDort, at the door of Quebec, was one of the
oldest parishes of Canada, that its revenues were the richest.
Its soil could not be surpassed, the fisheries were then ex-
ceedingly rich, their gardens, their limestones, with the
forests around gave them incalculable resources. But they
expended so much money in their drinking habits that they
had never been able to have a school and teach their children,
when they had seven taverns doing an immense business in
their midst. The number of drunkards, old and young, men
and women, were so numerous that I do not dare to say. I
would not be believed. To make such a j^ieople sober was
surely above the strength of a man. But what is impossible
to man is easy to our merciful God. With tears of sorrow
and ardent prayer day and night, I asked God to help me to
save that peoj^le.
Not long before, a fact had occurred which, though Already
in my former book, may have again its place here. A lady in
the highest ranks of society, but unfortunately a desperate
drunkard, had killed her only child whilst drunk. Carrying
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 35
her in her arms, she had fallen, and the head of the little one
had struck the sharp angle of the stove with such force that
the skull was fractured and the brains had been scattered on
the floor. Death was instantaneous. When called by the
unfortunate husband, I found her in the arms of Dr.
Blanchet, Coroner Panet, and her bereaved husband, trying
to kill herself. She begged for a knife. She filled the house
with her cries, " I am lost! I killed my darling, I want to be
buried with her!" Though four men were holding her it was
with diflBculty that we could prevent her from killing herself.
At about eleven o'clock at night she slipped from our hands,
filling the house with her cries, ran to the cradle, and, quick
as lightning, she took her child in her arms, tore the bandage
which held the skull in place and pressed her face and her
lips in the gaping wound. Then she ran around the room
crying, "I am lost! I am damned!" and falling on her knees
before me, she cried, " Dear Father Chiniquy, can a drunken
woman who has killed her dear child be saved? Dear Lucy,
can you not forgive me thy death? O cursed wine! Why did
I not follow your advice when so often with tears you asked
me to give up that cursed wine! Please take that blood and
that brain, go around Canada, and put it on the top of every
house in our country. Say it is the blood and brains of a
child murdered by her drunken mother. Tell the people
never to touch a drop of that wine. It is cursed in hell,
cursed on earth, and cursed in heaven." And when saying
this, torrents of blood flowed from her mouth; a vein had
burst, and she fell dead at our feet.
Was not this a message from my God? The spectacle of
that blood and of the corpses of those two victims of wine
were stereotyped in a mysterious way into my whole being,
and it gave me an energy, a power and eloquence which
were not mine. That energy and power were irresistible, for
I felt in that solemn hour they came direct from my God to
me that I might fulfil a grand and blessed mission in my
dear country.
3.6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Before a year had elapsed, the people of Beauport were the
mo8t Bober people of Canada. Not a drop of liquor could be
sokl among them.
The God of the Gospel had again come to the touch of the
dead Lazarus, and looking down in Divine compassion had
shed tears of distress on the corpse of His dead friend, and
said, " Lazarus, come forth," and Lazarus came out. The
great God of heaven had taken by the hand the noble
people of Beauport, and had made them march at the head
of one of the greatest temperance reformations that not
only Canada, but the whole world, has ever seen. I thought
that my duty was to keep the remembrance of that remarka-
ble event. I gave three hundred dollars to M. Leprohon, the
best architect of Quebec, to make the column of Temperance
which I asked the Bishop of Nancy to bless on the seventh
of September, 1841.
This column is still standing and can be seen on the road
going to the Falls of Montmorency, about half = way between
Quebec and Beauport.
Why is it that the Roman Catholic clergy have not under-
stood that it was an unpardonable crime and eternal shame
to them to have allowed that great temperance work to drop
since I left theii idols to follow the God of the Gospel?
In the year 1842 when I left Beauport it was my unspeak-
able joy to see the seven taverns had disappeared and in their
places seven thriving schoohhouses were filled with happy
children.
When it was announced to me by the Bishop that I must
leave Beauport for the parish of Kamouraska, that was almost
a death blow to me and to my people. It was in vain that
I tried to show the Bishops the injustice and undesirable-
ness of such a change. Without mercy the BishoiD told me,
" Though Beauport is a very important place, Kamouraska
is, in our eyes, still more imjiortant." It was then the only
summer resort of the people of Quebec and Montreal. " The
old curate Varin is dying, and we have no other priest to take
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 37
his place there. It is the parish where you were born, and
we hope you will make no resistance when we ask you to
leave your dear Beauport for Kamouraska without any delay,
The God who has blessed you in such a marvelous way in
Beauport will bless you again in the same way in Kamou-
raska, and we hope that the triumph of the grace of God will
be as great as it has been in Beauport."
Let those of my readers who wish to know the interesting
details of my four years sojourn in Kamouraska, read it in
the " Fifty Years in the Church of Rome." Suffice it to say
that during that time, by the great mercy of God, I had the
joy of enrolling under the banners of temperance not only the
grand and noble parish of Kamouraska, but all the parishes
for more than one hundred miles below. Also the parishes
around Lake Tamisconata and to Point Levis, on the south
shore of the St. Lawrence River, and on the north shore from
Quebec to Murray Bay.
The year before I went to Kamouraska one hundred tuns
of rum had been sold by the merchants, and the debts of the
people to those merchants were $250,000. By the great
mercy of God the last year I was there not ten gallons of in-
toxicating drinks had been sold in the whole parish and the
immense debt had been reduced to $150,000.
At first I had been fiercely opposed in my temperance
work by Reverend M. Mailloux of St. Anne de la Pocati^re,
and Quertier of St. Denis; but after two years they honourably
changed their views and came with great zeal and ability to
help me fight the common foe. But I could not stand such
herculean work any longer. To fulfil the duties of curate
at Kamouraska and establish the societies of temperance
was too much for a single man, so, in 1846, I said to the
Bishop: "I think it is the will of God that I should fight the
demon of intemperance all over the country, and if you have
no objection, as the Bishop of Montreal has invited me to
establish societies of temperance in the parishes of his im-
mense diocese, I will go and join the good monks of the
38 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Oblats of Mary Immaculate. There are not less than
thirty priests there who will lu'lp me in my temperance work,
and instead of beinc: alone to fight our giant enemy —
•• Rum"— I will have a real army of true soldiers of Christ
to help me."
But, before leaving Kamouraska, I had received a letter
from a very dear but very pcjor friend in Quebec who was
blessed with a very large family. His letter drew my tears: —
"You know my sad position," he said, "overwhelmed with a
family which is absolutely out of my power to give the ma-
terial as well as intellectual bread to, which every father owes
to his children. I have been impressed with a thought sev-
eral months You have studied the question of anatomy and
all the injuries done to man by all the intoxicating drinks.
Your success in fighting the demon of intemperance is mar-
velous, it seems to me that you could write a book on tem-
perance which would be welcomed into every French Cana-
dian family. That book would bring a great deal of money.
I have said to myself, " If dear Father Chiniquy would write
that book and give me the benefit of the first two editions, it
would not damage him, and it would lift me up, and give me
the means to provide for the future of my dear children.
Can you do that, M. Chiniquy? If you can, there will be a
blessing upon you for time and eternity."
I had never thought of writing a book on that subject, but
the desire to save that family which was very dear to me came
as a flash of light. I went on my knees, and I said, " If it is
Thy will, O God, that I should write a good book on temper-
ance, I promise that the first two editions shall belong to that
dear friend of mine."
Three months later the book called the "Manual of Tem-
perance" was finished, but I had not the time to copy the
manuscript. I rolled it up in its crudeness, went to the cap-
tain of a schooner, called B^chard, who was to sail the very
next day for Quebec: "Do you know such a man in Quebec?"
I asked him, " he has a large family, but is as poor as a church
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 39
rat." " Well," I said, " when in Quebec, please go and give
him this roll of paper, with this small letter," and in this
small letter I said, " My dear friend, here is the answer to
your letter of four months ago. I have worked day and night
to write the book you asked for. Make two editions of it for
your own benefit. Keep every cent for yourself and your dear
children, and when those two editions shall be exhausted,
give me back my manuscript: and may the Lord bless and
prosper you is the prayer of your devoted friend,
C. Chiniquy."
A week later — this was in the fall — Captain Bechard was
knocking at my door. I could hardly recognize him; he
looked twenty years older than when I had seen him. His
voice was suffocated in his sobs. " Well," I said, " what is
the matter, my dear friend, with you?" He replied, "Ah,
dear Father Chiniquy, I have lost my precious schooner.
She was wrecked in this last terrible storm on the rocks
between Berthier and St. Valier. It is by a miracle that I
escaped with the rest of the crew. I have been picked up
unconscious on the sand where I had been hurled by a furi-
ous wave." "And the little bundle of paper I gave you,
where is it?" " It is lost," he replied, " I had put it in my
trunk which is now at the bottom of the river. The little
money which I had gained this year, and was taking to Que-
bec to pay my debts, is lost also, every cent of it. I am
ruined! What will now become of my poor family?" I
answered, " My papers cannot be lost, and for yourself, do
not despair of the future."
I went to my drawer, took some old papers, put them into
his hands and said, " Here are twenty five pounds to help
you from your wreck, and I pledge myself to get twice that
amount from my rich uncle Dionne. You know the noble-
hearted, farmers of Kamouraska will also help you to get
another schooner. Cheer up! Never give up your confi-
dence in God."
We knelt and prayed and we wept together. And then
40 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
apain I said, "Where do you think I can find your little trunk
with my paper?" " It cannot be found," he said, "it was
dashed with the rest on the rocks, I spent four days to find
all tliat could be found on the shores." I dismissed him,
went to my servant man and said, "Hitch up the horse and
buggy, I want to go to Quebec without a moment of delay."
The roads were very bad. It took us two days to reach the
first house of St. Valier. There I broke one of the wheels of
my buggy in a ditch. I went to the next house. After tak-
ing some refreshment and rest, I said to the landlord, " Have
you heard anything of the wreck of B^chard's schooner?"
" Ah, yes," he said, " it has been a complete wreck. It was
dashed upon the rocks and torn to pieces." " Have you found
anything on the shore?" I asked. " Nothing of any account,
excejDt this morning when I saw a little trunk entangled in
the mud and branches and I brought it here and gave it to my
wife." "Can I see that little trunk?" I said. "Oh yes
sir." It was there in a corner all dripping wet. I opened it
and the first thing I saw under the cover was my manuscript.
I fell on my knees and thanked God for this providential
discovery. Then I took it myself to my friend in Quebec.
Some weeks later I received a letter from Reverend M. Bal-
largon, curate of Quebec, and who became, later. Archbishop,
with these lines which I copy, word for word:
" Your marvelous little book, ' Manual of Temperance ' is
just published. I began the reading of it before going to
bed, and do you know I was not able to sleep before I had
finished it. I went yesterday morning to my Quebec parish-
ioners and I told them, 'After the Gospel, this is the best
book you can read. It is written by Father Chiniquy, and I
hope in a few days I shall hear there is a copy in every house
in Quebec and in all Canada.' The result was that the next
three days three thousand copies of your book were sold at
fifty cents each, and I hope that ten thousand more will be
sold, so that the whole country may bless you."
My friend, by the great mercy of God, was taken out of his
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 41
misery to a position of ease, and being intelligent and
industrious pushed himself up and now his children are among
the first families of Canada for their wealth, talents and re-
spectability. Of course their father died long ago, and if you
ask me what those children are now doing to show their gra-
titude toward me, I will tell you. Ordered by their priests,
they curse me because I believe and preach that there is only
one name under heaven by which we can be saved.
So I went to Longueuil in 1846 and received a warm
reception both from the Bishop of Montreal and the Oblats
there. But, after a year of novitiate, I saw very strange things
in that institution which proved to me that those monks were
only comedians. I will give here only one instance.
I had as an associate to advocate the temperance cause in
St. Hyacinthe a French monk by the name of Guignes. He
had the direction of the first part of the service and, before
beginning his address on the evil of drinking wine, he used
to say to the faithful in a most pious tone: "Let us pray,
dear brethren, the Good Mother of Christ to persuade you of
the evil of intemperance;" and as all the people, listening to
such an earnest appeal, threw themselves on their knees with
bowed heads, the good monk took out from his garb a flask
and sipped his wine with great relish and with such zest that
I could see he expected more inspiration from his bottle than
from Mary.
I cannot help mentioning also here another adventure which
proves that some Canadian priests, as well as some French
monks, were not sincere in their profession of temperance, but
were dragged into that great movement by the enthusiam of
the people.
When speaking in the same town six months later, the morn-
ing after the first address, the curate of the parish, Mr. Crevier,
came to me at breakfast wringing his hands with un- ,
speakable distress. I asked, " What is the matter with you,
Monsieur le Cur6? " He replied, " Have you not heard the
awful noise last night when they destroyed my distillery?"
42 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"What," said I, "have you a distillery?" "Yes," he said.
"And you invited me to preach temperance when you have a
distillery to spread drunkenness?" " Yes, I thought it was a
good and profitable way to invest money." " In that case,"
I said, " I rejoice that the people have been prompt enough
to see your duplicity and punish you as you deserve." I must
add that the temporanco people, without my knowledge as
well as without my instigation, had invaded the distillery
during the night and made havoc with it, breaking all the
machinery.
At the end of my novitiate, when I was about to take the
vows of allegiance to the Society, being asked, according to
usage, by the Superior to mention before all my confreres
my decision as to joining the Oblats, I said, "You will be
disappointed, as I have been myself. After having been
associated with you in the hope of becoming an Oblate, my
conscience tells me that the only thing I have to do i.i to
leave you and do my providential work alone under the
supervision of the Bishop and the co-operation of the secular
clergy."
After I left the Oblats I carried on during four years
the crusade of temperance with wonderful and blessed
results.
In the year 1850 I received a letter from Bishop Vandeveld
of Chicago, 111., inviting me to go and help him to make a New
France of Illinois by directing the tide of the French immi-
gration towards the magnificent plains of Illinois which were
then almost entirely a wilderness. Seeing in this invitation
a call of Providence to fulfil another great mission for my
countrymen and my Church in founding a colony, after having
been the instrument in the hands of God to draw my country-
men out of the mire of drunkenness, I gladly accepted it, and
with the blessing of my Bishop and his reluctant consent I
exiled myself to the neighbouring great Republic. To my un-
speakable joy I saw myself soon surrounded by thousands of
French=speaking people who had responded to my fervent
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 43
appeals published both in Europe and Canada. Soon flourish-
ing parishes of my countrymen gladdened my heart and re-
warded my labours as a colonizer.
But my new calling was not a sky without a cloud. There
also I had my tribulations and sad revelations about my
Church, which darkened my mind and weakened my faith in
it. About a year after my arrival, Bishop Vandeveld came to
me with tears in his eyes and announced to me that he had
decided to abandon the diocese of Illinois for the one of
Natchez, because, said he, " I cannot bear any longer the cor-
ruption of my priests. There are only five honest priests in
this diocese, so I asked the Pope as a favour to transfer me to
another place."
Holding in great respect and affection this Bishop, I felt
very keenly his departure, and had I known who was to
succeed him, I would have felt it still more bitterly.
His successor was Bishop O'Regan, the most tyrannical and
shameless rogue that I ever had to deal with.
After several years of contest with that Bishop, who was a
notorious defender of drunkenness and immorality among the
priests of his diocese, and who was guilty of simony, theft and
brigandage himself, I wrote to Pope Pius IX., enclosing
documentary evidence of the Bishop's guilt, with the result
that after a full investigation the corrupt prelate was
deposed.
Bishop Smith of Dubuque, Iowa, the new administrator of
the diocese, deputed the Rev. Mr. Dunn, Grand Vicar of
Chicago, to seek an interview with me, and thank me for
having rid the diocese of such a depraved man, but at the same
time to inform me that I and my people were suspected of
being more Protestants than Catholics, and to urge me to draw
up a document which would prove to all the world that I and
they were still good Roman Catholics.
As I was considering what form this document should take,
the thought seized me, " Is not this the golden opportunity to
put an end to the terrible temptations which have shaken my
44 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
faith and distressed me for so many years?" I determined to
frame my submission in such a way that I mif^ht make sure
that the faith of my dear Church was based upon the Holy
Word of God and not the lying traditions of men.
I then wrote down, "My Lord Bishop Smith,— We French
Canadians of Illinois want to live and die in the Holy
Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church, out of which there is
no salvation, and to prove this to your lordship, we promise
to obey the authority of the Church according to the Word
and Commandments of God as we find them expressed in the
Gospel of Christ."
The Grand Vicar thought that the act of submission was just
what was wanted, but I had my grave doubts whether the con-
dition of only submitting to the Bishop's authority according
to the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ would ever be
accepted. My surprise was therefore great when Bishop
Smith, having read the document, received it with joy, and
gave me in return, to show to both friends and foes, a testi-
monial letter which contained the highest expressions of
esteem for me both in public and private character.
But the Jesuits of Chicago were soon at work, and raised
a great storm, saying that I was no more than a disguised
Protestant, and that I must be compelled to submit to the
unconditional authority of the Bishops.
I was again sent for by the Bishop, who, as a prelude to the
conversation asked me for the testimonial letter, which when
produced and handed over, was arbitrarily committed to the
flames without one word of explanation. " Mr. Chiniquy," he
said, " I ordered you here because you have deceived me in
t'iving me a document which you know is not an act of sub-
mission; I hope as a good priest you do not want to rebel
against your Bishop. Take away the words — Word of God
—and— Gospel of Christ— from your act of submission, or I
will punish you as a rebel." To this I calmly replied, " What
you ask me is not an act of submission, it is an act of adora-
tion. I do absolutely refuse to give it." " If that be so, sir,"
Before the Dawn of the Saving Light 45
said the Bishop, " you can be no longer a Catholic priest."
I raised my hands to heaven and cried: " May God Almighty
be forever blessed," and I left the room.
Such, in brief, are the ways through which God, in His
mercy, called me to pass, in order that I might come to the
full light of His glorious truth.
So far, I have spoken almost exclusively of the external
warfare I had to wage against the representatives of Rome
before I could come to the spring whence flows the pure
water after which my soul was panting.
But the most terrible struggles I had to sustain were
within, in my poor heart, bruised by the great conflict of
moral and spiritual forces, whose issue is always victory of
truth or error, of God or the devil.
I will take my readers in my next chapter to this invisible
battle=field, and I will relate to them what God has done for
my soul.
CHAPTER II
The Light Breaks upon Me. After Much Struggle I Accept Christ and
Eternal Life as a Gift. I Present the Gift to My People Who Likewise
Accept It.
I remained twenty^five years in the Church of Rome as one
of her most devoted priests.
During that whole time I sincerely believed that the Church
of Rome was the only Church of Christ, and I did all in my
power to extend the authority of that Church in America and
other continents.
But when in that Church I had to believe and preach, with
all the priests, that out of the Church of Rome there was no
salvation; and my heart was very sad when, looking upon you,
Protestants, I had to believe that you were all to perish and
go to hell after death.
I thought that my duty was to convert as many Protestants
as I could and bring them into submission to the Pope. It
seemed to me that the best way to persuade the Protestants
to become Roman Catholics was to study the Bible as well as
I could, and challenge your Protestant ministers to a public
discussion in order to prove to you that your ministers do
not know the Holy Scriptures, and that they were deceitful
and ignorant men, and that you ought not to pay any atten-
tion to their teachings, but that you should come to hear the
priests of Rome and accept their doctrines.
With that thought in my mind I studied the Holy Bible
more than the priests of Rome are accustomed to do.
Many times I spent, not only the whole day, but the night,
in studying the pages of the Holy Book, in order that I
might be able to show to the Protestants that they w^ere
deceived by their ministers, and that their duty was to sub-
46
The Breaking In of the Light 47
mit themselves to the Pope of Rome, if they wanted to be
saved
I had a great love and respect for the Holy Scriptures. I
never opened the Holy Book without addressing a fervent
prayer to God to guide me in my study in such a way that I
might be more and more every day a good, a faithful and
a holy priest of Rome.
But, strange to say, I never read the Holy Book without
hearing a secret and mysterious voice, in the bottom of my
soul, troubling my faith, and telling me: "Do you not see
that, in your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word
of God — but you follow and teach the lying traditions of
men!"
That mysterious voice was telling me, "Are you not ashamed
to invoke so many names of saints and angels when your
Gospel tells you so clearly that there is only one name which
must be invoked to be saved?
"Are you not ashamed to say to the Virgin Mary, in your
Breviarium, 'Thou art the only hope of sinners,' when the
Gospel tells you that ' Jesus is the only hope — the only Sav-
iour of the World?'"
One day that mysterious voice spoke to me as the voice of
thunder, after I had said to my people that, after their death,
their souls were to go and spend many years in the flames of
purgatory to be purified from their sins.
"Shame upon you," said the voice, "to speak of a purgatory
of which there is not a word in your Gospel ! "
" Do you not read," said the voice, " that it is only through
the blood of Jesus that the souls of men can be purified?
" Come out! Come out from such a church, where you preach
doctrines absolutely opposed to the teachings of the Holy
Gospel!"
These 'Voices were evidently the voice of my God! But I
had to take them for the voice of the devil, for the Pope was
telling me it was the devil's voice.
When studying the theological books written by St.
48 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Lif^aiori, St. Thomas, and all the other theologians, I had
to believe that my Church of Rome had received from Christ
the right to burn, imprison and kill all the heretics and the
Protestants when she was strong enough to do so. But my
Gospel was telling me with a thundering power that this was
the devirs doctrine, opposed to the Gospel. For Christ had
rebuked His disciples when they wanted to bring fire horn
heaven to punish those who refused to allow Him to go into
their town.
So there was, many times, a great trouble in my soul. For
those two voices were heard; and, to please the Pope and
remain in the Church of Rome, I had constantly to take the
voice of God for that of the devil, and 1 had to accept the
voice of the devil for the voice of my God
Thus it was that, during twenty five years, my God with
His merciful hand was trying to take me away from a false
system of religion. But to obey the Pope I had to resist— I
had to struggle against my God.
But in that long struggle, my God was to be the stronger
—and the blessed day had come when my merciful Saviour
was to come to me as a conqueror, with His mighty
power.
That blessed day, I was alone m my little study room,
reading my Bible, when the voice of my God spoke with such
power that I could not be mistaken.
"Come out! Come out from the Church of Rome!" said
that thundering voice, ''You cannot be saved in that church
where you make your own god every morning, with a piece
of dough ! No man can make his god with his own hands. Did
not Paul say to the Athenians that God could not be made
with gold and silver, or marble? He cannot more be made
with a piece of dough! Come out! Come out from the
Church of Rome!"
Falling on my knees with burning tears rolling down my
cheeks, I was crying to my God: " O my God, if the Church
The Breaking In of the Light 49
of Rome is not Thy Church, where is Thy Church? Where
can I go to be saved? Is it possible, O my God, that the
Church of Rome, so grand, so old! the Church of so many
mighty nations! the Church of my mother! the Church of my
dear country! the Church which has been so good to me, so
high in the eyes of my fellow men, is not Thy Church!
"I beseech Thee, O my God, give me some more rays of
Thy light, that I may see where is Thy Church, and that I
may accept it! "
But for more than one hour I prayed in vain for light!
Instead of light my God was wrapping my trembling soul
with the darkest clouds.
But after more than an hour of the most unspeakable
desolation I felt that my God had heard my humble sup-
plications.
Suddenly before the eyes of my soul there was something
very strange, but marvelously amazing.
It was a light! And in the very midst of that light, my
Saviour was nailed to the cross!
Oh I could not be mistaken! It was my beloved Saviour
which was there! The crown of thorns was on His bleeding
brow — His hands were nailed to the cross — and His body was
covered with bleeding wounds!
And He was coming to me! . . , When very near I
heard His sweet voice telling me:
"My dear friend, I have heard thy cries — I have seen
thy tears, I come to bring thee eternal life as a gift.
"My Father has so much loved thee, that He has sent Me,
His eternal Son Jesus, to save thee by dying on the cross!
"On that cross I have paid thy debts to My eternal Father's
justice, and I have paid them to the last cent!
"On that cross I have asked and obtained thy pardon! On
that cross I have bought for thee an eternal life which I bring
thee, just now, as a gift of My eternal love! Look up and see
the crown of glory I have brought for thee."
5© Forty Years in the Church of Christ
And when my dear Saviour was speaking to me these mar-
velous words, He was giving me grace to understand them as
much as a man can do.
I looked up and I saw, what I hope every one of my readers
will see just now, if you look up with the eyes of your soul.
For the crown was not only for me, it was for everyone of you
also.
Yes, I looked up, and I saw^ with the eyes of my soul, a
crown! But what a rich, what a precious crown!
And on that crown I saw my name written with the blood
of the Lamb!
And my l)eloved Saviour was telling me, "I present thee
that crown as a gift of My love; . . . take it. . . .
The only thing I want from thee is thy faith, thy repentance*
thy love!"
My Saviour said again, " Look up."
And I looked up again, and I saw what every one of you
will see, if, with the eyes of your soul, you look up to Christ.
I saw a throne! But what a glorious throne! No! Never
any mortal king or emperor has sat on such a glorious
throne !
And my name was written on that throne with the blood of
the Lamb! And my beloved Saviour was telling me: "I pre-
sent thee that throne as a gift of My love. I have shed My
blood to the last drop. I died the most horrible death to buy
that throne; . . . take it.
" The only thing I want from you is that you believe in My
love — repent and love Me!"
It was then, that more with my tears of joy than with my
lips, I said to my beloved Saviour:
" Oh, dear Jesus — Precious Gift — how sweet Thy words are
to my heart. Yes, I will love Thee to-day, to-morrow and
forever. . . . Oh! Precious Gift! Beloved Jesus! Come
and abide in my heart to make it pure. Abide in my soul to
fill it with Thy love. Oh! Precious Gift! Dear Jesus, abide
The Breaking In of the Light 51
in me to=day, to-morrow and forever, that I may be one
with Thee the few days I remain in the land of pilgrimage."
To make a long story short, I must tell you, my dear readers,
that I opened, for the first time, the hands of my soul, and
that I took possession of the gift — the precious gift, the
immortal gift, which our eternal God had sent to me!
It is then that, for the first time, I understood that great
mystery of the love of God, which the Pope ignores, and
which is so sadly concealed from the eyes of the honest but
so cruelly deceived Roman Catholics, that eternal life is a
gift. . . .
No human words can tell you the joy of my heart when,
for the first time, I opened the hands of my soul and accepted
the gift, the great gift, the immortal gift.
It was then that, pressing that new Gospel to my heart,
and bathing it with the tears of my joy, I swore that I would
never preach anything but that Gospel, in which I had just
found that eternal life is a gift.
It was then that I said to my dear Saviour, " By offering
me eternal life as a gift, Thou hast forever taken away from
my shoulders the heavy yoke of the Pope. Thou hast saved
me. But I do not want to be saved alone! Save my people.
Grant me ever more to show them that eternal life is a
gift of Thy love; . . . grant me to help them also to break
the heavy and unbearable yoke of the Pope.
"Oh, that my dear people may know, to-morrow, that Jesus
lias saved them! That Jesus has paid their debts, that
Jesus has bought for them an eternal life, on the cross — and
that He wants nothing from them but to repent, believe and
love!"
This marvelous revelation was given to me on a Saturday
afternoon. I spent a sleepless night.
I was too happy to shut my eyes and sleep. When a man
has just received such a gift, how can he forget it and
sleep?
52 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Many times durini? that happy night, with tears of joy, I
said with David: " Oil, my soul, bless the Lord! and let all
that is within me bless His holy name."
The next day was the Lord's day — the weather was splen-
did— and I had never seen so many people in my large
church as on that day.
Addressing them I said in substance:
"French Canadians: — The very night before our adorable
Saviour was to die. He said to His apostles ' I will offend
you this night!'
"Now I just tell you the same thing. I will offend you to*
day. But as the offense which Christ gave to His apostles
has saved the world, I hope that, by His mercy, the offense
which I shall give you to=day shall save you.
" I was a priest of Rome till yesterday — and I was your
pastor — but, yesterday, at about three o'clock in the afternoon,
a new light came to me, and there was an irresistible force in
that light!
" Through that light I have seen clearly that the Pope and
the Church of Rome are the two greatest enemies of Christ
the world has ever seen. Through that fraud I have been
deceived, and I have deceived you. But by the help of God,
yesterday, I have given up the Pope and the Church of
Rome, and I am no more your pastor!"
The last words had hardly gone from my lips, when a cry
of desolation went out from every heart. " Dear Father
Chiniquy! Is it possible that you have left our holy
Church?"
I answered them, "Dear countrymen, I do not come here
to tell you to do the same thing. Do not trouble yo\n'selves
about me, in this solemn hour do not look to me, but look to
Christ alone."
" T did not die on Calvary to save you, I did not shed my
blood to cleanse your souls and buy a crown of glory for
every one of you. But Christ has done it — look to Him and
Him alone in this solemn day!
The Breaking In of the Light ^2
"Will you allow me to tell you why I left the Church of
Rome, yesterday?"
They all answered, "By all means tell us that!"
There was then in the front pew, a most beautiful child
about six months old, in the arms of its happy mother. I
said to the people:
"Look at this beautiful child. See his bright eyes, his
rosy cheeks, his smiling lips! See how he is stretching his
little arms around the neck of his happy mother, to give her
one of his angelic kisses.
"Surely there is life in that child!
" But what has he done to get that life? Has he moved a
straw to get it? Has the Pope of Rome done anything to
give that life to this child? No! that life is a gift of God.
The child has done absolutely nothing to get it. It is a gift
of God. The Pope of Rome has had nothing to do with that
life.
" But if the child could speak and say to his mother: 'Dear
mother, how happy I feel in your arms, how kind and loving
a mother thou art to me. From morning to night thou art
busy with me. It is from thy breast that, many times a day,
I get the life which is in me. What can I do, dear mother,
to show you my gratitude? What do you want from me for
that life which is in me from thee?' What would the mother
answer?
"She would answer: 'Dear child, I want nothing, but a
kiss from thy angelic lips. Press your dear little heart on
mine, that I may feel by its pulses that you love me as much
as I love thee.'
"Mothers, who are here: Is it not the only thing you would
ask from your dear child? "
They all answered, " Yes, sir."
Then I said: " Come with me to the feet of your dying
Saviour, on the cross. . . . Look at His crown of thorns.
. . . See the nails in His hands and his feet — count if
you can the bleeding wounds — hear the agonizing cry,
54 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
'Father, Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' See the
horrible death! And then ask your Saviour: 'Why that
crown of thorns on Thy head? Why those nails in Thy
hands and feet? Why those bleeding wounds? Why that
horrible death on the cross?' And He will answer, ' To buy
you an eternal life! '
" But ask Him again, ' What do you want from me for that
eternal life which you buy at such a price?'
"And He will answer: ' I want nothing but your hearts
and your love! That eternal life is a gift I offer you.'
"Now, if you go to the Pope and his priests and ask them:
'What must we do to be saved?' They will tell you -you
must go and confess your sins to a priest, very often more
guilty than yourself; you must abstain from eating meat all
Fridays and Saturdays, and many other days of the year;
you must gain or buy indulgences; pray to the Virgin Mary,
to the saints, to the angels; . . . you must go into the
flames of purgatory or give a great deal of money to get out
of them.'
" But all those things are deceitful human inventions.
"For what did our dear Saviour answer to the young man
who asked him what he had to do to have eternal life? Did
He speak of Auricular Confession in His answer? Did He
speak of abstaining from meat, of indulgences, of purgatory?
" No! He left those inventions and deceptions to the Pope.
Our Saviour answered, that day, what He answers you, to-day,
in His Gospel. For He has not changed His religion or His
doctrine. He answered, 'To be saved, my young friend,
you have nothing to do but to love My Father, who has so
much loved you that He has sent Me, His eternal Son Jesus,
to save you. Love your neighbour. Repent, believe in Me;
invoke My name, and you are saved; eternal life is a gift.' "
For more than one hour I spoke of the gift. I showed its
greatness, its value, its beauty.
I soon saw that I was not alone speaking of the gift. My
beloved Saviour was with me in His spirit. For my people
The Breaking In of the Light 55
were beside themselves with admiration and joy when hear-
ing, for the first time, of that marvelous gift.
And when I asked them: "Who will give up the Pope to
follow Christ, among you? Who will give up the debasing
and so costly religion of the Pope to accept the religion of
the Gospel of Christ who offers you eternal life as a gift?"
Without a single exception they were all on their feet.
The heavy, unbearable yoke of the Pope was forever
broken and rejected.
CHAPTER III,
My dear Bible Continues to lift Me up above tlie Dark Atmosphere of Ro-
manism. The First Publication of the Holy Scriptures in Canada.
The Christian render of this humble volume will never
understand the mercies of God towards its author if he does
not remember that from infancy, through a miraculous
providence, I was raised in the respect and love of the Holy
Scriptures.
It is only by reading my first volume, " Fifty Years in the
Church of Rome," that they will appreciate that fact, and
that they will help me to praise the Lord for His infinite
mercies.
When a priest of Rome, I never could reconcile myself
with the restrictions put by the Popes and the councils on
the reading of the Divine Messages of God to man through
the Holy Bible, and I availed myself of the first opportunity
I had to express my mind publicly on that subject.
For time and eternity I will bless my God for having
graiitt'd me the favour of persuading the Bishops of Quebec
to publish an edition of the Holy Gospels for the use of our
countrymen.
In my daily conversations with the priests, I had brought
many of them to my views by showing them that the very
barriers put between the people and the Holy Scriptures
would give to the Divine Book the irresistible attractions of
a forhiddi'U fruit, and that, sooner or later, our countrymen
would ask and receive from the Protestant Colporteurs those
very liibleK which we were refusing them.
During the four years stay in the city of Quebec, before
my being appointed curate of Beauport, I had golden oppor-
tunities of being acquainted with all the priests of the dio-
6G
First Publication ot the Scriptures in Canada 57
cese, and those opportunities had been multiplied, when
curate of Beauport, by my going to almost every parish to
establish the societies of temperance.
As I was constantly gaining the minds of the priests to
those views, my hope was increasing every day, that the hour
was approaching fast when we would pull down the granite
walls which past ages had put between our people and the
inspired Book. That blessed opportunity was to come sooner
than I expected.
The French Revolution of 1830, which ruined Charles X.,
had forced his cousin, Archbishop Forbin Janson, one of his
principal ministers, to leave France and come to Canada. I
felt at once that, if I could enlist his influence in favour of my
schemes of temperance and of the diffusion of the Gospel
among our people, 1 would more easily remove the obstacles
which were before us for this triumph. Having completely,
though secretly, at first, persuaded him to help me to fight
the demon of intemperance, I opened to him my mind about
the desire I had to see the Gospel of Christ read in every
family of our dear Canada.
He answered me: " This is a very delicate question; I can-
not take upon myself to initiate it, or to urge it upon the
minds of the venerable Bishops who rule the Church of
Canada, but if I am consulted by them on that matter, I will
not conceal my mind. In my diocese of Nancy where our
Catholics are mixed, as yours are here, with Protestants, we
have found it impossible to prevent them from having access
to the Bible. We have allowed them the Catholic versions,
but with the Commentaries approved by the Church."
In the year 1841, after having blessed the column of tem-
perance which I had erected at Beauport as a public memo-
rial of the marvelous change wrought by that society among
my people, that remarkable Bishop was asked to preach a
retreat (a revival) to the priests of the diocese of Quebec.
Nearly 150 attended the exercises of those religious meet-
ings in the Seminary of Quebec.
58 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
This offerttl the polden opportunity for which I was
lookint;: since the day I was ordained a prirst. The very
first day of that retreat I wrote a short and respectful address
to the Bishop, to which I had secured the si^juatures of all
the youn^ priests to the number of nearly one hundred.
In that petition we were simply asking our ecclesiastical
superiors if the time had not come when we could safely put
the Holy Gospels, with the best commentaries, approved of
by the Church, into the hands of our people.
Though at first the Bishop seemed to be taken by surprise,
and a little embarrassed, he received us kindly, but with the
condition that this grave subject should be discussed in one
of our public meetings, and that every one of his priests
should be allowed to give his own views thereon.
It was just what we wanted. As I had been selected to
write the petition I was also selected to open the debate,
which I did in the following words, which I have kept, and
which I give here: —
• My Lord, — Venerable Brethren:
"After the sending of His eternal Son, Jesus, to save
us by dying on the cross, our great and merciful God has
never presented to the poor sinful children of Adam greater
proof of His Divine love and mercy than by giving them His
Gospel.
" But as Jesus Christ was to be the Saviour of every one
who would accept Him, so the Gospel was to be the light —
the guide — the bread of life of every one who would ac-
cept it.
" As every man has a divine right to go to Christ personally,
and as that right cannot be taken away by any church au-
thority, so every man has the divine right to hear or
to read the Word of God, when it is presented or spoken to
him.
" As it was a crime on the part of the priests of Jerusalem
to prevent the people from receiving Him, so I consider it
would be a crime for me and for every one of us to prevent
First Publication of the Scriptures in Canada 59
our people from reading the Word of God — the Gospel of
Christ — when they wish to have that privilege."
I had hardly finished that sentence, when I was furiously
interrupted by several old priests, who were at the right
hand of the Bishop. "This is Protestantism; this is the
doctrine of Luther and Calvin! " they all cried at the tip top
of their voices. I asked the protection of the chair (the
Bishop) against these interruptions and insults.
" Let my venerable opponents allow me to finish my short
address, I said, and they will see that I am neither a Prot-
estant nor a Luther. This interruption at the beginning of
my address was as unfair as it is unchristian. If I say
anything wrong, the venerable fathers who have interrupted
me will have the opportunity of showing my errors. But is
it not a sure indication that they find their position illogical,
unchristian, when they show such a fear lest we discuss it?"
Then the Grand Vicar Demers (who had several times
been the Superior of the Seminary of Quebec), advancing
two or three steps towards me, and pointing his finger to my
face, answered with a furious voice: "Mr. Chiniquy, you are
a heretic, and a new Luther. You trample under your feet
the decrees of the Holy Council of Trent. That Holy Coun-
cil absolutely forbids the reading of the Scriptures in the
vernacular tongue of the people, and you want us to help
you in that heretical work! And you are so daring as to
promulgate such a doctrine in our presence without allowing
us to protest against your errors!"
" My Lord," I said, " Please allow me to answer at once the
venerable Superior of the Seminary of Quebec:
" I know very well that the Holy Council of Trent has put
strange and deplorable restrictions on the reading of the Holy
Scriptures not only by the people, but by the priests also.
However, I am not here to condemn the ecumenical council
or to invite you to revolt against its authority, as I am ac-
cused, but let me respectfully ask you, my lord, and through
you this whole venerable assembly, to remember the circum-
5o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
stance and the times of the Council of Trent. Luther, Cal-
vin, Zwingle and a thousand other heretics had raised a
storm against our Holy Catholic Church such as the world
had nt'Vt'r seen. Tin* spotless sails of the sacred ship were
torn into fragments by th«' hurricane.
"The roaring and furious billows of the raging sea were
striking the sacred ship from every side and even more than
in the terrible storm spoken of by St. Luke, — Christ seemed
to sleep and let the storm rage. . . . Whole nations had
been swept away from the deck, and many more were threat-
ened to disappear under the roaring billows.
*' What was to be done in that supreme hour of anguish and
peril?
" Have you not heard what is often done in the midst of
destructive hurricanes, by the fearless and skilful mariners, to
save the ship? Do they not throw overboard many of the
most precious i^arts of the cargo in those hours of peril?
" Is it because they find those objects bad in themselves or
because they have a peculiar detestation of them, they throw
them overboard? No.
" It is often the contrary; they often throw overboard what
they consider the most precious part of the cargo, the very
objects they love the most. But do you not know what more
than once the honest and intrepid captain with his fearless
crew have done after the storm was over and the ship was
saved ?
" Have you not seen them, after, going back to the place
where they had been so near to perish to pick up as many as
they could of the precious objects and treasures they had
thrown overboard? And when they had picked up and saved
as much as they could of the precious objects which were yet
seen floating on the surface of the calmed waters, have you
not seen them making for the port of safety? And did they
not bless God for having given them the opportunity of
wrenching from the raging waves the very objects they had
thrown overboard to obey the laws of a cruel necessity?
First Publication of the Scriptures in Canada 6i
" My lord, and my venerable and dear brother priests
There is no use of shutting our eyes to the sad realities of our
present condition. We cannot read the history of the Coun-
cil of Trent without shedding tears on the precious and
sacred things thrown overboard to save the ship in those days
of furious storms.
" I am not here to criticise and condemn the pilots and the
illustrious, learned fathers of the Council of Trent. Nay, my
tongue be forever silent and mute rather than condemn the
holy men who were manning the sacred ship in those stormy
days! Nay, my right hand be paralyzed if it is raised in
condemnation against them.
'•But now that the dear Saviour, as when on the furious sea
of Samaria, has awoke from His mysterious sleep; now that
He has stopped the raging waves and bidden the storm to
cease, is it not the duty of every one of us who are forming
the crew engaged by the Master to man the ship; is it not
our duty to revisit the sea, when it is calmed, to pick up and
save some of the precious things which are still floating
around us, before they entirely disappear from our sight, and
forever sink under the treacherous waves? "
The last words had hardly fallen from my lips when a burst
of applause from the great majority of my hearers told me
that I had touched the right chords of their intelligence.
But it was easy to see that the old priests, for the greater
part, were still furious against me. However, not feeling
hampered by their visible ill-will, I continued:
" My lord, among the precious and divine things thrown
overboard in those days of trouble, which we must try to
save is the unquestionable right which every Christian has to
read the Holy Scriptures and interpret them according to his
own honest conscience, guided by the Holy Ghost who is
never refused to those who ask Him.
" For instance, who among us would dare to say that the
admirable Epistle of Paul to the Romans was not the prop-
erty of every Christian of Rome? Had not every Christian
62 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of Romo the ri^ht t(i read and keep that letter thirty years
after the death of Christ? And where do we find an
authority to say that any council liad the ri.tjjht to take away
that Epistle from the hands of the Christians of Rome in
those days?
"How could that letter, sent by the Apostle Paul as bread
of life to the Romans of his time, be considered such a
deadly poison by his successor, Paul IV., that it would be
absolutely forbidden to taste it to=day by the same people of
Rome?
" Are we really determined to continue to say to our people
that that Saint Paul, who was so visibly guided by the Spirit
of God had not common sense enough to write a letter to
that people which they could understand? Can we find a
single word in that letter of Paul to give us to understand
that the people of Rome could not make use of their own
personal intelligence and conscience, but that they had to
borrow the intellect and conscience of their neighbour to
understand him?
"What I say of the admirable Epistle of Paul to the
Romans. I say of all tlie Scriptures. I thank God that I am
a Catholic priest. I would not exchange the honour and the
privileges of that title for all the gold and silver in the world.
I do not revolt against our holy Church; I do not condemn
the fathers of the Council of Trent for having done what they
did to save the ship in the dark hours of the most terrible
hurricane.
"But now our magnificent ship is sailing on a calm sea. Is
it not the time to take again on deck the untold spiritual, in-
tellectual, moral and Divine treasures, which Christ has
brought from heaven to save the world?
" Ah! I wish my feeble voice could go all over the world and
be heard by all those whom the dear Saviour had redeemed
in }Iis blood and who havi' accepted Him as their only hope,
their only joy, their only life for time and eternity! Let
them be called consecrated priests of the Lamb, or the
First Publication of the Scriptures in Canada 6^
redeemed of the Lamb, it is the same in my mind. To every
one of them I would say: ' Is it not time to enter again into
the inheritance of the treasures we have lost? Is it not
time to hold in our own hands and press to our bosoms
the untold treasures which the Son of God has given us in
the Gospel?'
" For remember this, the day you have sworn or promised
in any way not to interpret it according to your own intelli-
gence, your own conscience, guided by the Spirit and the
grace of God, that Divine Book is an empty cistern; it is a
cistern without water, it is water without substance, without
taste, without life.
"You have not forgotten, my lord, that when I was or-
dained a priest, you asked me to make a most solemn prom-
ise, in the presence of God and His people, that I would
never interpret the Holy Scriptures according to my own in-
telligence, conscience and common sense.
"With my hand on the Holy Bible, you made me swear that
I would interpret it only according to the unanimous consent
of the holy fathers,
" Now, I solemnly and respectfully ask your lordship to
answer me: If I am too stupid, too ignorant, too much
deprived of Christian intelligence to understand St. Matthew,
St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John when speaking to me in the
name of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, how can I be intelligent
enough to understand Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, etc.,
who are infinitely more obscure?
"Please, my lord, tell us, if St. John, St. Luke, St. Peter, St.
Paul, etc., have not received from my God the light, the
grace to speak to me in an intelligent way, when surely filled
with the Holy Ghost, how is it that Origen, Justice, Clement,
etc., have surely received from my God, a degree of lucidity
and clearness refused to His ambassadors. His apostles and
His evangelists?
" If I cannot rely on my own private judgment and con-
science when studying, with the help of God, the Divine pages
64 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of the Bible, how can I rely on that private judgment when
studying the holy fathers?
"If you answer ino that I have nothing else but my private
judgment and intelligence to read, understand, and follow
the holy fathers, how is it that I shall be lost if I make use
of that same private judgment when I am at the feet of my
Saviour, Jesus Christ, listening to His eternal and life=giving
words?
" Nothing distresses me so much in our holy religion as this
want of contidence in God when we go to our Saviour's feet
to hear or read His soul=saving words, and our so perfect self=
confidence, when we go among sinful and fallible men, even
called holy fathers, to know what they say,
" Would it be possible that, in our holy church, the Word of
God means uncertainty, darkness, night, death; and the
words of men light and life?
" When you, our venerable Bishop, did put the Holy Scrip-
tures into my hands and commanded me to study and preach
them, I understood what you meant, and I promised to do it
with my best ability with the help of God. You gave me a
most sublime work to perform, and by the grace of God, my
whole life shall be consecrated to it. But when you ordered
me to swear that I would never interpret the Holy Scriptures
except according to the unanimous consent of the holy fa-
thers, have you not forced me to be a perjured man by
swearing to a thing which I could not do! Have you not
made me, with every priest here, swear to do a thing as
ridiculous and impossible as to take the moon into my hands!
" For it is very probable that there are not two chapters of
that Divine Book on which there have not been some differ-
ences of views among the holy fathers. The writings of the
holy fathers fill at least 200 volumes in folio, and it would
re(|uire mon> than ten years to know on what text they are
unanimously of the same mind, and on what texts they differ.
"If, after that time of study, I find that they are unanimous
on the question of orthodoxy on which I have to preach, all
First Publication of the Scriptures in Canada 65
will be right with me, I will walk to the gates of eternity
with a fearless heart. But if among fifty holy fathers there
are forty=nine on one side and one of opposite views, in what
awful distress I will be plunged! I shall be like a ship in a
stormy night, after losing her mast, her sails, her compass
and her helm! I shall be lost!
"If I were allowed to follow the majority there would
always be a plank of safety to secure me from the impending
wreck. But my oath, my terrible oath, has tied me and every
one of you, my venerable brethren, to the unanimity. If our
faith and the doctrine we preach is not that of unanimity, we
are perjured, lost men!
"What a frightful alternative is put before us by that
strange oath!
"The holy prophet, speaking of the Word of God, tells us:
' Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a liglit unto my path.'
(Ps. 119:105.) But what are we doing with that Divine
lamp and that bright and precious light?
" We put it under the bushel that it may not be seen ! We
are sworn to ignore and deny its power and authority. ' I am
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,' said Paul, ' for it is
the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth.'
(Kom, 1:16.)
" But, by our conduct, do we not really make the people be-
lieve that ' The Gospel is the power of the devil to damn the
world?'
"Not only we prevent our people from having any access to
the Divine Book, but we violently take it from their hands and
destroy it under their eyes when we have opportunity to do it.
" By my advice, two years before I was curate of Beauport,
four of the principal families of that parish had purchased, in
Quebec, as many Bibles of Sacy, approved by the Cardinal
Archbishop of Paris,
" But my predecessor, Rev. Begin, who is just sitting here,
at my right hand, having heard of it, went, without an hour
of delay, wrenched the sacred volumes from their hands, and
66 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
threw them into the fire, in the presence of the whole family.
" What we respectfully ask from you is, not only to put an
end to these sacrilej^ious acts, but to show our love and
respect for the holy Gospel by giving it to our people with
the commentaries approved by the Church.
"It is evident that the fathers of the Council of Trent made
those stringent laws against the reading of the Holy Scrip-
tures almost in spite of themselves — with the understanding
that those restrictions were deplorable things, and only to be
in force for a short period of time. They wisely gave to
every Bishop the right and power to destroy those barriers
and to restore the natural right the people had to the Holy
Book when they find it advisable.
" Then, it is not a revolt against the holy council we de-
mand, it is only a favour which the holy council has allowed
your lordship to grant, that we demand, in allowing a Cana-
dian edition of the Gospel. And, relying on the zeal, the
piety and the high Christian intelligence of our Bishop, it is
our firm hope that he will grant us that favour."
The way my address had been received by the great ma-
jority gave us the assurance that the God of the GosjDel was
on my side. Rev. Grand Vicar Demers, ex=President of the
Seminary of Quebec, was the only one who tried to refute
me. But he did not dare to touch a single one of my argu-
ments. His address consisted in the hundred times repeated
prophecy that Mr. Chiniquy, the young curate of Beauport,
would soon become a Protestant if he were not yet one.
Thanks be to God, he was a good prophet.
Rev. Charles Baillargeon, then curate and some years later
Bishop of Quebec, defended my position and in a splendid
address on the right of the people to read the Scriptures, he
clostxl the discussion.
When the votes were taken, only five dared to oppose us.
The victory was complete. The Bishop at once named a
committee to prepare the first Canadian Edition of the New
Testament which was not finished until 1846.
CHAPTER IV
The Diarkest Hour of the Night Before the Bright Rays of the Day
The 10th day of January, 1846, the large parlour of the Right
Rev. Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, was filled by a great num-
ber of priests, to whom he said, in substance, " I have in-
vited you here to ask your advice on a most important and
sad subject.
" You all know the efforts made recently by the Protestants
to destroy the faith of our dear people. At first, their per-
fidious and underground work was so universally looked upon
with horror by our countrymen that we hoped we had noth-
ing to fear from those miserable apostles of error and irre-
ligion.
" But to-day a dark and threatening cloud is in the very
heart of one of our most interesting parishes.
" I have just learned that more than fifty young boys and
girls, all children of our Catholic families, have been entered
into the Protestant college of La Pointe aux Trembles at the
very door of Montreal.
"If, every year, those fifty or sixty young men and girls
poisoned by the errors and impieties of Protestantism are
sent back from that school into the midst of our honest but
illiterate population, who cannot see that they will scatter the
poison of heresy and Protestantism into hundreds, even
thousands of families of our good but so unlearned country
people ? Every one of those perverted boys and girls will be
like sparks of fire which will soon be spread all over our dear
Canada, and cause the ruin of our holy Church.
" We must not lose a moment in extinguishing those threat-
ening sparks of fire.
67
68 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" It was to ask you the help of your wisdom on the best way
of couuteracting the first efforts of those heretics that I have
invitt'd you to meet here to day."
As I had been working then only a few months in the
diocese of Montreal, I felt that my duty was to let my elder
priests give their views and I kept silent, listening to what
was said, for more than an hour. Then the Bishop told me,
" Dear Father Chiniquy, though you have been among us only
a few months, you have worked four years within the city of
Quebec, four other years in the grand parish of Beauport,
and as long in the still more important parish of Kamou-
raska.
"In every one of those places, I know that you have met a
great many Protestants, and I have even learned from the
Bishop of Quebec that you have laboured with such zeal and
success among those heretics that you have persuaded ninety-
three of them to give up their errors and submit themselves
to the holy Church. We want the benefit of your experience.
We would like to know your views about the best way of
paralyzing the efforts of the Protestants in their diabolical
project of spreading their errors in the midst of our dear
Catholic people." Though this request took me by surprise,
I was pleased with it. No words can give an idea of the preju-
dices, the contempt, nay the hatred which my theological
studies, and my personal natural wickedness had accumulated
in my mind against Protestants from the very day I had
entered the college of Nicolet to that very hour of the 20th of
January, 1850.
Though I am ashamed to do it, I really think it is my
duty to confess that I was hating with a supreme hatred
every English man and woman, for the simple reason that
they were Protestants.
Such was, in the days of my youth, the impressions of the
education given in the family, in the schools and in the col-
leges, that every Protestant was looked upon by me as a mon-
ster, born enemy of ray religion, of my God and my country.
Darkness Before the Dawn 69
The books I had read, the lessons of my teachers in the col-
lege, and of my theologians in the Seminaries were all con-
verging to the same result. These dark, infamous and dia-
bolical sentiments made such an impression on my young mind,
that, to=day, I am still filled with disgust and horror against my
teachers as against myself when I think of them.
Under the full pressure of those sentiments I reminded
the Bishop that the dangers ahead for our dear country and
our holy Church were greater than many suspected. I added,
"This is a war to death between those infamous heretics and
our holy Church. It is a hand to hand battle, every one of us
has to fight against those soldiers of hell if we want to save
our country. In all her councils and through all her theolo-
gians of our holy Church, has she not forbidden us to have any
communication with the heretics? Has not our holy Church
told us that we must deal with them as with wolves which
cross our fields to devour our lambs and our sheep? Does
not our Jure Canonico tell us that it is not a sin to kill them,
when we have our opportunity? What can I say on our
duties and rights in reference to those miserable ambassadors
of hell which you do not know?
" Let every one of you listen to the word of his intelligence
as well as to the voice of our Church about the best way of
saving our dear Catholic people from the jaws of those roar-
ing lions. I will say please let me go and preach to the peo-
ple of La Pointe aux Trembles three or four days. Give me
carte blanche to act and fight in my own way against those
miserable ambassadors of hell, and, with the help of the
blessed Virgin Mary, I will give you a good account of my
humble efforts against them. My hope is that after those
three or four days of crossing the sword with those ignorant
and fanatical followers of Luther and Calvin, we shall not
have much to fear from them."
My short address was received with the most frantic ap-
plause from the whole assembly.
After a few approving remarks, Bishop Bourget told me,
yo Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" Go, and reuinin not only three days, but much longer, if you
wish to confound and pulverize those heretics. We will pray
the Virj^'in IMnry and St. John the Baptist, the patron Saint
of Canada, to help you. But be prudent, do not expose your-
self in any way which might put you in the hands of the
law.
" Do not forget that our misfortune is that we are a con-
quered people ruled by Protestant England, and we have no
fair play nor any justice to expect from those heretics."
A week later I WJis the guest of the curate of La Pointe aux
Trembles, who at the demand of his Bishop, had invited me
to deliver a course of three days lectures to his people against
Protestants.
During the next three days the church of La Pointe aux
Trembles was crowded to its utmost capacity, not only by
the people of that parish, but by hundreds from the neighbour-
ing parishes who wanted to know what I had to say against
the Siriss, as the first French Protestants used to be called in
Canada, because, likely, some of the first missionaries were
Swiss.
My memory and my mind were stuifed in a marvelous way
with all the ridiculous, abominable, diabolical lies jjublished
against Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, etc., and against all those
who had accepted their reforms.
All those lies and calumnies were sincerely believed by me
as Gospel truth (as they are generally believed even to=day by
the priests of Rome). I gave them to the people with all the
epithets and expressions of contempt and wrath that fanatical
and blind zeal could inspire me.
My readers would hardly believe me to day were I to tell
them the historical lies which I gave those poor people as
Gospel truth.
For instance, I told them how the Protestants of France,
after having slaughtered thousands and thou.'^ands of defense-
less priests, nuns and honest farmers, had sold their country
to English Protestants who were coming to cover France
Darkness Before the Dawn 71
with blood and ruin, if the good, honest, peaceful, French
Catholics had not been forced in self=defense to slaughter
those bloody and treacherous Protestants in the St. Barthol-
omew night.
For, let the Protestants of Canada and the whole world
know that this is one of the Romish historical lies and calum-
nies invented by the Jesuits, and accepted as Gospel truth
by the great majority of the Roman Catholics.
" Look at the miserable heretics," I said to the people,
" how they look peaceful, charitable, humble, to=day. Their
voice is like the voice of the dove in their manners when
they visit with you with their falsified Bible under their
arms; they look like lambs. But let them grow in number,
and they will do here what they did in France, England,
Scotland, wherever they are strong enough: they will turn
your houses and your churches into ashes, and they will
slaughter you to take possession of your beautiful farms, if
you dare to resist them! "
Really, the devil had taken possession of me, when I was
proclaiming those horrible Jesuitical lies, which I believed
then very sincerely.
For, let the Protestants who read these lines remember that
this is the history as the Jesuits and the greater part of the
Roman Catholic writers have given it.
What could be the feelings of my poor countrymen after
three days of such horrible historical lies given them with a
burning zeal by a priest in whom they had confidence?
Shall I tell it again? Yes! The devil had really taken
possession of my heart. I was breathing nothing but hatred,
vengeance and death against those defenseless and humble
ministers of the Gospel. My hope was that I would make
the ground so hot under their feet, in that parish and every-
where in Canada, that they could not dwell any longer in our
land.
The last address was hardly finished the third day, when I
saw five or six of those humble and zealous ministers of the
72 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Gospel, or colporteurs, who had patiently and brav<^ly at-
tended all my meeting's, with their Bibles in their hands,
coming' to meet and challenge me to have a discussion with
them, promisinj^ to refute me before my people.
I was overjoyed when I heard them challenfi^ing me to a
public disc-ussion. It was just the trap in which my hope
was that they would fall.
Instead of accepting their challenge, I turned towards the
multitude, that had just come out of the church, — and I said:
" Do you not see those miserable heretics, who come to chal-
lenge and insult you and me, at the very door of your church?
Why do you not give them a lesson which they will never
forget?"
A thought had evidently come from hell into my heart, in
that hour, the darkest of my life.
I do not like to confess it, but I must. The intelligent
reader understands that my intention was to have them so
cruelly beaten, that they would either die there, on the spot,
or be so cruelly treated that they would run away from the
place, never to come again.
My cruel and cowardly intention was so well understood by
the multitude that the words had hardly fallen from my lips,
when forty or fifty young men, like furious tigers, threw
themselves on those few defenseless men, and struck them
without mercy.
In a moment their clothes were torn into rags, and their
bruised and bleeding bodies were rolling in the snow, which
was two or three feet deep on the ground. Very soon the
sncw was reddened with the blood of several of them.
With a word of my lips or a movement of my finger I
could have put a stop to that horror.
But, alas, I was a true, a devoted priest of Rome!
The blood of those heretics was the most pleasant tiling I
had ever seen!
I was saying to myself, " Surely if they are not killed they
Darkness Before the Dawn 73
will run away, never to come again!" Very probably they
would have been killed there, if the God of the Gospel had not
come to the help of His heroic messengers.
A noble Roman Catholic French Canadian farmer, moved
with compassion at the horrible spectacle which was before
his eyes, cried out, " It is a shame to beat so cruelly defense-
less men — I cannot bear that."
Then quick as lightning, throwing his coat and overcoat
on the snow, he struck the nearest of the would-be murderers
with his terrible fist, and sent him rolling down bleeding in
the snow.
In less time than I can say it, he had applied his terrible
fist on the bleeding noses or the blackened eyes of half a
dozen of his cruel and mistaken Roman Catholic countrymen.
And who will not praise the Lord with me, to-day, when I
say that this heroic action was applauded by most of the
people? The wounded and bleeding, but heroic, servants of
Christ were at once left free to pick up their ragged clothing
and run back as fast as possible to their lodgings.
Then, falling on their knees (as I learned ten years later
from their own lips), they raised their supplicating hands to
the Mercy Seat, and said to the dear Saviour as much with
their blood as with their lips, " Dear Saviour, Thou seest our
bruised bodies and bleeding wounds, and Thou knowest the
one who has caused us to suffer as we do. We beseech Thee,
look down on him in Thy mercy. Show him the error of
his ways. Give him the saving light of the Gospel, that he
may know and love Thee as his only Saviour; change that
stone of the wilderness into a child of Abraham. Grant him
to see the ignominious chains which tie him to the feet of the
idols of Rome, that he may come with us to invite his poor
Canadian countrymen to accept Thee as their only hope and
Saviour for time and eternity."
And, blessed be the Lord, the prayers of those modern and
heroic martyrs were heard at the Mercy Seat.
74 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
There has never been any doubt in my mind about the fact
that, in the admirable providence of God, I owe my conver-
sion to tlie fervent prayers of these six humble but admirable
Christians, who had been so cruelly beaten at my instigation
in January, 1850, at the door of the Church of Pointe aux
Trembles.
The ni^'ht after I had committed that criminal and shame-
ful act, was spout in the parsonage of Longueil where I used,
then, to reside with my intimate friend. Rev. Mr. Brassard.
It was a sleepless night.
I was hardly in my bed when a voice more terrible than the
roar of thunder was crying within my soul: "Are you not
ashamed of what you have done to-day? Though by a real
miracle those defenseless and honest men have not been
killed, the blood they have lost, the cruel wounds they have
received, cry for vengeance to God against you."
To silence those voices and excuse myself in my own eyes,
I rose three or four times to read the theological books of my
church and see again what she was teaching about the right
of the Roman Catholics to persecute the Protestants.
I read in St. Thomas Aquinas, Vol. 4, page 99, that not only
we should " not tolerate them, but that we must deliver them
into the hands of the secular j^ower to be exterminated."
When reading these doctrines of the best and most approved
theologians of my church, which were unanimous in assur-
ing me that the heretics have no right to live, I persuaded
myself that, after all, I had not committed any sin, when
only beating men whom we had the right to kill.
It was then, that, for the first time, I heard a new voice
within my soul which caused me unspeakable distress from
that night to the day of my conversion.
" Do you not see that in your Church of Rome you do not
follow the Word of God, but you follow the lying traditions
of men?" It was for the first time in my life that the sugges-
tion of leaving the Church of Rome had come to me with
great force.
Darkness Before the Dawn 75
There was no doubt in my mind bivt that all the powers of
hell were combined for my perdition. I fell on my knees
and prayed to God to silence these voices which were shak-
ing my faith. From the bottom of my heart I swore I would
live and die in the Church of Rome, out of which (I sincere-
ly believed, then ) there was no salvation.
But, to prove to myself again that I had done well to get
those heretics punished, and that my holy Church was right
to teach us to hate, maltreat and even kill them, I took my
Bible, with the hope of finding some of the texts which
would prove to me that such were the teachings of the Scrip-
ture. Where can I find words to express my surprise and
emotion when, on opening the Divine Book, my eyes fell on
these words in Luke, Chapter 9:
"And it came to pass, when the time was come that He
should be received up. He steadfastly set His face to go to
Jerusalem, And sent messengers before His face; and they
went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make
ready for Him. And they did not receive Him because His
face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. And when
His disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt
Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned, and rebuked
them, and said. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives but to
save them." I had hardly finished reading this last sentence
when as formidable a thunderclap as I ever heard, before or
since, struck the ears of my soul, saying, "Do you not see that
in your Church of Rome you do not follow the Word of God
but the lying traditions of men? Where do your Popes and
theologians find the right to punish, beat, imprison and kill
the heretics, when Christ says the very contrary? "
What could I answer to my troubled conscience when hear-
ing those awful rebukes from the very lips of Christ? I felt
stunned and more than ever confounded. While sitting at
the breakfast table the next morning, Rev. Mr. Brassard told
76 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
me; "Your eyes are swollen as if you had spent the night in
tears . . . What does that mean?" "You are not mis-
taken when you think that I have wept, last night," I an-
swered. "I have just passed through the most dreadful hours
of my life. The cruel beating of those poor defenseless men
has como to my mind and conscience under such colours
all night, that I am really horrified at myself. In order to
silence the voice of my guilty conscience I left my bed
several times to read the pages of our most approved and learned
theologians. Of course I have found them unanimous in
telling me that the heretics are not worthy to live, that they
have no rights which we are bound to respect, that it is the
duty of the Catholic Church to deliver them into the hands
of the secular power to be exterminated, that it is forbidden
to speak to them, to work with them, or encourage them in
any way.
" In your volume of Jure Canonico I have read again, that,
not only is it not a sin to kill a Protestant, but that such a
holy action gives the assurance of the pardon of all his sins
to the murderer. More than that I have found that the kill-
ing of a Protestant by a Catholic is not murder. But this
has not silenced the cry of my conscience.
" But to my unspeakable confusion my eyes have fallen on
the ninth chapter of Luke, where our Saviour is absolutely in
opposition to the doctrines and practises of our church on
that subject. Then a voice more terrible than that of a
hurricane had shaken my very frame, when crying in my ears,
' D(^ you not see that in your Church of Rome you do
not follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions of
men?'
" What could I answer when my conscience was telling me
that this was the truth, the sad truth! But how can I picture
to you my distress and desolation, when it seemed to me that
God Himself with all His angels was crying to me: 'Come
out, come out from that Church of Rome, whose hands are
Darkness Before the Dawn 77
reddened with the blood of ten millions of men she has
slaughtered to establish her power over this enslaved, blind,
perishing world.' "
Mr. Brassard answered me: "My dear Chiniquy, with the
hope, nay, the assurance, that you will never betray me, I
must tell you that there are many things in our poor Church
of Rome which I cannot believe; for they look to me not
only against the teachings of the Grospel, but against common^
sense. The right which our Church assumes to command
the civil power to hang, burn, torture and kill the heretics
cannot come from Christ. I am always struck with sorrow
when I read the bloody pages of our Church history, which
tell us how she has filled her dungeons with not thousands,
but millions of honest men and women, and where they were
starved to death or had to suffer tortures which would have
horrified the savages of our forests. It is a fact that our
Church has put to death millions of Protestants, because they
could not believe certain doctrines which they, wisely or un-
wisely (God only knows), thought contrary to the Scriptures.
To my mind and conscience, this is such a dark spot on the
face of our Church that all the waters of our vast rivers and
bottomless oceans cannot wash it away.
"I tell you my mind, my dear Chiniquy, far from admiring
or approving you, when yesterday you told me how you had
caused those brave and honest (though mistaken) Protes-
tants to be so cruelly beaten, I silently condemned you from
the bottom of my heart.
^' Continue to spread your admirable views on temperance,
but let the Protestants alone. Convert them if you can,
with scriptural arguments, but give up forever the idea that
we Roman Catholics have any right to beat them or shed
their blood, because they cannot see many things just as
we do.''
When uttering these last words, the voice of my noble
friend was trembling, yes, there were tears in his eyes, and,
78 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
uniiblo to conceal his emotion, he abruptly left the table and
ran to his room.
This friendly rebuke found such an echo in my troubled
conscience that I remained speechless, and then I also took
to my priest's room. Leaving the table, I retired with the
words rimming in my soul:
" Do you not see that in your Church of Rome you do not
follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions of men?'
CHAPTER V
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago. Auricular Confession
Many are the opportunities we have had to understand
what Paul felt, w^hen, in a vision, he heard the cry from
Macedonia, " Come and help us." Hundreds of times we
have heard that cry coming from Chicago to New York;
from New York to San Francisco; from San Francisco to the
Sandwich Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Eng-
land, Scotland, Ireland, and more than five hundred towns
and cities in the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape
Breton, etc.
Several large volumes would not suffice to tell the interest-
ing episodes, the narrow escapes, the sorrows as well as the
joys of our heart, when, to answer that cry, we had to pass
through the most crushing humiliations, or we had to rejoice
at the great triumphs of the Gospel over its implacable
enemy, Popery, in those different places these last forty years.
The first Macedonian cry, after our conversion, was from
Chicago.
There was then, in that city, a French Canadian, by the
name of Ducharme, keeping a very resjiectable hotel. A
Roman Catholic by birth and education, his faith had been
shaken by the scandalous lives of the priests of Rome in that
city.
From him came the first Macedonian appeal: Come and
help us!
His invitation came to me as an order from heaven. To
my unspeakable joy, I found that not less than five hundred
of my countrymen had been gathered by him in a very large
79
8o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
and decent hall, near the Hay market, to hear the Gospel
message I had to give them.
After the most hearty reception by that multitude, and a
prayer addressed to our heavenly Father, I told them:
" I do not come here to address to you any long speech.
My only intention is to give you the explanations you want,
and to answer your questions about our new religious posi-
tion."
After a few moments of silence, the President rose and
said: "Dear Father Chiniquy, the news of that last religious
event at St. Anne has come to us as an earthquake, which
has shaken our religious views to their foundations. Yes, in
many families, our religious convictions have not only been
shaken, but they have been destroyed, completely ruined!
To=day, many of us stand before the religious ruins you have
made! But what does an intelligent man do when his house has
been ruined, shattered, demolished by an earthquake? Does
he remain with folded arms, motionless and discouraged be-
fore his demolished house? No. After the first hour of
desolation, lie looks to the best way he can build up a new
home on those ruins. Nay, he looks how to make a better
homo with the very ruins which the earthquake lias left.
" It is with that in view that we are met here. You confess
that you are the cause of these ruins. Have we not, then, the
right to ask you to help us gather what we can from the ruins
you have made to give us a renewed home, and more solid
foundations?
" In the name (jf this large assembly, I will ask you why you
have abolished Auricular Confession. Is it not a Gospel
institution? Has not Christ said to His apostles, ' What ye
bind on earth shall l)e bound in heaven.' 'The sins ye shall
forgive on earth shall be forgiven in heaven. The sins ye
shall retain on earth shall be retained in heaven?'
" What have you to give us to reconcile us with our God
after we have sinned?"
"To answer your questions from the Scripture, history,
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 8i
and common^sense," I replied, " I would keep you here not
only the whole night, but during all the hours of to-morrow.
I cannot do it. I will then present only a few common-sense
arguments against Auricular Confession, and with the help
of God, you will be forever delivered from that degrading
and infamous yoke.
"Please tell me, is your wife still living?"
"Yes, sir, thanks be to God, and she is just here sitting by
me."
"Have you any daughters?"
" Yes, sir, I have two. You see them at your right hand."
"Have you any boys?"
"Yes, sir, three; and they are all here to hear you."
" Now please allow me to address you a few other ques-
tions. How long is it since you have been to confession?"
" Well, well, you ought not to ask me that. I am ashamed
to acknowledge that I have not been to confess for seven
years."
"And your boys, do they like to go to confess?"
" I am sorry to acknowledge that they follow my bad exam-
ple. They do not go to confess more than their poor
father. '
"And your wife and daughters, if it is not an indiscretion
to ask that question, do they go to confess very often? "
" Yes, thanks be to God, my wife and daughters are very
pious; they never let a month pass without going to confess
to their priest. And I think if I had not objected to it they
would go to confess every week."
" Now, my dear sir, I must thank you for your answering
me. But I have another question to ask you, and though it
is of a very delicate nature, I hope that you will continue to
deserve the respect and gratitude of this large meeting, by
your -honourable and truthful answer. Suppose that instead
of a man in that confessional there were a young lady to hear
your confessions, would you be seven years without regarding
her pressing appeals to come and confess to her?"
82 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
]\ly quc'Htiou was followed by such a burst of laughter as I
have never heard before nor since. My honest interlocutor
answered me.
" I'll lot you guess my answer l)y what you know of the
human heart."
"Yes, yes, you are right," I told him, "it is useless to insist;
any one who has s(nno knowledge of human nature, would
easily understand the consequences that would naturally fol-
low from such a mode of Auricular Confession. Yet why
would it be worse than llie mode which is now practised?
" Women are more shrewd than men in these affairs. There
is not a lady among you who would allow her husband to
go and confess to a young lady. If a Roman Catholic lady
saw her son going once a month, or once a fortnight, to the
feet of a young lady, to speak to her for hours about all that
is going on in his poor heart, and to tell her all his thoughts
and desires, she would go and take him away, and tell him
that it was not i^roijor for him to be there. She w'ould not
permit her liusV)and to go to the feet of the most respectable
woman and tell her all his thoughts; and if the husband urged
that there was no danger, and that the lady was as pure as an
angel, and that he w\as highly respectable, she would only
laugh at him, and bring him out of the confessional box. But
it is strange that the husband is not so shrewd. He is a
stupid being, compared with his wife. He sees his wife
going to the feet of that bachelor, and remaining alone with
him for hours, telling him all her secret thoughts, but he
says to himself that there is no danger as his wife is honest!
And where is the difference between a man confessing all his
sins to a woman, and a woman telling all her bad thoughts
and actions to a man? You would not tolerate the former.
It would be considered an offense against society, a public
immorality. And in the latter case it is also a public immo-
rality. It is an offense against the laws of God, and it ought
to be an offense against the laws of man.
"A Bishop, who was first cousin to the king of France,
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 83
Charles X., and also his secretary, came to Canada. His name
was Forbin Janson, and he had been Bishop of Nancy,
Lorraine, France. After confessing to me one day, he told
me that there was a book I should have which would guide
me in putting questions to the priests in the confessional; it is
in relation to the sins of priests. He gave me a copy which
I have brought with me to-day, and I ask some of you to
come forward and read a portion of it, bearing on the sub-
ject we now consider. It is a question the priest must ask
to himself in his examination of conscience after he has been
hearing confessions."
Then the chairman read the following extract:
" When hearing the confession of females, have I put to
them questions about their sins, which brought answers by
which my imagination has been filled with thoughts which
have led me into great temptation and sin? The priests in
general do not jjay sufficient attention to the bad effect which
is produced by hearing the confessions of females. By these
confessions, they are constantly tempted, and these tempta-
tions weaken the soul of the priest to such a degree that his
purity is entirely destroyed."
" That is pretty clear," I said. "You see, it affirms that the
priests are constantly tempted and induced to fall into sin
through the confessional.
''Napoleon I., Emperor of France, knew so well, by his per-
sonal experience, the corrupting influence of Auricular Con-
fession on the minds of young people, that when his only boy
was old enough to make his first communion, he wrote him-
self the questions which the priest would be allowed to put to
his young son, and he absolutely forbade that priest to put
the immoral questions usually put to the young as well as to
the old jjeople.
"If le'ft to himself, the priest of Rome, as a general thing,
would not put those infamous questions. But the priest of the
Pope is not a free man who can act according to his honest
conscience — he is a miserable slave, obliged to obey his Church.
84 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Aud that Church obli;^'eB him, under iDain of eternal damna-
tion to put those demoralizing questions to the old and the
young, to men and to women, to the boy and the girl who
come to confess to him.
" Has not the whole of France been struck with horror and
disgust at the declaration made by the noble Catherine
Cadi6re and her numerous young female friends, against their
Father Confessor, John B. Girard, a French Jesuit?
"The details of those villainies practised by that Father
Confessor and several of his friends, Jesuit priests, with their
penitents are such that I cannot tell them here.
" Who among you has not read the history of Father Achaz-
ius, Suijerior of the nunnery in the city of Duren, France?
The number of his victims was so great, and their ranks in
society so exalted that Naiwleon thought it was his duty to
take that scandalous affair before him.
"The way this holy (?) Father Confessor used to lead the
noblest girls and married women as well as the nuns in the
city of Aix Lachapelle, was revealed by a young nun who had
escaped the snares of that confessor and had married a
superior officer of the army of the Emperor of France. Her
husband thought it his duty to direct the attention of
Napoleon to the performances of that priest, through the con-
fessional. But the investigations which were directed by the
state councillor, Leclere, were comjDromising so many other
priests and so many ladies of the highest ranks of society, that
the Emperor, though not over scrupulous, was absolutely dis-
heartened and feared that their exposure before the whole of
France would cause the renewal of the awful slaughters of
1702 and 1793, when so many Roman Catholic priests had
been mercilessly hung or shot as the most implacable enemies
of morality and liberty.
"He abruptly ordered the court of investigation to stop the
incjuiry, under the pretense of saving the honour of so many
families whose single and married women had been the vic-
tims of their Father Confessors. He thought that prudence
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 85
and shame were urging him not to lift up more of the dark
and thick veil behind which the Father Confessors conceal
their hellish practises with their fair penitents. The Emperor
of France found it was enough to confine Father Achazius and
his co=priests in a dungeon for their lives.
" But it is not only the Emperor of France with the law
courts of that great country who tells you and me that Auri-
cular Confession is the most demoralizing and degrading in-
stitution; the Popes of Rome themselves have been forced
by the providence of God to be the witnesses of that demoral-
izing agency. Yes! The Popes themselves have given to
the world the most unanswerable proof that Auricular Con-
fession, far from helping the young and old girls and married
women, is a school of perdition.
"Not very long after Auricular Confession had been insti-
tuted, rumours of the most horrible scandals between the
Father Confessors and their penitents, spread everywhere. In
order to put a stop to that state of things the Pope, Pius IV.,
in 1560, determined to make a public enquiry and to punish
all the guilty Father Confessors, who would be accused by
their fair penitents. A bull was published by him, by which
all the girls and married women who had been misled by
their Father Confessors, were ordered to denounce them. And
a certain number of high church ofiicers of the Holy Inqui-
sition was authorized to take the depositions of the fallen
penitents. The thing was, at first, tried at Seville, one of the
greatest cities of Spain.
"When the edict was first published, the number of women
who felt bound in conscience to go and depose against their
Father Confessors, was so great that, though there were thirty
notaries, and as many inquisitors to take the depositions,
they were unable to do the work in the appointed term.
Thirty days more were given them. But the inquisitors
were so overwhelmed with the numberless depositions that
another period of time of the same length was given. But
this again was found insufficient! In the end it was found
.86 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
thnt the numbor of priests, who had their penitents
through the confessional, was so great that it was impossible
to punish them all without destroying the church. The in-
quiry was given up and the guilty confessors remained un-
punished. Several attempts of the same nature have been
tried by other Popes with the same effect.
" But if those honest attempts on the part of some well=
meaning Popes to punish the confessors who destroy the purity
of their penitents have failed to touch the guilty persons,
there are, in the good providence of God, infallible witnesses
to tell you that Auricular Confession is nothing else but a
snare to the confessor and his penitents. Yes, those bulls
of the Popes are irrefragable testimonies that Auricular Con-
fession is one of the most powerful inventions of the devil
to corrupt the heart, pollute the body, and damn the souls of
confessors and penitents.
"Auricular Confession was invented by the priests of
Bacchus five hundred years before Christ came to save the
world by shedding His blood for poor sinners. Those
priests of Bacchus had to swear never to marry, just as the
priests of Rome. And they made use of Auricular Confes-
sion, just as the priests of Rome, to make their celibacy a
most easy thing by the knowledge they have of the personal
disposition and weakness of their penitents. Through the
Auricular Confession they know those who are strong and
those who are weak among their penitents — and you under-
stand the consequences of that knowledge by your own com-
mon sense.
"When, at the beginning of Christianity, the priests of
Bacchus had introduced themselves into the church and
tried to establish Auricular Confession, they were coura-
geously opposed by all the holy Fathers of the first centuries
of Christianity. St. Bastile, in his commentary on Psalm
1 hi rty=^ seven, speaking against Auricular Confession says: ' I
have not Ix'fore the world to make a confession of my sins
with my lips; but I close my eyes and I confess my sins in
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 87
the secret of my heart. Before Thee, O God, I pour out my
sighs, and Thou alone art the witness; my groans are within
my soul: there is no need of many words to confess my sins:
sorrow and regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamenta-
tions of the soul, which Thou art pleased to hear, are the best
confession.'
"St. Chrysostom, in his homily ' De Poenitentia,' Vol. 4,
Col. 901, says: ' You need no witness of your confession.
Secretly acknowledge your sins, and let God hear them.'
"In one of his homilies, he says: 'Therefore I beseech you
always to confess your sins to God only. I, in no wise, ask
you to confess them to me. To God alone you must show
the wounds of your soul, and from Him alone you must ex-
pect the cure. Go to Him, then, and you shall not be cast
off, but healed. For, before you utter a single word, God
knows your prayer.'
"And in his commentary on Hebrews 12, he further says:
'Let us not be content with calling ourselves sinners; but
let us examine and count our sins, and then, I do not tell you
to go and confess them to a man, according to the caprice
of some: but I will say to you with the prophet: Confess
your sins to God: acknowledge your iniquities at the feet of
your Judge: pray in your heart and your mind, if not with
your tongue, and you shall be pardoned.'
"In his homily on Psalm 1, the same St. John Chrysostom
says: 'Confess your sins every day in prayer. Why should
you hesitate to do so? I do not tell you to go and confess
your sins to a man, a sinner as you are yourself, who might
despise you if he knew your faults. But confess your sins to
God, who alone can forgive them.'
"The same St. John Chrysostom, in his admirable homily
4, says: 'Tell me why should you be ashamed to confess
your sins? Do we compel you to confess them to a
man who might one day throw them in your face? Are
you commanded to confess them to some of your equals who
could publish them and ruin you? What we ask of you is
88 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
simply to show the sore s of your soul to your Lord and
Master, who is also your friend, your guardian, your
physician.'
"In a small work of that St. John Chrysostom, ' Cathechisis
ad Illuminandum, ' we read the following remarkable words:
' What we should most admire is not that God forgives your
sins, but that He does not disclose them to anyone, nor
wish us to do so. What He demands of us is to confess our
transgressions to Him alone that He may forgive them.'
" St. Augustin, in his beautiful homily on the 31st Psalm,
says: ' I shall confess my sins to God, and He will pardon
them all. And such confession is not made with the lips,
but with the heart only. I had hardly opened my mouth to
confess my sins, when they were pardoned; for God had al-
ready heard the voice of my heart.'
"I would keep you all the night should I repeat to you all
that the holy Fathers have said to show us that Auricular
Confession was not practised in their time and that they
were opposed to it. We know the year and the day when it
became a dogma in the Church or Rome, as we know the
year and the day when the idolatry of the wafer god and the
other recent idolatry of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
-were invented.
" When our Saviour said to His disciples, ' What ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and what ye shall
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;' or when He said,
* The sins you forgive on earth shall be forgiven in heaven,
and the sins you shall retain on earth shall be retained in
heaven,' He was speaking of the sins committed against
each other.
"St. Peter understood Him well, when, hearing our Saviour
saying admirable words, he said: 'Good Master, how many
times shall I forgive my brother the sins he has committed
against me; shall it be seven times?' He answered, 'I do
not say seven times but seventy times seven.' And He
finished that address which was given to a multitude of peo-
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 89
pie, by saying: ' So will my Father do to you, if, from your
heart, you do not forgive the sins your brother has committed
against you.' Do you not say every day the admirable
prayer which our Saviour Jesus Christ has brought from
heaven for every one of us? Well, what are we taught to
say about our sins in that prayer that God may forgive them?
' Forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who have tres-
passed against us.'
"You see our Saviour does not teach us to say, * Forgive our
sins as we confess them to the priest.' No! But He wants us
to say, ' Forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who have
trespassed against us,' and He adds, ' If you forgive those
who have offended you, I will forgive your sins.' Yes, if
you forgive the sins of your neighbour against you, God
Almighty will forgive your sins. It is Christ Himself who
made that promise, and when God has forgiven you, what is
the use of going to a priest to get your pardon?
" Has our dear Saviour told us to go and confess our sins to
a priest? No, never! When speaking to the poor sinners,
Jesus said to them, ' Come unto Me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest.' 'I did not come to
save the righteous but the sinners.'
" Our Saviour has said and He does say it this very night
to every one of us, ' All those who believe in Me and invoke
My name shall be saved! ' Saved! and that without going to
confess to a priest.
" Then let us go to Him, believing in His love and His
mercy, and invoking His name this very night, and our sins
are forgiven, we are purified and saved by Him alone!
" What does our merciful God say to every one of us this
very night, by Isaiah? 'Let the wicked forsake his ways
and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the
Lord and He will have mercy upon him, and He will abun-
dantly pardon.' (Isa. 55: 7, 8.)
"What does the prophet David say? ' I confess my sins unto
thee, Oh my God, and I have not concealed my iniquities. I
QO Forty Years in the Church of Christ
have said I will confess my iniquities unto the Lord, and
Thou forgavest my transgressions.' (Ps. 30: 1-5.)
" What does our beloved Saviour tell you and me this very
moment? Please listen to His sweet, saving, merciful words:
" ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of man be lifted up.
" ' That whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but
have eternal life.' (John 3: 15.)
" Read the fourteen epistles of St. Paul and you will see
that that great apostle never thought of Auricular Confession.
He has not a single word about it. When speaking to the
sinners about the best, the only way to be reconciled to his
God, he absolutely ignored that panacea of the Popes of
Rome. He always sent the sinners to Jesus and Jesus alone
for their pardon.
"And St. John, that beloved one of Jesus, what does he say
to the poor sinners to get their pardon? Here are his words:
* These things we write you that your joy may be full. This
then is the message which we have heard of Him, and I de-
clare unto you, that God is light and that in Him there is no
darkness at all.
" ' If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not say the truth.
" 'But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son,
cleanseth us from all sin.
" * If we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His
Word is not in us.
"'My little children, these things I write unto you that ye
sin not. But if any man sin we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
" 'And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world.' (St. John, 1st
Ep. Vr. 1.)
"You see how the Apostle John has absolutely forgotten to
advise the sinners to go and ask pardon from their father
A Macedonian Cry from Chicago 91
confessors. It is to Jesus and Jesus alone that he sends
them. So that is what I do, to-day. Let us go to Jesus, let
us invoke His name, repent and wash our souls in His
blood. Then and then alone we shall be forgiven, absolved
and purified from our iniquities. Yes, let us go to Jesus and
Jesus alone, and we shall obtain pardon and peace in this
world and eternal life in the next. But I will not separate
myself from you without asking a great favour. Please let
those of you who are determined never to go to confess their
sins to the priests of Rome, and who will go only to their
Saviour Jesus Christ for their pardon raise their hands."
And with tears of joy I saw that every one of that great
multitude had forever broken the heavy and ignominious yoke
of the Pope to accept the blessed and sweet yoke of Christ.
CHAPTER VI
The Temptation
I was not a little surprised, when, at the beginning of the
second week of November, 1858, on opening my door to some
one that was knocking, I found myself face to face with the
Rev. Mr. Maillonx, the grand vicar of the Bishop of Quebec,
who liad led Bishop O'Regan to our town on the never^^to^^be^
forgotten third of August of the year before.
After the preliminary exchange of expressions of common
politeness, he asked me if we were so absolutely alone that
he could give me a confidential message from the Bishops of
Canada. I gave him the assurance that we were absolutely
alone, and that nobody would hear him, beside our God, myself,
and our guardian angels. " Then," he said, " I feel happy to be
the bearer of a message which I hope will put an end to the
awful scandals and sad divisions of the last two years. . . .
" You have not forgotten how dear you were to those Bishops,
nor how kind they were to you. After the Bishop of Quebec
had put you at the head of the two most important, beautiful
and rich parishes of his diocese, Beauport and Kamouraska,
the Bishop of Montreal gave you the greatest favour ever
given to priests by allowing you to go and work in his whole
diocese, whenever you liked, in union with his curates. That
same Bishop of Montreal, after having obtained from the
Pope the magnificent crucifix you keep as a public token of
the personal esteem of the vicar of Christ, has given you the
official title of ' Temperance Apostle of Canada,' not only that,
but it is from his advice that the city of Montreal has given
you the gold medal you carry on your breast.
" Well, these venerable Bishops, who have overwhelmed you
92
The Temptation 93
with honours and dignities, when you were working with
them, have sent me with the promise that they will do still
more for you, if you come back and submit as a dutiful
priest to our holy church! Oh, do not rebuke them. Do not
rebuke me, for I am still your friend, as I was when you were
in our midst. Forget and forgive what may have been wrong
in what the last Bishop of Chicago, as well as myself, may
have done against you. Come back, dear Father Chiniquy,
to that Catholic Church of Canada, which has taken you in
triumph from the lowest parts of the St. Lawrence river, to
the shores of Lake Huron. We are ready to do still more for
you! Come and dry the tears which are flowing on so many
cheeks. Come back and rejoice so many friendly hearts
which are so sad on account of your separation from us."
When saying these last words, he took my hands into his,
pressed them in the most friendly way, and bathed them with
his tears.
I would not be honest were I to deny that his words and
his tears made a profound impression on me. My poor hu-
man and sinful heart was not indifferent to the honours, dig-
nities and riches which were there in store for the rest of my
life, if I would only accept the message of peace from the
Roman Catholic Bishops of Canada. I would have fallen a
prey to the Tempter had not the dear Saviour come to my
aid. But He was there to succour and save His poor, weak,
half-conquered servant. In that moment, a grand, solemn,
divine spectacle struck the eyes of my soul. I saw my Sav-
iour " on the summit of that high mountain, where the devil
had taken Him to show Him all the kingdoms and the glory
of the world." It seemed to me that I was hearing the
devil's voice, saying, "All these things I will give thee if
thou wilt fall down and worship me." But the answer
whichT had heard from the lips of Jesus, thrilled my soul:
" Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." As a
flash of lightning it passed through ray whole body, trans-
94 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
forming,' me into ciuito a new bein^', I felt strong as an un-
eontiuornble fjfiant, thouf^h I knew that the strength was not my
own strength, and I anRv\'ered: "My dear Mr. Mailloux, I am
nuu'h obliged to you for the interest you show nie, and I
appreciate the sincerity of your motives in bringing that
message from the Bishops of Canada. I would surely acceiDt
your friendly otfer, if I had left the Church of Rome from
any worldly motives. But my God knows that it is only for
His sake and to obey Him, that I am what I am to=day.
Please pardon me the disappointment I give you. Tell the
good Bishops of Canada that I am very grateful for this last
friendly effort they make to jKn-suade me to return to the
Church of Rome; but tell them also that though they should
offer me all the dignities and the incalculable treasures of the
Church of Rome, I would not take them in exchange for the
treasures I have found in the Bible." And when saying
these last words, I presented him with the Divine Book.
My last words had hardly fallen from my lips when his
head fell into his hands, and he wept as a child for a few
minutes which seemed to me an hour, for I felt exceedingly
sad at such a strange and unexi^ected grief.
After he had eased his feelings of disapijointment with his
tears, he raised his head and looked at me. But his look was
not the same as before, his face was like the face of a furi-
ous Iroquois (I have been told since that there was Iroquois
blood among his grandmothers). That Mr. Mailloux was by
nature one of the most ugly specimens of humanity which
can be seen. His lips, naturally too thick and large for a
man, were rendered still more repulsive by a large black
piece of raw flesh on the right part of the upper lip; his eyes
were unsettled, and his very smile was nothing but au idiotic
grimace.
Rising suddeidy on his feet, he made a step towards me
and brandishing his tists near my face, he said: "Miserable
apostate! You sign your sentence of death by refusing the
message of peace I have just delivered to you. You know
The Temptation 95
the rights, the laws, as well as the duties of our holy Church.
Our best theologians tell us that you have no right to live
from this fatal hour. And our holy Popes in the compen-
dium of our most sacred laws, in our Jure Canonico, tell us
that it is neither a murder nor a sin to take your infamous
life. If you have forgotten those laws, there will be some-
one who will make you remember them very soon. You
have not ten days to live! "
And his rage was such when uttering these threats, that
there was foam on his lips. I answered him, " I am not more
shaken by your bloody threats than I was by your glittering
promises of human glory and honour. I am the servant of a
God who can protect me against the malice of all the Popes,
the priests, and the slaves of Rome. If it is His will that
my blood should be mixed with the blood of the millions
you have already slain, I am ready to shed it for the cause
of the Gospel."
He was out of the house before I had uttered my last
words. Taking his hat and cane he had left at the double
quick, and he soon disappeared.
Though I might write a volume to tell what I felt when
alone after that dark hour, those who have never passed
through such an awful experience could never understand
me.
When alone I fell on my knees to pray for more wisdom
and courage at the approach of the terrible impending con-
flict. On the table was the ninth volume of the theology of
St. Thomas. I opened it and read that the Roman Catholics
had as much right to kill me now, as to kill a wolf which was
crossing their fields to eat their sheep! A little farther on,
on the same table was the " Jure Canonico " where the
Church of Rome says that it is neither murder nor a sin to
kill me now; nay, I read that it was such a holy action to
take away my life that the sins would be forgiven to the
Roman Catholic who would risk his life in taking away
mine.
96 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
The next day, ju.st wheu going to take my dinner, two of
our dear converts came to tell me, " Dear Mr. Chiuiquy, a
rumour is spreading this morning against your character,
more quickly and more disastrously than the xjrairie fires
which came so near destroying the village some years ago.
You must stop it at once; if you cannot do it, we come to tell
you in the name of many that you will have to leave the
colony."
" What is the rumour"? I asked.
" You know, we suppose," they replied, " that when Mr.
Mailloux left you yesterday, he went directly to John
B^langer's to spend the night and say his mass and preach to
his people, this morning. Well, the few Roman Catholics of
the place went to spend the evening with him; they remained
till twelve o'clock hearing the ni -st shameful and scandalous
stories against you. Among other things Mr. Mailloux told
them that you had many illegitimate children in Canada;
that you had been interdicted and forced to leave the coun-
try on that account. Those who were there last evening, to
the number of thirty, are publishing that story this morning
against you. It goes with the rapidity and destructive jwwer
of a hurricane. As soon as we hoard it, we thought it was
our duty to come and acquaint you of it. Now you know
what you have to do through respect for yourself and your
numerous friends here." I answered them, "Dear Mr.
Mailloux is very hard on his old friend! He ascribes to me
gross imnu)ralitie8. Yesterday he told me that I should soon
be murdered. Now I see that before taking away my life the
Romanists wish to take away my honour. With the help of
God, we must show to the Roman Catholic ambassador, once
more, that he is not in the land of the Holy Inquisition,
where injustice and cruelty have full sway against those
called heretics. There are laws here to protect our honour as
well as oiir life. Please, come with me to John Belanger's.
where we shall probably find Mr. Mailloux, and then we shall
see what we have next to do in the matter."
The Temptation 97
Five minutes later, we were face to face with the Rev. Mr.
Mailloux, whom we found, as we expected, in the company of
John B61anger.
Before any salutation, I said, " Mr. Mailloux, please tell me,
before these two witnesses and Mr. B61anger who is here, if you
know that, when in Canada, I had a great number of illegitimate
children and if you have ever told that story anywhere." At
this question he became as pale as a dead man and with a trem-
bling voice, he replied, " No, sir, I have never said such a thing.
I know that you were a good priest and that you never com-
mitted such crimes." These words were hardly uttered when
John Belanger, with a terrible oath, said, " Mr. Mailloux, are
you not ashamed to deny such a thing? Last night in my
presence and in the presence of about twenty witnesses you
said that Father Chiniquy had about twelve illegitimate
children in Canada." Mr. Mailloux then replied, " I did not
say that he had, I said that I had been told that he had."
Belanger, with another oath, said, "No, sir, you did not say
that you were told, but you affirmed that it was so. You
ought to be ashamed to deny it, this morning. Go away, and
never put your foot in my house any more." "Now, Mr.
Mailloux," I replied, " Tell me before these people if you be-
lieve or know that I have been guilty of such crimes in
Canada as you allege." He answered, " No, sir, I do not
believe that. I believe you were a good, honest priest."
" Now, sir, can you say in my face that I have been inter-
dicted and turned out of Canada by the Bishops?" With a
voice half suffocated with shame, he said, " I cannot say that,
for I know the contrary. I know the Bishop has given you,
as a token of his esteem, a silver chalice to say mass." Then
Belanger again said, with another oath: " You are a d liar,
for you told us last night that the Bishops had turned Mr.
Chiniquy out of Canada." " Then," I said, " that is all I
want to know. Good-bye, sir."
When coming back with my two friends, they advised me
to prosecute him, saying that they could find at least thirty
98 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
witnesses who had beard him say it. '"No, my friends," I
answered, " this is not the Christian way to act with my
enemies. I prefer to follow the advice of Christ — to forgive.
"Besides that, such calumnies of my enemies do not injure
me at all. They do more harm to their cause than to ours.
Those calunniit'H bear their refutation with themselves and
they brin^ dis^n-ace only to their authors. You see how he
was confounded and trembling in my presence, and how he
has been turiu'd out from the house of his best friend."
Just four days later the jud<j:e of Manteno, a town six
or eight miles north of Bourbonnais Grove, came to visit me.
"I think it is my duty, my dear Mr. Chiniquy," he said, " to
come and tell you that there is a formidable conspiracy
among the priests and the Catholic people of Bourbonnais to
take away your honour. Yesterday, I was, in my capacity of
judge, the witness of a fact that proves it. You know
Madam Brosseau, who has the reputation of being the
handsomest lady of the town? Well, yesterday when her
husband came home for his dinner, he found his wife in tears
in her parlour. ' What is the matter with you, my dear, are
you sick?' 'No, my dear husband, I am not sick but I am
sad,' she answered. ' I have on my conscience a burden which
is heavier than a mountain. I ought to have revealed it to
you long ago, but I never dared. You remember when you
were in California some years ago, Father Chiniquy was our
priest in Bourbonnais, and I had to go to confess to him. But
instead of acting with me as an honest priest, he did things
which I am ashamed to repeat: but now that he is an apos-
tate, and tries to destroy our holy religion, I think that it is
my duty to reveal the truth.' Brosseau of course was furious
against you. He said to his wife, 'I must have that infamous
Chiniquy punished. I am just going to Judge Baby to know
the best way to prosecute him.'
" When with me Brosseau related the story he had heard from
his wife. I told him he was doing well to punish you as you
deserved, but, I said, ' I must go with you to get tlie deposi-
The Temptation 99
tion of your wife.' When with her, in the presence of her
husband, she not only repeated what she had told him, but
she added many things more. I congratulated her on her
courage, and I said, * Madam, I will now write down your
deposition in the presence of your husband. Give the de-
tails of Chiniquy's infamous conduct, for it will be necessary
to have that presented to the court.' And I began to write.
I covered three sheets with the most infamous acts that a man
can do and that a woman can reveal. Then I took from my
pocket this Bible, and I said, ' Now madam, you must swear
on this Bible that what you have just said is the truth, for,
as a Justice of the Peace, I must have your oath before tak-
ing another step in this matter.' Looking at me with a dis-
tressed countenance, and trembling from head to foot, she ex-
claimed: ' Is it possible that I will have to swear to these
things?' 'Yes, madam, we cannot take another step in this
matter without your oath.'
" Then bursting into tears and concealing her face in her
hands, she exclaimed, 'I cannot swear that.' 'Why not?'
I replied. 'Because it is a lie from beginning to end,' she
said. With a terrible imprecation, her husband said, ' Why
have you told us such abominations against Father Chiniquy
when it is not true?' 'Because my Father Confessor, the
last time I went to confess, asked me to do that,' she said.
" Now, Mr. Chiniquy," said the judge, " if I had any ad-
vice to give you, it would be to prosecute the priest at once."
I answered, "No. I prefer to follow the advice of my
Saviour. When I left the Church of Kome, I knew the cost.
The prophecy of Christ must be fulfilled in me as it has been
in those who have fought Kome before me. Our Saviour
warned us of these things when He said:
" ' Blessed are ye when men shall revile and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My
sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your re-
ward in heaven: for so persecuted they all the prophets which
were before you.'"
CHAPTER VII
Father Brunet. A Prisoner in my Steaxi
Cur am habe boni nominis
The calumnies of the Reverend Mailloux and Mrs. Bros-
seau were still rinp;inu; in my ears when a new storm burst
on my head which would surely have destroyed me had not
my merciful God come to my help.
A revival (a retreat) had been preached in Bourbonnais
by Reverends Mailloux and Brunet previous to their depar-
ture for Canada, and the whole population had been induced
to go and confess their sins to those two priests. Among
the sins they were asked to confess was that of having gone
to hear the address of Father Chiniquy. They were then
warned against committing that sin any more by being
assured that Chiniquy was an apostate — a monster. To this
many times the penitent replied: "We know nothing bad
about Father Chiniquy, except that he has left our holy
church, but this is his business. We do not want to follow
him. How can we promise never to speak to him, when he
is in our midst, and that very often our daily business
obliges us to meet him for advice and often for help."
To this the Father Confessor had invariably replied:
" Chiniquy is an excommunicated priest; he is a monster, he
has set fire to your church and turned it into ashes."
" But how do you know that it is Father Chiniquy who
has set fire to our church? " generally replied the penitent.
" You must believe me, as I am your Father Confessor,"
had answered Father Brunet . . . "I advise you even to
tell it to your neighbours and friends that they may avoid
his company, that he may be forced to leave the place."
100
Father Brunet. A Prisoner in My Stead loi
A goodly number of those honest, though cruelly deceived
countrymen, left the confessional box indignant at the malice
and calumny of their Father Confessor They spoke to each
other of the evident plot of those priests to destroy me, and
they came to the honest conclusion that their duty was to
warn me.
Remembering that my Saviour, when struck by the coward
officer, had answered him: "If I have spoken evil, bear wit-
ness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me" (John
17:23), and that Paul had appealed to Caesar, I felt that it
was not only my right but my duty to bring my implacable,
cruel and cowardly enemy before my country to ask him
to prove what he had said, or to repair the injury he had
caused me to suffer. I could not do the work which the
good Master had entrusted to my feeble hands without a
good name.
The next day more than one hundred carriages were at the
door of the parsonage of Bourbonnais in order to accompany
Father Brunet in triumph to the depot of Kankakee, where
he was to take the train for Montreal. Numberless gay ban-
ners were floating to the breeze, with the mottoes: "Honour
to Father Brunet," " May God bless Father Brunet," etc.
The good (?), the holy (?) Father Brunet was sitting at a
rich table loaded wnth the most exquisite dishes, and sur-
rounded by many priests and friends gathered there to thank
and honour him for the glorious battles he had fought, and
the glorious victories he had gained against the infamous
apostate, Chiniquy, the last six months. Two o'clock had
just struck. It was the moment the choice and excellent
desert was being brought before the holy (?) priests.
Suddenly the door of the dining==room is rudely opened,
and a . tall man, with a most threatening face, steps in.
Without saluting anybody, he glances severely over the
whole company, and with a stern voice, says: " Is Father
Brunet here?"
Who was that strange personage whose rude appearance
I02 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
and stentorian voice was chilling every heart? It was the
Kankakee sheriff, I. Burns.
His first question, "Is Father Brunet here?" having
receivi'd no answer, he raised his stern voice and said, "Is
Father Brunet here?" With a trembling, stammering voice,
and with cold drops of sweat rolling on his forehead, Father
Brunet answered, " Yes, sir. Father Brunet is here; I am
Father Brunet."
Quick as lightning the heavy hand of the sherifP was on
the shoulder of the confounded and trembling priest, with
this sharj) sentence: "You are my prisoner; come at once to
the court=house. I will put you into gaol if you do not give
me securities for $10,000 for your appearance at the next
court, to show you are not guilty of a great crime which is
laid to your charge."
And the worthy ambassador of Rome had to leave there
and then his delicious preserves and follow the sherifP to the
court-house.
The reader can understand the dismay of the multitude,
who had come there with their fine carriages and their ban-
ners of triumph flying to the breeze, when they saw their
Father Confessor in the hands of the sheriff, taking the
road to the gaol. This was an hour of distress and desola-
tion such as the poor Catholics of Bourbonnais had never
before seen, and which they will never forget.
To make a long story short, I must say that my prosecution
of Father Burnet began the 15th November, 1858, and was
ended only the 23rd April, 1861, when he was sent to gaol
for having refused to pay the $4,625 which the jury had
condemned him to pay for his lying slanders against me.
He had brought seventy-two witnesses to prove that I had
set fire to their church, but it became evident to the jury that
every one of those witnesses perjured himself to please and
obey his Father Confessor,
When asked the question: "Did you see Mr. Chiniquy
Father Brunet. A Prisoner in My Stead 103
when he set fire to your church?" they all answered " No";
and when asked if they were there on the spot when Mr.
Chiniquy destroyed your church, they all said "No"; and
when asked, " Where were you when your church was
burned?" the greater part of them answered, " We were at
home"; and when asked to say if their homes were near the
church, they answered "No"; and when asked to say the
distance from their home to the church, two answered, "Three
miles," and one, " Seven miles." And when the judge him-
self asked those witnesses how they could swear that Mr.
Chiniquy had set fire to their church when they were so far
away from the spot, they answered, " We know it because our
holy Confessor has told us that it was so and we have sworn
that it was because our holy Father Confessor has told us that
it was our duty to swear as we have done." The Protestant
judge, as well as the members of the jury who heard those
testimonies have told me many times since that they would
never have believed me, had I told them the degree of
ignorance, immorality and dishonesty which are the great
result of Auricular Confession.
The fact is that that suit has done more than all my ad-
dresses and books to show the people of Illinois that Auri-
cular Confession is one of the masterpieces of the devil to
corrupt the hearts of men, enslave their intelligence, and
damn their souls.
The day after poor Father Brunet was put in gaol, I was
crossing one of the streets of Kankakee city when a Roman
Catholic lady met me. She was just coming from a visit to
the unfortunate prisoner to whom she had brought some com-
forting words, I suppose, with a basket filled with comforting
delicacies.
Furious with me, she said with a very loud voice, " Shame
upon you for sending to goal such a holy priest! "
I answered her, "It is not I who has sent him to gaol, it is
the people of Illinois through the judge and the jury."
I04
Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"Shame upon you," she replied again, "but if you think
that you have made that holy priest miserable by you malice,
you are mistaken, for he is happy."
'•Who told you, madam, that he is happy," I asked.
"He has just told me so himself, yes, as he said to me just
a moment a^^o, 'I am glad to suffer for my holy church, for
it is for the sake of our holy religion that I came here to fight
against that apostate priest.' "
"Well! well! madam," I replied, "I thank you for that
information, it is really precious to me."
Then entering the store of a friend I asked for a pen and
some paper to \yrite the following letter:
"Rev. Father Brunet: —
"I am just receiving the news which does exceedingly
gladden me. A lady who has visited you has just assured
me that you were happy to be where your are. Then allow
me to tell you that there are two men very happy, to-day, in Kan-
kakee, for I am also happy to see you there in that very gaol
where you wanted to send me, by inventing the calumny that
I set fire to the church of Bourbonnais.
"Wishing you to continue to be happy to the end of your
twelve years of reflections,
I am, your devoted,
(Signed) C. Chiniquy."
It appears, however, that the good priest of Rome was not
to be very long happy. There was a multitude of rats in that
gaol which were troubling his peace during the day and pre-
vented him from sleeping during the night by mercilessly
biting him.
He then began to think how he could manage to get out of
this new and happy home.
It will be interesting to the reader to know that the order
of the Oblats, to whom Father Brunet belonged, had made
a successful appeal to the French Canadian Catholics and had
received the whole sum of money which he was ordered to
pay me by the jury, as an indemnity for his calumnies, but
Father Brunet A Prisoner in My Stead 105
the order of the Oblats and Father Brunet preferred rather
to commit a new crime than to give the reparation ordered by
the court to me. They gave the money to a band of Roman
Catholic brigands, some say to the sheriff who had succeeded
Mr. Burns, and during a stormy night, the doors of the jail
were broken and the black bird escaped to Canada, where he
published that during a dark night, the Holy Virgin Mary
dressed in a white robe had come to the door of his gaol,
opened it, and said to him, " My dear son, come out! " and he
had gone out in that miraculous way.
Since the day that my merciful God has opened my eyes
to the errors of the Church of Rome and given me the evident
mission to show the dark system of lies, duplicity, corruption
of that masterpiece of Satan, nothing has helped me more to
fulfil my mission than the calumnies, the perjuries, the rob-
beries and the ridiculous fables to which Rome has had re-
course, to fight her battle with me, around Father Brunet.
There is no exaggeration in saying that more than one
thousand honest Roman Catholics are now walking in the
blessed light of the Gospel from what they have heard with
their own ears and seen with their own eyes in that celebrated
suit; for that suit has been a truly celebrated one in Illinois.
And let those who suspect that we are exaggerating, when
we say that the action of Father Brunet was endorsed by the
Roman Catholic clergy, read in the " Repertoire g6n6ral du
clerg6 canadien, par Mgr Cyprien Tanguay," page 251, and
they will find in a note at the bottom of the page, these very
words: " Le p^re Brunet combatit pour la foi avec un z^le
tout apostolique — et ses combats lui valurent six mois d' incar-
ceration dans une prison malsaine des Etats-Unis." Transla-
tion: " Father Brunet fought with a truly apostolic zeal and
his battles gained him six months confinement in an un-
healthy prison of the United States."
Here is a man who invented the vilest calumnies against
an old friend, who had seventy=two false witnesses perjure
themselves to sustain his calumnies, who used the confes-
io6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
sional as means of spreading his calumnies, who got several
thousand doUnrs from him whom he had injured, by keeping
the fine to which he had been condemned, who broke the
door of the prison where justice held him for his public
crimes, and yet this very same man is canonized as a saint
and offered as a model of apostolic zeal to the Canadian
people!
CHAPTER VIII
The Famine
The years of 1858 and 1859 were disastrous ones for our
colony at St. Anne. Two terrible frosts in the summer of
1858 and a real deluge of three weeks in 1859 had completely
destroyed our crops, on the low lands.
In order not to perish, we were forced to mortgage our
lands and borrow money from land sharks, who made us pay
between 20 and 30 per cent, interest.
Of all the words of human language, the most terrible is
famiiie.
The first Sabbath in May, 1859, a young woman had dropped
dead, when on her way to church. In the afternoon, when
in the midst of her desolated family, I learned from her
husband that, for the last three months, he and his wife had
not taken more than a meal a day in order to prevent their
three children from starving!
It was evident that she had died from want of food. No
words can tell my desolation in those dark days — the darkest
days of my life.
In order to help my poor people as much as possible, I had
not only sold my two horses and my buggy, but I had mort-
gaged my watch, my gold medal, everything I had, even my
house and my dear chapel, to get food and clothing for the
most destitute.
More than that, I had borrowed from several brokers about
$1,000 for which I had given what is called "Cutthroat
mortgages," relying on several sums of money due to me,
to meet those notes when due. But when the day of pay-
ment had come, I had not been able to collect a single cent
to pay them.
107
Io8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
The priests of Rome foreseeing that, had bought my notes
with the hope of niinintc me and putting an end to what they
called our scandalous schism.
At their demand, the sheriff came and seized everything
which could fall into his hand in order to sell them at the
door of the court-house of Kankakee city. My last cow was
taken, my chairs and table, the piano, even my bed and my
library were taken from me. I could see everything go with
dry eyes and unmoved heart when I remembered for what
cause I was losing them. But I could not retain my tears
when I saw my dear and precious books go. Laying my hand
on my big Bible, I said to the Sheriff: " I hope you will allow
me to keep this Bible as the only thing which I possess to-
day," and he granted me that favour.
That night, having no bedstead, not even a pillow to rest
my head on, I lay down on the naked floor. But I am mis-
taken— I had a pillow! Yes, and the most precious joillow
upon which a man has ever rested his head — my Bible! I
never got such a sweet rest than during that never=to=be*
forgotten night when my head rested on the Divine Book!
The next morning my knees were the only table I had to
hold my dry and hard biscuits. But if I could not give a
very rich food to my body, it was not so with my soul, for I
fed it with the Bread of Life. I read in my Bible:
" Lay not up for yourselves treasui'es upon earth where
moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through
and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust corrupts and where thieves do
not break through, nor steal."
After my frugal breakfast, I went to the postoffice. There
was only one letter to my address, but, to my great surprise,
it had the mark of Ohnrlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a
place from which not a line had yet ever been addressed to
me. When I opened it, a little piece of paper fell on the
floor. I picked it up, and, to my great surprise and joy, that
little piece of paper was a check for $500.
The Famine 109
Here are the contents of that short letter, signed by the
"Rev. George Sutherland: "We have heard of your heroic
battle against our common foe — Rome. You must not be
left alone when so bravely fighting in the gap. ... A
few Gospel friends in Charlottetown and vicinity, send you
this small sum to strengthen your hands and cheer up your
heart. Please accept it with the assurance of our sympathies
and admiration. Truly yours, George Sutherland." Five
hundred dollars was surely a big sum in itself, and I had to
bless my merciful God for it. But what was it, when I was
surrounded by at least 500 starving families? It hardly
lasted two days !
When this Providential help was gone, and I felt I had
nothing but my tears to give to my people, the thought came
to my mind that my duty was to go to some place not visited
by the calamities which had ruined us, and ask the Christian
people to come to our help,
I proposed that plan to the Kev. Mr. Staples, pastor of the
Presbyterian Church of Kankakee city. Having approved
it, he gave me a letter of introduction to the Rev. John
Leyburn, D. D., then editor of the Presbyterian of Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, and, without any delay, I started for
that distant city.
Having secured a decent room in a respectable hotel, I went
to the office of the Presbyterian, and presented my letter of
introduction to its editor. He received me as politely as he
could, but I felt him as cold as an iceberg.
It was the first time in my life I was begging. As a priest
of Eome, I had always plenty, not only for myself, but for
all those who were in need around me.
After reading my letter, he said: "It is a real misfortune
that Mr. Staples has addressed you to me, and advised you to
come to Philadelphia for help. Not a month ago, another
priest of Rome, a fine looking man, came to me saying, that
he was disgusted with the errors of Rome and desired to be-
come a Protestant. I received him well, and, with many of
iio Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the ministers of the city, I gave him a helping hand. We
even introduced him to our families, and did all in our power
to make his new existence as comfortable as possible. But
we soon found, at our cost, that he was the vilest of men, a
beastly drunkard, a thief and the most impudent liar we ever
met. Now, my dear sir, you understand that your coming to
us so soon fifter that ex^priest, is a most uufortuunte thing
for you. However, I do not want to discourage or rebuff
you, the dishonesty of that priest does not mean that you are
also a dishonest man, but you are intelligent enough to un-
derstand that it puts a mountain of prejudices against you
and your mission of charity towards your starving people.
Then do not raise your expectations of success too high, but
as you come to me to get my advice, I will give it.
" First. To day, go to the noonday prayer^meeting, at
Sansom Street Church, and introduce yourself to the great
crowd of Christians you will meet there, giving your name,
position, trials, as well as you can; but be as short as possible
and throw yourself entirely into the hands of God for the
result."
Just at twelve, I was in one of the front pews of the vast
and absolutely crowded church, and as soon as I could find
my opportunity, I was on my feet to speak on the first six
verses of the fifteenth chapter of John.
But I had not yet entered into my subject, when the presi-
dent rang his bell to stop me, saying, " We are not allowed
here to speak more than five minutes."
Disapi)ointed and confused, I had to sit down with the con-
viction that I had made a fool of myself before that refined
English-speaking multitude. I could see on the faces of
many the badly concealed expressions of pity for my poor
broken English language. My conviction was that this, my
first appearance before the Philadelphia people, was a com-
plete failure. In the afternoon with a heavy heart, and con-
fused mind, I went again to Rev. Dr. Leyburn's oflice. He
seemed disappointed and displeased to see me again. But
The Famine 1 1 1
when extending his hand to shake mine, he kindly said: "I
was much vexed by the rudeness of our president at the
noonday prayer=meeting in so abruptly silencing you before
you had any reasonable time to present your subject. As
you are a stranger, and a Frenchman, not yet quite familiar
with our English language, he ought to have given you at
least ten minutes to speak. But do not be discouraged. The
Lord rules behind the darkest clouds. What do you propose
to do now after your first trial has been such a sad disappoint-
ment?"
I answered: "My object in coming again to you, this
afternoon, is to ask you to give me the addresses of your
principal ministers, with a few kind words to each of them
from you, asking them to allow me to present to them my
case and the terrible distress of my people."
'* Well, my dear sir, the only thing I can do is to give you
the names and addresses of our principal ministers. But
you must give me your word of honour not to say that I have
done that. You must not even mention my name. How can
I give you the letter you ask when you are a perfect stranger
to me? Here is the letter of introduction sent to me by the
Rev. Mr. Staples. Take that letter with you as an introduction
to the ministers you want to visit. It is the only thing I can
do for you just now. May God help you," and with these
words, he dismissed me as abruptly as if I had the smallpox
with me.
It was too late to begin my visits that afternoon. There were
no street cars in those days, and I had only $4 in my pocket
to pay my hotel expenses; it was impossible to think of
taking a carriage. The whole traveling from minister to
minister was to be a walking affair. And in that immense
city of Philadelphia, many of those ministers were at a great
distance from each other. When alone in my room, I had
plenty of time to consider the difficulties which were before
me. At every part of the horizon towards which I turned
my mind, I could see nothing but dark clouds, unsurmount-
112 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
able difficulties and obstacles of the most formidable nature.
But the more I saw there was no hope of success from men,
the more I felt the need of going to my merciful heavenly
Father and putting my trust only in Him. I opened my
dear Bible and, in the marvelous providence of God, my eyes
fell on these words of God, addressed to Elijah, " Get thee
hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook
Cherith. ... I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee." (1 Kings 17: 3, 4.)
I fell on my knees, and, as much with my tears as with my
lips, I asked my God to look upon me and my poor starving
people in His compassion.
I could not shut my eyes a single minute in that awful
night. It seemed that I was hearing the cries of desolation
of my poor starving people when there was no one to help
them. There was before my eyes an awful vision of thou-
sands of starving children asking for food from their hearts
broken parents who had nothing but their tears to give them !
Even to-day when I think of that awful night, I cannot
understand how I did not die during its endless and dark
hours. My heart was so broken! And though comforted
for a moment by the words I had read, my faith was not
strong enough to shake off the fear that my supplications
and prayers for the next day's success were to be received by
a cold and contemptuous rebuke.
At last the long and dark hours of night passed away, and
one of the briglitest suns I ever saw began to shine. But it
could not bring rays of hope to my soul. I could hardly eat
anything at breakfast. My throat was choked by the bread
I tried to take when I was thinking that my poor people
were starving. I was ashamed to sit at such a rich table
when so many dear friends were shedding bitter tears in their
desolated homes.
At last the hour of the awful trial had come. I had been
told that I could not present myself to the doors of the min-
isters before eleven o'clock. As I had to walk two miles be-
The Famine 113
fore reaching the first one on my list, I left the hotel at ten,
after having given nearly all my money to the hotel keeper.
The day was oppressively warm, 90 in the shade, not a
breath of a refreshing breeze through those streets, ten and
fifteen miles long, bordered by houses from three to five sto-
ries high. I had not walked more than a mile in that fiery
atmosphere when I came near fainting. I entered a house
and asked for a glass of water, which was very kindly given
me. This did me good, though the next mile seemed ten
miles long.
At last I arrived at the door of the Reverend Mr. X, and 1
rang the bell. After waiting a long time, nobody coming, I
rang again. Every minute of waiting seemed to me an eter-
nity, for the burning sun was wrapping me with an atmos-
phere of 90 degrees. I was nearly fainting when a negro
girl came at the third ringing.
" What do you want, sir?" she asked.
'* I want to see Rev. Mr. X," I replied.
" Please give me your card," she said.
''' I have no cards with me," I replied.
" Then please give me your name."
" Chiniquy is my name," I answered, and a moment later
I heard the girl saying to her master — " Mr. Niquichiche
wants to see you sir."
"Niquichiche! Niquichiche!" answered the minister.
" What a strange name! It is some beggar again, I suppose.
Go and tell him I am busy. Let him come to-morrow."
And the negro girl had hardly given me her message, when
she abruptly shut the door and left me outside in the burn-
ing sun.
I had more than a mile to go to the next minister. Many
times on the way, I came near fainting. I had to stop three
or four times and ask a glass of fresh water at the grocery
stores which were on my way.
It was half past one when I saw the name of Rev. Mr. Y on
a silver plaque on the door. The servant girl came at the
114 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
first knock, but she seemed out of breath and very impatient.
" What do you want?" she asked. " I want to see the Rev.
Mr. y." " You cannot see him before three o'clock. He is
just at his dinner." "Please give him this card (for I had
bought a few cards and had written my name on them on the
way) and ask him if I cannot sit a moment and take some
rest in the shade, inside the door in the corridor." The girl
went with my message and soon came with a cold, " No, sir,
you cannot sit here, but come back if you like at three
o'clock," and she slammed the door and left me out as if I had
been a mad dog.
I had again to turn my face towards the burning sun and
walk another mile to meet the next minister. But I felt so
completely disappointed, humiliated, and discouraged by the
rebukes I had received at the doors of these two ministers,
that I remained some time as paralyzed and unable to go one
step further. I sat a few minutes on the stepping stones to
rest. My head was aching under the burning rays of the sun
and I think I would have been killed with a stroke of apo-
plexy had not a torrent of tears flowed from my eyes. . . .
Let me confess it to my shame, in that awful moment, I came
very near cursing the day I was born.
But thanks be to God, that terrible temptation was of a
short duration. Suddenly the memory of my Saviour, for-
saken and overloaded under the burden of my sins in the
garden of Getlisemane, came to my mind. It seemed I was
hearing His cries, when, in His agony, He said: "Father, if
Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless, not
My will, but Thine, be done." Strengthened by this solemn
remembrance, I reached the house of the Rev. Dr. Y at about
three P. M., but absolutely exhausted. To my other bodily
and mental sufferings was then added one of which I had
beard spoken but had never yet experienced — blisters to the
feet. They who have never suffered those horrible pains
will not understand me. Suffice it to say that it is simply
horrible. Accustomed as I had been, seven years, to walk on
The Famine
115
the soft grass of the prairies of Illinois, my feet were not pre-
pared for the new trial in store for them. In several places
the skin was gone and the blood was running in my boots.
At every step I suffered a real torture. It was as if nails had
pierced the flesh, or as if burning coals had been applied to
them. It was with this new addition of pain that I reached
the splendid parsonage of the Rev. Dr. Y. This time I was
determined to walk into the corridor, and sit a moment in the
shade, to breathe some fresh air and recuperate my strength,
for I felt absolutely worn out.
As soon as the servant opened the door, without saying a
word, I entered and sat, or rather fell, on a chair which was
there. I presented my card, and said, " Please give this to the
Rev. Dr. Y, and tell him that I have some important thing to
communicate to him." The girl went and soon came back,
saying, " Dr. Y is busy, he cannot see you to=day, he is
to leave for the country this afternoon."
I answered: " Please tell Dr. Y that I want to see him only
two or three minutes on a most important business. It will
not delay him."
The servant took my message, but she did not come back.
I waited about five minutes, when the lad)'^ herself with
her bonnet on her head and her shawl on her arm, pre-
sented herself to me suddenly from the parlour. Without
saluting me she said, " Has not the servant told you that
Dr. Y was busy and could not see you? If you were a gen-
tleman, you would know that your business was to go. Well,
sir, I come to tell you that Dr. Y cannot see you. We are
just starting for the country; the carriage is there at the
door. If you have any business with my husband, do it by
letters; you cannot speak with him to=day. Please leave
this chair when nobody has invited you to sit on it."
If I 'had not gone promptly, it was evident that she was
prepared to push me out of the door herself, or call her serv-
ants to render her that service. I walked out at the double
quick to prevent my being forcibly ejected by the servants,
ii6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
whom I saw appronchinp: evidently by the order of their
mistress.
But I could not go far. The few minutes of rest rendered
a hundred times more i^ainful the blisters of my feet. Be-
sides that, my moral as well as my physical strength was
completely exhausted.
I was as a man who is drunk. The body was too heavy
for the enfeebled legs.
After a sleepless night, I had not had a l^reakfast of any
account, no dinner — and had been walking for the last five
hours under a burning sun in an atmosphere of 90 degrees.
Suddenly, all the objects around me seemed to turn as
spinning tops.
I walked a few rods, but soon my eyes could not see enough
to guide me. My feet struck on a stone at the corner of a
street, and I sank down on it unable to walk a step farther.
With my head resting on my hands, I began to cry: "Oh
my God! my God! what will become of my poor people!
Thou knowest it, I cannot consent to go back to see their
tears and hear their cries of desolation, if I cannot save
them from their terrible distress. I am ignominiously turned
out from every door of the so=called ministers, absolutely
without a friend in this city, without a cent remaining to
pay my lodging, unable to walk a step farther, the only
favour I ask from Thee is to put an end to my miserable ex-
istence just now."
My hope was that God had granted my prayer, for I had
hardly finished it when I lost consciousness. How long I
remained unconscious I do not know.
When I came back to myself, and opened my eyes, I saw
several peojjle around me, and a tall lady dressed in black,
who was shaking my head and saying: " What are you doing
here, sir?"
I was, for some time, unable to answer or to understand
my position. It seemed, at first, that I was dreaming.
The kind lady took my hand, and said again, " What are
The Famine 1 17
you doing here, sir?" With a feeble voice, I answered: " I
am sick, and unable to walk any farther."
Then the good lady, gazing at my face, exclaimed: "Are
you not Father Ohiniquy who addressed the noonday
prayer-meeting of yesterday, at the Sansom Street Church?"
" Yes, madam, I am."
" And you say you are sick and cannot walk. Why is it
so?''
" Because my feet are blistered, my boots are filled with
blood, and I am exhausted from having walked in the burn-
ing sun since ten o'clock this morning."
"O my God!" exclaimed the good lady. And then, call-
ing a cabman who was near by with his carriage, she told him :
"Please take that gentleman to my hotel; I will pay you."
She helped me to stand on my feet, and the cabman helping
me into his carriage, drove me to the hotel.
A few minutes after my arrival the kind lady, with a doctor
she had taken with her, was by my side in that comfortable
hotel. The name of that good Samaritan, of whom we will
hear more in this book, was Miss Rebecca Snowdon.
CHAPTER DC
The Angel of Mercy and the Manna from Heaven. God is Our Father,
We are His Children
Miss Rebecca Snowdon was the an^^el of the mercy of God
in the city of Phihidelphia. Having inherited a large for-
tune, which she had almost completely given for the support
of the poor, and the different Christian work of the churches,
she had an unparalleled influence among the ministers as well
as among the people. She was the soul and inspiring genius
of a large part of the Christian work of that great city. The
poor and the unfortunate from every class were looking to
her for help and consolation. At the same time the treasuries
of the rich were always open to her calls.
Not satisfied with taking me to her hotel and engaging one
of the best doctors to give me his care, she spent several
hours of the night with him at my bedside.
At first the doctor feared there were symptoms of sun-
stroke in my extreme prostration, and he did not conceal his
anxiety. He asked for another physician for advice. But
they concluded that my prostration was due only to anxiety
of my mind, the want of sufficient food, and too much walk-
ing in the burning atmosi^here of the city.
Both doctors did all that could be done to resiore me, and
my merciful God blessed their efforts in a marvelous way.
The next morning they declared that I was well enough to
attend the noonday prayer=meeting of the next day. Miss
Snowdon then said: "As the doctors hope that you will be
able to-morrow to attend the union prayer meeting of the
Sansom Street Church, I will go to see Mr. George H. Stuart
and ask him to arrange a special meeting of the ministers,
and you may trust in the Lord for the rest. Through the
118
Manna from Heaven
119
press I have followed your steps since your marvelous con-
version with your people. I have secretly written to several
ministers in your neighbourhood, and Mr. Stuart has done
the same. The best reports about your conversion and your
genuine evangelical work are in our hands, as well as the sad
history of the complete loss of your crops; Mr. Stuart knows
more about you than you suspect. All that can be done by
us to help you in your difficult work, will be done. Be of
good cheer, and trust in the Lord.
" There are millions of idle dollars in Philadelphia, New
York, Baltimore, and in the cities of New England. By the
grace of God some of those idle dollars must be unearthed
and go to save your starving people. There are thousands of
Christians who will be happy to share with you and your
people what the Lord has entrusted to them."
God only knows what balm these words were to my soul.
. . . After she had spoken, I asked her to read the 108rd
Psalm of David: "Bless the Lord, O my soul! and let all
that is within me bless His holy name." This she did.
After that she humbly knelt and sent to the Mercy Seat, for
me and my poor people, one of those ardent supplications as
she only could do.
That George Stuart of whom Miss Snowdon had spoken,
was known to me only by reputation. I knew he was one of
the greatest Christian philanthropists of our tinie; that he was
at the head of one of the rich banks of Philadelphia, and the
founder of the Young Men's Christian Association.
The next day he kindly took me, with Miss Snowdon, in
his carriage, to the noonday prayer^meeting of Sansom
Street Church, and he helped me to walk to the front pew,
for I was still quite weak, and my feet were not yet com-
pletely healed.
The'pressing invitation sent to all the ministers to attend
that meeting had spread the rumour that George Stuart and
Miss Snowdon had some very interesting new facts to present
about Father Chiniquy and his people. The church was
I20 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
crowded to its uttermost capacity by the 6lite of the city.
Not less than sixty ministers had come to the appeal.
As soon as the first pn4iminaries of the meeting were over,
Mr. Stuart, having asked and obtained permission to speak
twenty-five minutes instead of five, gave the history of our
conversion by reading half a dozen interesting letters of
ministers who had visited us. And he depicted the spectacle
of our sufferings from the loss of our crops with such a burn-
ing eloquence that there were no eyes dry in that large audi-
ence.
He concluded by saying: "It is one of our wisest regula-
tions not to beg any money in our noonday prayer-meetings,
and I will not break that law, but in the name of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, I ask all the ministers who are here, and those
of you my Christian brothers and sisters who can do it, to re-
main in order to hear from me and Miss Snowdon what we
consider to be our duty in this solemn hour.''
Only very few left tlie church after the benediction.
At the invitation of Mr. Stuart, the ministers came to the
front. After a fervent prayer from one of them, the assembly
was organized into a new one under the presidency of George
H. Stuart, in order to put to me the questions they desired
about our colony and myself. One of the leading ministers
then asked me if I had joined any denomination.
I answered, " No, sir, not yet. After we had accepted
Christ for our only Saviour and the Gospel for our only rule
of faith, we publicly gave up our allegiance to the Church of
Rome and we called ourselves Christian Catholics." •' Why
did you not connect yourselves with one of our great Christian
denominations?" asked that reverend gentleman. " That de-
nomination would have taken you by the hand, and they
would have helped you through your present difficulties."
I answered, " The joining of one of your denominations is
a more difficult thing than you suspect. You have no idea
how your unfortunate divisions look to the eyes of a new
Manna from Heaven I2I
convert from Rome. As you want me to speak plainly, I will
tell you the truth on that subject. Your divisions are a
frightful scandal to us: they make us unspeakably sad.
There we see the grand Episcopal Church so much opposed
to what she calls the dissenters, that she will not allow a sin-
gle one of their ministers to speak in her pulpits, or receive
the communion at her altars. Here we find the Presbyter-
ians divided into several camps fiercely fighting against each
other. Every one of you knows how the United States are
just now filled with the deplorable scandals of the war be-
tween the two grand sections of the Presbyterians under the
names of Old School and New School. A little further we
find the Lutherans with their crucifixes and so many other
ways of Romanism, assuring us that they are the best branch
of the Church of Christ. But at a little distance further we
see and hear the fiery and pious Methodists telling us a very
different story. I have many reliable volumes in my library
showing me that there are more than 100 different denomina-
tions of Protestants, many of them fighting each other like
wild cats! How can we find which is the best, the most
evangelical, the most really Christian among that multitude
of denominations, when they, more or less, condemn each
other? Have you ever thought of the amount of study required
to know which is the surest, the shortest way to heaven
among so many roads which lead into such different, not to
say opposite, directions? Do you not see that this is a most
intricate, difiicult, not to say impossible thing, for a man
just coming out from the dark dungeons of Popery? Oh!
dear Christian friends, why are you not one? Your divi-
sions, your animosities, your quarrels are a terrible stumbling-
block to us. When will come the happy day when the
Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Metho-
dists and the Congregationalists, etc., will embrace each other
and forget their differences at the dear Saviour's feet! Then
the world will be saved. Then and then only this world will
122 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
be brought by an irresistible, a Divine power, to the feet of
the Lamb who will make the people pure with His blood, and
free with His Word!
" You advise me, my dear and venerable brethren, to join
one of your denominations! It is my prayerful desire since
the happy day I found my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, who
washed my soul in His blood. But the more I study your
different books of explanations about your peculiar articles
of faith, the more I find it difficult, not to say impossible, to
make a choice. And the more I think that we, the new con-
verts of Rome, do well to accept for the only rule of faith the
answer of our Saviour to the young lawyer who asked him,
'Good Master, what must I do to have Everlasting Life?'
' Love God, My Father, who has so much loved you, that He
has sent Me to save you. Love your neighbour as yourself,
repent, believe, invoke My name, and you will be saved.'
Is that not the very platform brought from heaven by the
Son of God to save the world? My heart is sad when you in-
vite me to join one of your denominations. For I want to
join them all. I want to embrace them all and press them all
to my heart as equally being the children of God. Beloved
of Christ, I do not want to reject a single one of you, so
long as you love our Saviour Jesus Christ and believe in His
atoning blood to save us. But if I unite with the grand
Episcopal Church for instance, will I not then be deprived of
proclaiming my Saviour's love in the other churches? Will
it not be a sad necessity to consider myself above the rest of
my Methodist, Baptist, or Congregationalist brethren? If
I unite with the Baptists, after being immersed, will I not
be forbidden to sit at the Lord's table, as a brother, with the
Presbyterians and the rest of the Christians? Will not the
rest of the disciples of Christ be as excommunicated, profane
men, and strangers to me?
"Are you prepared to tell me that that platform built by the
hands of Christ Himself, ' Love God and thy neighbour,
repent, believe in Me, invoke My name ' is not large enough
Manna from Heaven 123
to keep us all: or that it is not holy enough to save us all?
" But I do not come here to teach you, my beloved and ven-
erable brethren, I come to be taught by you. It is my de-
sire to follow your advice and if possible join with one of your
Christian denominations. For I feel that if we do not, our
newly converted congregations will soon form, as a new di-
vision, a new denomination, under the name of Chiniquy's
church — a thing which we must avoid at any cost. That ap-
pellation of Chiniquy's church has already been given us, to
my great distress, by the Roman Catholics. But this choice
of the denomination with which we will unite requires a
great deal of attention, study and prayer. Please tell us how
much time you give us to make that choice?"
The reverend gentleman who had been selected to address
me, said, " As you have already read and thought much about
that matter, we think that you could give us your choice to-
morrow. We answer, I pledge my word of honour, that the
denomination you will join will take you and your converts
by the hand, and help you to go through the difficulties by
which your faith is so much tried."
And turning his face towards the ministers surrounding him,
he said: " Do you not sanction what I have said, and do you
not promise Father Chiniquy that you will do all in your
power to persuade your church to help him when he will have
connected himself with one of our denominations?" They
all answered, "Yes! we do promise that." I then said, "I
cannot sufficiently thank you, venerable and dear brethren,
for this unexpected, unmerited, and so great kindness towards
me. You give me one day to consider which is the most
evangelical Christian denomination among you, and if I
join that denomination, my dear people and myself will be
delivered from the terrible calamity which is upon us! This
is very kind, very liberal indeed! But allow me to show you
that I am still more liberal than you are. I do presently give
you three days to consider and solve that great question of the
most evangelical Church.
124 Forty Years in the Church ot Christ
" If it is an easy task for me, as you say, to find out that great
and marvelous secret in one day, it will be more easy for you
all to find it in three days. I am here alone, without expe-
rience, and without knowledge of the great questions involved
in that finding: whilst you will not only be sixty against one
to resolve that great problem, but you are among the most
learned men of the United States, being also well versed in all
the questions and the diflSculties involved in that work.
Yes! I ask you again, please take three days for your re-
searches, and the moment you unite in finding what I want
to know, tell it to me. I solemnly promise here that I will
connect with that denomination at once."
The last word was not yet out of my mouth when a burst of
enthusiastic applause shook the very walls of the vast edifice.
Every one seemed to be beside himself. They were clapping
thoir hands, striking the floor with their feet, waving their
handkerchiefs in sign of approbation, and crying, "Bravo!
Bravo! That is right! That is right!"
Mr. Stuart, who had been among the most enthusiastic in
applauding, rose, and said, "The lesson Father Chiniquy
has just given us, is one of the best we ever had: it is
worth a million of dollars. I wish all the echoes of our vast
plains and high mountains would carry them over all the
Protestant Churches of the five continents. Father Chiniquy
has put us Protestants into a bag outof which we cannot escape.
Yes! our miserable, ridiculous divisions are a shame! How
can we ask him to do a thing which not one of us can do —
nay, a thing which cannot be done by sixty, by a million of
us! Would to God that we were one as our Saviour Jesus
Christ wants us to be one, that the world might see that He is
really the Saviour of our world. Without that unity, I fear
much that our Christianity is a sham ! Would to God that our
theologians would have kept the Christian nations on that
platform on which Father Chiniquy and his people stand to=
day I
Manna from Heaven 125
" I move that no more effort be made to ask him and his
converts to come down from that large and divine platform
which he has so wisely chosen and on which he so nobly
stands! Is he not safe on it? Who will second my motion?"
And the whole assembly — ministers and people — were on
their feet to second it.
" I move a second motion," said Mr. Stuart, "which is, that
we respectfully ask the ministers and officers of every de-
nomination in Philadelphia to invite Father Chiniquy to ad-
dress their people every evening of next week, including the
Sabbath, and that collections should be taken at each meet-
ing for him and his people to save them from their great
tribulation."
. That motion was seconded with thunders of applauding
voices, "Here is my third and last motion," said Mr. Stuart.
" I move that just now, a collection be taken by Miss Snow-
don and other ladies she will choose, to help Father Chiniquy
and his people. I have had small cards put in the pews that
you may write your names with the sums you wish to give, if
you have not the cash with you; and to give a good example,
I put these $200 into Miss Snowdon's plate."
This motion was again seconded by the whole people. The
collection was immediately taken by Miss Snowdon and the
other ladies, and $1,500 were put into my hands, in good
promissory notes and cash, before I left the church!
The Israelites perishing in the desert from the want of
water, were not more filled with admiration and joy when
they saw the fresh water coming from the rock at the touch
of Moses' rod, than I was at the strange, unexpected and
marvelous spectacle which was before me.
The great Christian, George H. Stuart, had touched the
rock, and the fresh waters were coming to quench the thirst
and save my dear people. I was unable to speak only with
my tears of joy and gratitude. My emotion was too great
to utter any intelligent expression.
126 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
What I heard and saw that day was as marvelous to me
as the manna which had fallen from heaven at the prayer of
Moses.
I remained twenty days in Philadelphia addressing the peo-
ple in seventeen different churches. Then I went to New
York, where a still greater success was in store for me. Then
to Boston. Three months later, I was invited again, not only
by the ministers of those cities, but by those of Chicago,
Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Montreal, Toronto,
Springfield and many others. The churches were never large
enough to hold the people who wished to hear what I had to
say of the mercies of our God towards us.
Wherever I went, committees were formed under the name
of "Chiniquy's Committee," to raise money enough to pay
the mortgages, and buy food and clothing for the people. On
my first return home a committee was formed of six of our
principal converts of St. Anne, who selected me for the
president, and Mr. Staples for the secretary, to correspond
with our Christian benefactors, spread, I dare say, over the
whole world, for abundant help came from England, Scot-
land, Germany and even from the Australian colonies.
Before the end of the year, all the mortgages, to the amount
of $50,000, were paid. Two hundred barrels of flour had been
distributed, with as many bushels of potatoes, and thousands
of pounds of meat necessary to make the people forget the
terrible calamities which had struck them.
Besides that one hundred and fifty large boxes of good
clothing had been sent to be distributed.
When the last cent of mortgage had been paid, and the
numberless cutthroat mortgages given by our dear converts
had been torn into fragments, with our own hands, and thrown
into the fire; when every one had been fed and clothed and
the tears of distress had been changed into tears of joy,
I gathered my dear countrymen into their humble chapel, to
ask our merciful God to bless our benefactors, and to thank
Him for His mercies toward us. With the holy prophet we
Manna from Heaven 127
sang together, " O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good:
for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the
enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east,
and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they
found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led
them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of
habitation.
" Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and
for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He
satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with
food. Because they rebelled against the words of God, and
contemned the counsel of the most High: Therefore He
brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and
there was none to help.
"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of
darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in
sunder.
' ' Oh that men would praise the Lord for His good-
ness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"
(Psalms 107.)
CHAPTER X
A Lesson of the Mercies of God in Disguise
The terrible calamity by which our colony of St. Anne had
been visited in the year 1858-1859, was almost entirely con-
centrated on the fertile though low lands of our dear con-
verts.
By the mysterious providence of God, the farmers of the
surrounding country had generally been blessed with crops
almost as rich as usual. Of course the priests of Rome had
availed themselves of the fact to publish everywhere that
this was the visible punishment of God.
Though we knew very well that it was not so, we were hu-
miliated, embarrassed and confused when we had to speak on
that matter with those of our former friends who had remained
in the Church of Rome.
When considering that strange fact, in the presence of God,
more than once I had wondered in my desolation, "Why it
was that we have been visited by these calamities just after
we have heard and obeyed the merciful voice of our God, and
given up the idols of Rome to follow His holy Gospel?"
It was only when among our Protestant friends that I
understood that mystery of the love of God towards me and
my people. Without those calamities we would have re-
mained as strangers to the Protestants of the United States
and Canada. There would have been no intercourse be-
tween them and us, and we would have had no oppor-
tunity to understand the unfathomable abyss which sepa-
rates the unfortunate Roman Catholics from the regions
of light, intelligence, liberty and true charity which come
from the real promised land inhabited by the Protestant
128
God's Mercies in Disguise 129
nations. Yes! though reading our Bibles and walking in their
saving light, there would have been no opportunity, I dare
say no possibility, for myself and my converted countrymen
to rid ourselves of the prejudices in which we were born, and
in which we had lived and grown till then, if the apparently
rude, though mercifully tender, hand of our heavenly Father
had not forced me, in spite of myself, to go out from among
my own people, and to live for a considerable time among the
Protestants.
What was not the pleasure of Caleb and Joshua when, at
the orders of God, they went to explore the Promised Land,
after the many years spent in the burning sand of the wilder-
ness! How their eyes gazed with delight on the green pas-
tures, the gardens, the orchards and the vineyards along the
brook of Eshcol!
How amazed they were, when looking upon the magnifi-
cent and succulent clusters of grapes which were hanging
everywhere from the vines! How pleased they were, when,
bent under the burden of the grapes, the pomegranates
and the figs, they turned their steps towards the tents of their
own people to show them the incalculable richness of the new
land which God had given them!
But my joy was not less, when, after the several weeks spent
among the new brothers and sisters I had found in Philadel-
phia and the New England States, I was coming back to my
dear but so tried people of Illinois, loaded with the fruits I
had gathered on the way.
Surely the $56,000 I was carrying were not less precious
than the branch cut down with the cluster of grapes which
Joshua and Caleb brought to the Israelites in the wilder-
ness.
However, these large sums of money and the great value of
the food and clothing I had secured were nothing to me and
my people when compared with the value of the moral treas-
ures I had found wherever my merciful God had directed my
steps.
130 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
It was then, that, for the first time, I could compare the lives
of the Protestant ministers with the lives of the priests of the
Church of Rome. It was then, only, I could see the immeas-
urable superiority of the moral, literary, social, Protestant
education over that of the Roman Catholic. It was then also
for the first time I could compare the home life, the private
life, the manners and the daily habits of the Protestant min-
isters with those of the priests of Rome. It was then, in a
word, I could compare the unspeakable misery and degradation
of the bachelor priests of the Pope, with the beauty, dig-
nity and holiness of the married life of the ministers of the
Gospel.
One of the first things that struck me was the high tone of
conversation of the Protestant ministers. Wherever I went
among them, I had to admire not only their learning on all
the greatest questions of history and Scripture, but the con-
stant application of their time to the study and discussion of
what could improve, ornate, enrich and sanctify their minds
and characters.
What a difference between the conversation among the
Protestant ministers and what I had heard while among the
priests of Rome!
For the readers would refuse to believe me were I to tell
them what I know on that subject. I still blush when I remem-
ber the silly, the foolish, the degrading, the obscene things I
heard from the lips of those poor slaves of the Bishops and
the Popes.
Many times the most depraved tramp of our streets would
have felt ashamed to hear the filthy things which flowed from
their tongues as from their natural source.
How many times, after having vainly tried to silence them,
I was forced in disgust to leave the room, and to let them
alone to finish their unmentionable stories!
But how can it be otherwise when those forced bachelors
are obliged to spend the greatest part of their time in hearing
the infamies of the Auricular Confession ? Their minds are
God's Mercies in Disguise 131
absolutely filled with impurities so that there is no room left
for any honest thoughts. The daily, the hourly occasions
the priest of Rome has to speak with his penitents on the
most impure, immoral, unmentionable matters, destroy in
him the natural laws of modesty which separates man from
the brute.
Even the most honest priests cannot avoid hearing, every
day, or many times a day, the recital of the most impure, de-
filing stories. The natural, the irresistible tendency of
Auricular Confession leaves impressions in the mind and
memory, which, though resisted at first, soon become irresist-
ible for the greatest number of priests.
Can you keep your hands white and clean, if ten, twenty
times a day you plunge them into black ink or dirty pitch ?
Thanks to God there are exceptional cases here as well as
in everything else in this world. But these exceptions are
few and scarce.
Yes, through the defilements of Auricular Confession and
the degrading yoke of their diabolical celibacy, the priests,
as a general thing, have their minds, their hearts, their mem-
ory, their whole being so debased and degraded, that their
conversations (with exceptions) have an unbearable odor.
One of the most humiliating trials of my life when a priest
of Rome, was the hearing of their conversation.
After having spent several weeks in the Christian company
of those ministers and having remembered the tortures I had
sufiPered, when forced to hear the silly, disgusting, stupid or
childish conversations of the priests, I felt as having passed
from darkness into light, from death into life, from the doors
of hell to the mansions of the saints in heaven, and I blessed
my Grod for His mercies towards me and my people.
Another thing which made me understand that the dire
trials through which we had passed were among the greatest
favours of our God to us, was the opportunity it gave me, for
the first time, to see the blessed influence of the wife of the
minister not only in the parsonage but in the church.
132 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
It was when in the presence of those anp^els of the mercies
of God, at the side of the minister of the Gospel, that I
understood the sophisms of Rome about the celibacy of her
priests.
Everywhere, but particularly in the parsonage, the power
of the wife is like the influence of the sun in the world.
As the sun gives light and life to the world, so the wife of
the minister is a focus of light and life in the church. Not
only she adds to the moral strength and influence of the min-
ister by her presence, but she is herself a tower of strength
for her husband and his people.
She heljis him to console the afflicted and to feed the poor.
More than the minister himself, she finds out the secret trials
of the families, and she knows how to apply the remedy. She
is his best counselor in the hours of anxiety as well as his
surest aid in the darkest hours of trial.
As the sacred duties of the minister of the Gospel are
numerous, and as it is very often impossible for him to see
and do everything he would like to see and do, she supplies
him with a will, zeal, and a success which nobody else can
equal.
As the warm and shining rays of the sun expel the damp
atmosphere and the darkness from the house, so the presence
of the wife of the minister expels the chilly and dark atmos-
phere which turns the house of the poor bachelor priest into
a hell on earth.
Our great God knew well what He meant when He said, " It
is not good for man to be alone," and Paul understood well
also, the meaning of this sentence, when he said, "Let every
man have his own wife."
Marriage is not a human institution: it is a Divine one, in
this sense, that it has been instituted by God Himself. The
vows of celibacy are an insult to God. This is the reason
why we do not find a single word in the Bible in favour of the
vows of celibacy. Vows of celibacy are a Pagan institution.
The priests of Bacchus, just as the priests of Rome, were
God's Mercies in Disguise 133
bound by vows of celibacy. To=day, again, the priests of Vish-
nu, in India, like the priests of Rome, are tied by the impious
vows of celibacy before becoming the priests of their ugly
idols.
To keep his fatal and criminal vow of celibacy, the priest
of Rome has to fight against one of the most sacred as well as
against one of the strongest laws of his own nature, and in
that law implanted not only in his heart, but in his nerves, in
his flesh, in his bones, in every drop of his blood.
It is not against a giant man, nor against one of the an-
gels of God, man has to fight to keep his vow of celibacy,
but it is against his great God himself, he has to fight!
And that urgent fight has to be renewed every hour of the
day as well as every hour of the night!
I have known honest but deluded priests successfully fight-
ing all their lives and gaining a doubtful victory against their
God, on that terrible battle^ field. But for one who had con-
quered in that desperate battle, of his whole life, I have seen
ninety^nine miserably defeated and destroyed!
Yes, go around all the parsonages of the 3,000 priests of
Canada, the 10,000 priests of the United States and the 30,000
priests of France and I challenge you to find more than one
in one hundred of those parsonages in connection with
which there is no bad rumour. And if you can find one in
one hundred free from evil report I pledge myself to show
you ninety-nine parsonages in respect to which scandals have
come out, if not to day, the day before.
Let those who think that this is too general and too strong,
read the last mandement of one of the Bishops of Louisiana.
They will see that " No priest in his diocese shall be allowed
to preach except he has accepted the law promulgated that
' No servant girl shall be kept by him in his parsonage, ex-
cept when she will be in a room where no door will be placed
in such a way that the priests will be able to communicate
with her through it.' "
This shows you that the Bishops of Rome know pretty well
134 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
how their priests keep their vows of celibacy, when they have
the chance to break them. And why is it that this law of
the Church of Rome is that no priest shall keep any servant
girl in his house younger than forty years old?
Though very few priests ever keep that regulation, it proves
to the most blind on that subject, that the Church of Rome
herself knows that the vow of celibacy is a sacrilegious blind,
a sham, a fraud for the great majority.
A Princess of Italy, who was a nun for several years, Miss
Henrietta Carrociallo (she is still living), in her famous book,
" Mysteries of the Neapolitan Convents," tells you the same
thing.
Within my own j)ersonal knowledge, one of the late Su-
periors of St. Sulpice Seminary of Montreal, Rev. Quiblier,
was forced to leave the country after his guilt had been
proved in relation to very many of his penitents, among whom
were some of the first ladies of Montreal.
The Rev. Guyliot not long since was denounced and forced
to leave Canada, where he left many victims, having used
largely the confessional to carry on his satanic work.
Only wilfully blind people, to-day, in the whole world, ig-
nore how the priests of Rome make their vow of celibacy an
easy matter through the dark mysteries of Auricular Confes-
sion.
I had been the sad witness of those hellish mysteries for
twenty=five years, when a priest of that Church. How I
blessed my God when I could see the Christian dignity, the
blessed joys, the gospel and heroic virtues and zeal of the
married Protestant ministers! How happy and thankful to
my God I was when I could compare the calm and Christian
dignity of their ministerial lives in the midst of their fami-
lies, with the ignominious solitude, the almost constant scan-
dalous, though half suffocated rumours, the hell on earth, of
so many unfortunate priests of Rome!
I then blessed God with all my heart for the calamities
which had forced me to leave my sad wilderness to come and
God's Mercies in Disguise 13c
explore that Promised Land which was then mine. In the
midst of that land, how many marvelous things I had found
to fill the minds of my people with admiration and joy!
With the spies sent by Moses to explore the Promised
Land, I could say to my people on my return: "Surely the
land whither you sent me floweth with milk and honey: and
this is the fruit of it: the people that dwelleth in the land is
strong; the cities are walled and very great. And there we
saw the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshop-
pers, and so we were in their sight." But I had not to add:
" The land through which we have gone to search eateth its in-
habitants." It was the contrary, for, after all, I had found
nothing but kindness and heroic charity among its Christian
people. Surely I had found giants in that land. But we
had nothing to fear from those giants. I had found them all
enrolled under the banners of the Lamb whose blood has
been shed to save the world, and they had put their mighty
arms at our service to help us to fight and conquer the com-
mon foe.
CHAPTER XI
The Debts Paid
" He was wounded for our transii^ressions, He was bruised
for our iiii(iuities: the chastisement of our jDeace was upon
Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
" He shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities."
(Isaiah 53.)
" He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give Uh;
all things?" (Rom. 8:32.)
" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
(John 8: 14, 15.)
" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto Me." (John 12:32.)
As I dated the blessed hour of my conversion from the
moment that my Saviour came to me as the one who had
paid my debts and delivered me from the burden of my sins
by taking them upon Himself, the only object of my humble
labours and prayers since, has been to present that truth to
my dear countrymen so clearly that they might accept it, and
be happy as I was in its possession. What was then my joy
when I found in the present marvelous mercies of God for
us, the most admirable arguments and comparisons to make
them grasp and understand that mystery of the love of God.
as much as man can understand it.
The second time I came back from the East, loaded with
the donations of our Christian brethren to our new converts,
they had come to receive me at the Kankakee station in a tri-
ISG
The Debts Paid
137
umphal way, in order to give me a public expression of their
grateful feelings. More than one hundred buggies and
waggons overloaded with i^eople, old and young, with flags in
their hands, preceded my carriage on my way home. After
saluting them and on reaching the town of St. Anne, I re-
quested them to stop at the chapel that we might spend a
few moments in singing some of our beautiful French hymns,
and bless our heavenly Father for His mercies towards us.
After giving them some interesting details about the suc-
cess of my last efforts in collecting what we wanted to save
their properties from the hands of their creditors, I asked
and obtained permission to put a few questions to them.
Addressing, then, one of the most intelligent among them,
I asked him if he had any objection to tell us what was
the amount of his debt to the money lenders of Kankakee.
" The amount of my mortgage," he answered, " was $350 two
months ago." "And had you anything to pay that?" I
asked him. " I had not a cent," he answered. " You know
how I lost my crops by the frosts and the deluge which
visited us these last two years. My horses and my cattle had
perished as well from the bad quality of the food as from the
want even of that food." " Now, do you owe anything yet,
to-day?" I asked him. With a voice half suffocated with
emotion, he answered, "No, sir, I do not owe a single cent;
my whole debt is paid. The broker whom I visited last
week, to my great surprise and joy, told me that before start-
ing for your last trip to the East, you went to his office and
paid all that I owed. He added, that after paying the last cent,
j'ou had taken the note I had given him from his hands,
torn it into pieces, and thrown the fragments into the fire
in order that nobody could ever come against me with it."
Addressing the same dear convert again, I asked him:
" Are you very sure that this is not a fish story and a decep-
tion? How is it possible that your debt is paid to the last
cent, even before you knew it, when you had not given a
cent?" He answered: "lam sure that there is no deceit,
138 Forty Years In the Church of" Christ
no imposture, in that affair. The broker who told me that
has no interest to deceive me. Besides that, I know that
you have done the same thing for many others here around
me. It is a well=known fact that our mortgages have been
paid either by yourself or by the committee of which you are
president, and that our colony does not owe a single cent
more to the lenders of Kankakee; and we have no words to
tell you our joy, our gratitude to God, and to the benefactors
who have thus saved us from a sure and complete ruin."
After this honest man had given his views and expressed
his gratitude in his simple language, I asked him if he did
not find any comparison between this fact and the great mys-
tery of the salvation of the world through Christ, which
was the fundamental truth of the Gospel religion we had
lately accepted. " Yes, sir," he quickly answered, " there is
a great similitude between these two facts. For, just as our
Christian friends of the East have paid our debts to the
last cent, through you, so our heavenly Father had sent His
Son Jesus to pay our debts to His eternal justice, by shed-
ding His blood to the last drop, and dying on the cross. In
both cases the debts have been paid, and the debtors saved
from their creditors without paying a farthing. Our new
Christian brethren of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston,
have done for us in a material way what our Saviour Jesus
Christ has done in a spiritual way for this perishing world."
Then one of the crowd in the back seats said: "The com-
parison is not quite correct, for when our Saviour paid our
debts. He did not ask us to sign any obligation to repay that
to other people, but the committee (called Chiuiquy Commit-
tee) has forced several of us, and I, one of them, to sign a
paper by which we promise to give a certain rent according
to what was given us, to support a high school or college in
our midst."
These unexpected remarks came as a thunderbolt in a clear
sky and they seemed to make a deep impression.
I thought it my duty to answer and explain the mistake of
The Debts Paid 1^9
that good brother. "Do you not remember," I said, " that in
the beautiful parable of the rich man who had remitted the
debt of his poor debtor there was the secret but binding con-
dition that the one to whom the debt had been remitted, was
obliged to do the same thing to his debtors? So it is with
you, my dear friends: do not think that the marvelous favours
our heavenly Father has granted you do not impose any
obligation upon you. The admirable Christians of the East
are Protestants as you are to=day. With you they protest
against the religion of Rome, which deceives the world by
teaching that the sinners are relieved from their sins by
going to confess to a priest and by doing penances, abstaining
from meat on certain days or by gaining indulgence, etc.
These new brethren believe, like you, that they were sinners.
Through their sins they had contracted a heavy debt to the
justice of God. They even believe that that debt was so
great, that it was impossible for them to i)ay it. . . . But
they believe, as you do to=day, that God so much loved them,
that He sent His eternal Son, Jesus, to pay that debt, by
sufPering the most terrible humiliations, agonies and death.
However, these admirable Christians of Philadelphia, New
York and Boston, do not rest there. They believe that Christ
has put upon every one of them an obligation to love you as
He loved them, to help you as He helped them. They be-
lieve, in a word, that they have only performed one of their
Christian duties in doing for you in a material way what
Christ had done for them in a spiritual way.
"Now do not forget it. By accepting Christ and His Gospel
for your guide, you have accepted the obligation to do to
each other what Christ has done for you. You must bear the
burden of each other. Your life must be spent in doing
good to each other. The strong must help the weak, the rich
must help the poor. The fathers, more than ever in the past,
must consecrate their resources, not only to the material, but
to the moral and intellectual advancement of their children.
This is why the committee has wisely invited you to take the
140 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
public obligation to consecrate the interest of the large sums
of money sent you, to the support of a high school or a col-
lege where your own children will learn to become good
citizens and good Christians. Remark that it is not in favour
of strangers and peoj^le at a long distance, but that it is in
favour of yourselves (for your children are surely a part, if
not the better part, of yourselves) that you have contracted
that sacred obligation. It is the knowledge and practice of
that law that makes the Protestant nations so superior to the
Roman Catholics. It is to the knowledge and practice of
that divine law of mutual love and charity that you owe
to=day, the marvelous change of your position and the un-
speakable joy which fills your hearts. Surely you cannot
regret that the committee has invited you to accept that lov-
ing favour for yourselves and your children."
When I saw that these remarks had been well understood,
I said: " This humble house of prayer, after witnessing our
tears of desolation, is to day the witness of our joys: I hope
it will soon be the witness of our perfect consecration to the
service of God and the salvation of our countrymen who are
still under the heavy and ignominious yoke of the Pope.
Wherever I have been, through the Eastern and New Eng-
land States, I have seen an incredible number of French
Canadian emigrants working in the factories. The greatest
part of them has been forced to leave Canada to escape the
tyranny and the rapacity of their Roman Catholic priests.
For as soon as they have a cent in Canada, you know it well,
they must give it for the souls in purgatory, scapularies,
medals, images of saints — or they must give it to sing masses
to get rain if the weather is dry, or to stop the rain if there
is too much of it. What then remains of their money is
given to build splendid cathedrals with the palatial parson-
ages and nunneries which cover the country.
"Though still nominal Roman Catholics their faith is much
shaken. Many are free thinkers and infidels, for they have
already too much intelligence to boliovo the mummeries of
The Debts Paid 141
the Church of Rome. But they know nothing of the Gospel,
for they have no one to give them its Divine and soul=saving
doctrines.
" Many of those dear countrymen have come to me and I
could not refrain my tears of compassion when some of them
have said, ' Can you not come to teach us the Gospel as you
have done in Illinois, or can you not send some one to do it
in your place?" The thought then came to me that it was an
obligation to all here to grant them their petition. In the
midst of so many new converts we must hope that the God
of the Gospel has already chosen some to go and give the
bread of life to those perishing souls. Are there not here
some mothers and fathers who will offer their sons to the
Lord for that holy work? Are there not here among you, our
dear young men, some who will be happy to say to their
Saviour, ' Here, I am ready to go at any risk and peril to
preach the Gospel to those who do not know it yet.' Let
some prayers go to the Mercy Seat in every family, from to-day
to next Sabbath, in order to know the will of God on that
solemn question. Though I have not a cent, to-day, in hand,
for that great and glorious work, my trust in God is so great,
that I pledge myself to find the means we want for the young
men among us who will hear and obey the voice of heaven
when calling them to spread the light of the Gospel among
our Roman Catholic countrymen."
And with a short prayer and the singing of a hymn I dis-
missed the people.
CHAPTER XII
New Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard
" r/ie harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His
harvest."
The Lord of the harvest had heard the humble but ardent
supplications of our dear converts during that memorable
week.
There was not a father who, from the bottom of his heart,
had not secretly asked the Good Master to take one of his
sons to work in His blessed vineyard. There was not a
mother who had not offered some of her beloved ones on the
altar of her Christian love to spread the Gospel. And many
of our boys had said: "Beloved Saviour, here I am: com-
mand, and I will obey."
Twice during the week we had had public meetings in the
chapel, to pray the " Lord of the Harvest " to make His own
choice among our young men, and to fill the hearts of those
whom He would choose with His Holy Spirit.
At the morning assembly of the next Sabbath we had an
immense meeting. The weather was splendid, and our large
chapel was crowded to its utmost capacity.
I had taken for my text the first verses of the sublime
one hundred and fifth Psalm, "O give thanks unto the Lord;
call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people,
" Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His
wondrous works :
" O ye seed of Abraham, ye children of Jacob His chosen.''
After bringing to their memory the marvelous things the
Lord had done, by breaking the chains which had kept them
142
New Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard 143
so many years tied to the feet of the idols of Rome, I made
them remember their desolation at the ruin of their crops,
which had forced them to mortgage their j)roperties at such
conditions that they could not be saved from a complete ruin
without a miracle of the mercies of God.
" But you understand, dear brethren, " I added, " that when
our great God performed that miracle of His mercies, He im-
posed upon you the sweet obligations of gratitude. Your
own consciences as well as your intelligences tell you that
you have something to do, even before the world, to show
that you understand what has been done for you. Now let
me mention some of those obligations.
" First, with Joshua, let every one of you say from his heart:
'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Yes;
let that great God, who has brought you out of a slavery a
hundredfold more degrading and oppressive than that of the
Egyptians, be your Ruler, your King, as He has shown Him-
self your merciful Father.
" Second, let every family of St. Anne be as a tower of light^
so bright that it will be seen from a far distance, to expel the
dark night of the errors of Rome from our colony. . . .
But there is another obligation of which I said a word the
other day on my return from the East. Some of your sons
must be called to preach the Gospel. O! let them obey the
appeal! Let them heroically be ready to give up home,
father, mother, brother, and sister, to follow Christ and help
me to spread the Gospel truths among the multitudes of our
countrymen who are scattered everywhere in the cities as
well as in the country places of the United States. This is
the third and most sacred obligation we have contracted to-
wards our God when we have accepted the great and many
tokens of His mercies."
My whole address was then on the privilege and honour
of being associated with the Apostles of Christ when preach-
ing the Gospel, and saving the precious souls for which He
shed His precious blood on the cross.
144 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
I ended by saying: " Let us spend this whole day in hum-
ble supplications to the throne of mercy for those whom the
beloved Saviour will choose, that He may give them the
courage to follow His voice, and consecrate themselves to
His service. This evening, at the end of the meeting, I will
call those who have heard the voice of the Good Master to
come forward bravely and publicly, that we may know and
bless them, and that we may offer them to the Lord, as the
most precious otfering we can present Him."
My request had been well understood. The hours between
the two public services of that day were, almost every-
where, spent in fervent prayer At last the hour of the
evening service arrived. The crowd was so great that the
chapel could hardly contain them all. Every one was
anxious to know who among our young men would come
forward and offer themselves to preach the Gospel. This
was a secret known only to God; for not a single one of them
had said a word about it to anybody — not even his parents.
I, myself, was as ignorant as the rest of the people on that
affair. The subject of my evening address was: " The Church
of Rome was the great Babylon which had corrupted the
world with the cup of her enchantments, idolatries, and im-
purities. But the time was approaching when the Lamb
would destroy it by calling those for whom He had shed His
blood out of her walls." I showed them that, in the
marvelous providence of God, we were the first people who,
as a whole community, had been called out of that Babylon,
on the continent of America; but I assured them that we
were not to be the last. Our example would be followed.
I gave the names of many places where Roman Catholics,
by hundreds, had already expressed to me their desire to
break the yoke of the Pope. I told them that they were only the
vanguard of an army called by the great Captain of our sal-
vation to fight and destroy Rome on the continent of America;
that we had only to keep ourselves faithfully united around
New Labourers In the Lord's Vineyard 145
the blessed banners of the Gospel, and the Grod of heaven
would soon give us the most glorious victory, etc.
After the address, I said: " Let us kneel and pray silently
our merciful God to make the choice of His own ambassadors,
and give them the courage to come forward that we may
know and bless them." And we knelt.
The silence of that vast multitude, humbly prostrated, was
very solemn. After three or four minutes, I broke the silence
by saying: " Dear young men of St. Anne, who have given
your hearts to Christ, the beloved Saviour, after washing your
souls in His blood, and who wish to spread the knowledge of
His mercies and His love among those who do not know them,
please come forward around me, that we may know and bless
you."
A pretty long silence followed my appeal; but many mothers'
and fathers' hearts were beating hard within their breasts in
the anxiety to know if one of their boys was to be among those
called to be the blessed minister of that Gospel which was
now so precious to them.
At last we heard a little noise in the back seat. It was one
of our dearest young men, who, rising uj) from his knees, was
walking with a slow step and a face beaming with all the
marks of true piety and courage. All along the way, the peo-
ple had to rise from their knees to let him pass through the
aisles. From every side we heard whispers: "May the Lord
bless you." He had hardly been half a minute near me, when
another one from another place in the church came and took
his place by the side of the first one, and then another and
another, till thirty=three fine young soldiers of Christ were
forming a line between the people and me.
No pen can give a true idea of the sentiments of joy and
surprise of the people at the sight of that numerous band of
brave boys coming to enroll themselves under the banners of
the Gospel. Tears of joy were flowing on every cheek. But
the most happy of all were the loving fathers and mothers
146 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
who saw their beloved boys marching, with a firm step, to
join the recruits of the armies of the Lord.
Beside myself with joy, I took every one of them by the
hand, and I presented them, in the name of the whole people,
to the Divine Conqueror of souls as the best offerings we
could present to Him in return for what He had done for us
The rest of the evening service was a thanksgiving one
It was very late at night when we left our humble but dear
chapel, our souls embalmed with such feelings of gratitude
to God as no human words can express.
Before dismissing our dear young Christian recruits, I in-
vited them to come the next day and spend the afternoon
with me, that I might give them my plans for their future.
The hope of having, in the near future, so many helpers in
my evangelical labours was opening new horizons before me
New blood, I dare say, was put into my veins. I felt a new
courage and Christian strength in my heart.
Already more than two hundred heads of Roman Catholic
families, all French Canadians, had given me their names, in
Chicago, as renouncing the errors of Rome to accept the Gos-
pel for their only rule of faith; forty=five in Ottawa, fifteen in
Joliet, forty in Middleport, one hundred in Kankakee City, and
more than two hundred in the surrounding cities in Illinois,
Indiana, and Michigan had done the same thing, though
I had visited them only a few times. What could I do, if
left alone, to cultivate such large and promising fields? But
with the hope that my merciful God would give me so many
helpers, the future was suddenly becoming as bright as it
had been cloudy till now. The first thing I had to do was
to give them able, Christian teachers, and in the good provi-
dence of God we soon found them, and I soon got the means
I wanted for that.
But before long I found that the absence of one or two of
their young men was too much for our farmers, who were
obliged to engage strangers to take their places in the fields
I engaged myself to give $8.00 a month to help each
New Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard 147
family in getting a supply for the one whom I retained in
our modest preparatory college, which we called, " The Sav-
iour's College."
I do not want the reader to believe that every one of these
young men became a minister of the Gospel, for some of
them had to give up their classes for want of health, some
were killed in the Civil War, where they had to go and fight
the Southern army, a few changed their minds and took
other positions; but we always tried to keep the same num-
ber in that company. As in the war, when one falls on the
battle= field, his place is as soon taken by another one, so we
succeeded, in the good providence of God, to find new ones
to take the places of those who were missing from the rank
and file. We now count fifteen ordained ministers of the
Gospel from among the young converts of our first congre-
gation of St. Anne. One of them, the Rev. Mr. Boudreau,
is the pastor of our congregation of St. Anne, which I put
into his hands in my eightieth year of age.
To push these young men through their studies till their
ordination to the ministry, we had to meet terrible obstacles
and to overcome the most formidable opposition from the
very men who ought to have helped us. But with the aid of
God we have gone through all diflSculties, and pulled down
all the obstacles. Suffice it to say that after these dear young
men had studied two, three and four years in our preparatory
modest Saviour's College, we sent them to the colleges of
Montreal, Toronto or Chicago to finish their course of
philosophy and theology. It is now my unspeakable joy
to see fifteen of them working with me with great zeal and
success for the conversion of the Roman Catholics in their
respective fields.
CHAPTER XIII
• A Macedonian Cry from Canada
" And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood
a man of Macedonia, and prayed, saying: Come over to Mace-
donia and help us." (Acts 16: 9.)
Two very important letters had been addressed to me from
Quebec and Montreal in the beginning of January, 1859.
The first was signed by about five hundred well-known
names, — the second by about one hundred of the principal
Roman Catholic French Canadians of the latter city.
Both letters were pressing invitations to go and address
them on my reasons for leaving the Roman Church.
Many times before receiving these letters, the thought had
come to me that it was my duty to go to Canada and attack
the Church of Rome there, in her very stronghold. But I
had i)ostponed that work on account of the formidable diffi-
culties and dangers connected with it. No two other places,
probably, in the whole world, could be found, where Rome is
so strong as Quebec and Montreal. To go and attack that
giant power where it was surrounded and protected by its
most impregnable citadels and armed with its most terrible
weapons seemed to me a foolish thing, — a sure suicide.
Such was my way of reasoning till I received these two
letters. But my views had to be modified and changed after
their recei^tion. How could I shut my ears to the cries of
those precious, but perishing souls, who were so pressingly
asking me to go and give them the bread of life?
At the voice of one Macedonian, heard through a vision of
the night, Paul had left everything to meet the appeal. Was
it not my duty to go, when, not called by only one voice
through a night vision, but by so many hundreds, and in such
lis
A Macedonian Cry from Canada 149
a public and solemn way? Having been assured by Mr.
Gustave Demers, our ablest young evangelist, and Mr.
Gauthier, our principal high school teacher, that they would
give the Sabbath instruction during my absence, I deter-
mined to start the last week of January to go and work one
or two months in Canada.
I will not speak of the distress of the people of St. Anne
when I told them that resolution from the pulpit the next
Sabbath. With tears and sobs they asked me not to go and
expose myself to such evident dangers in Canada. I an-
swered them that I felt it was the will of God that I should
go; that my trust was in Him for protection. They would
pray for me, day and night, during my absence, and I would
come back to them full of a new strength, after sowing the
good seed in our dear Canada, where the good Master would
bless it, and make it grow one hundred fold in the hearts of
their brothers, sisters and friends who were longing after it.
When on my way to Montreal I had to spend a day in
Toronto. I was not there three hours, when I received a letter
from the provincial Sub. Secretary, Mr. Parent, telling me:
"His Excellency, the Governor, in an informal conver-
sation yesterday about you, has expressed the desire that I
should try to dissuade you from going to the Province of
Quebec to preach against the Church of Rome. Your pres-
ence there for such an object will probably bring riots
which the government will not be strong enough to pre
vent or to stop. You know how Gavazzi, not long ago.
came very near to being murdered, and how many were killed
and wounded around him. Let this deplorable fact teach
you to be more prudent; please do not raise difficulties or
conflicts in the Province of Quebec, of which you may be the
first victim. Allow me to give you the same advice. Do not
shut your ears to the voice of
"Your most devoted friend,
" Etienne Pakent
*' Sub. Secretary."
150 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
I answered:
"My Dear Mr. Parent: —
" Please accept for yourself and give to his Excellency the
assurance of my j^ratitude for the interest you take in my
safety. But remember that I am now a soldier of Christ,
enrolled under the sacred banner of His cross. If I have to
shed my blood and die when fiojlitin^ for its triumph over its
enemies, in our dear Canada, that blood will not have been
shed in vain, and my death will be the most desirable one I
can wish for.
" Truly yours,
"C. Chiniquy."
When on my way from Toronto to Montreal, at several
stations I received threatening telegrams, telling me that I
was to be attacked on my arrival. But as these threats were
not signed by any known persons, I did not pay any attention
to them, thinking they were only designed to frighten me.
I was, however, to see the reality of the danger when the
train arrived at the Montreal station, the first of February.
A dense but silent multitude, such as I had never before seen
at any station, was there, evidently looking with anxiety for
the arrival of somebody.
Suspecting that I was the object of these anxious lookers-
on, I thought that prudence required me to conceal myself as
much as I could. I had a fur overcoat: I raised it in such
a way that my face was perfectly concealed; my eyes only
could be seen.
With the hope that no one would recognize me, I went
down from the cars, and walked two or three steps through
the dense crowd where everyone was whispering around me,
" Where is he? Where is he? "
The accents of the voices, as well as the features of the
multitude, told me that I was in the midst of a mob of furi-
ous and bloodthirsty Irishmen. All of them were armed
with sticks, which they were brandishing over their heads.
A Macedonian Cry from Canada 151
Of course this made me more determined than ever to keep
incognito, I pushed as hard as possible through the crowd,
but it was so dense that it was difficult to move on. My anxi-
ety was increasing with the incessant demands, at first whis-
pered but soon loudly uttered: " Where is he? Where is he?
Thed apostate!"
At last a loud voice was heard at a pretty long distance
from me, in French, " Le P^re Chiniquy est-il ici?" "Is
Father Chiniquy here?" I confess it to my shame: that
voice sent a thrill of terror through my whole frame, when I
felt sure that the multitude which surrounded me was com-
posed of Irish Roman Catholics (many of them drunk)
evidently there to murder me.
My only chance of escape was to remain incognito, till I
could find a sleigh to take me to my hotel.
The first cry, " Le PSre Chiniquy est-il ici? "Is Father
Chiniquy here?" had been followed by a deadly silence; but
bloody eyes, such as I have never seen, were looking sharply
on every side, when the lips, now more free, were filling the
air with enraged voices: "Where is he? The d apos-
tate!"
Praying my God to protect and shield me, I was more and
more trying to make my way through that unpleasant crowd,
when another voice was heard asking, with a very strong
and energetic accent, " Est-ce que le P^re Chiniquy n'est
pas \h quelque part?" " Is not Father Chiniquy somewhere
here?" But by this time the voice was very near, not two
feet distant from me. Though I had no idea that the voice
was a friendly one, and, though I was still under the impres-
sion that that whole crowd was composed of people thirsting
for my blood, I felt so ashamed of my cowardice that, with a
still louder voice I answered, " Oui, le P6re Chiniquy est ici.
Que lui voulez-vous?" " Yes, Father Chiniquy is here. What
do you want of him? " The last syllable was still on my lips,
when, as quickly as a flash of lightning, I saw a great num-
ber of people rushing around me from every side. But they
152 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
were pushing themselves with such energy that no one could
stand bofcre them. Those who were not in the secret of this
movement, were falling on every side like the grass when the
irresistible torrent suddenly rushes from the mountain.
Absolutely unable at first to understand what this new
noise and tumult meant, I stood a moment amazed and be-
wildered. But the mystery was soon explained, when a
friendly voice whispered in my ear: " Ne sortez pas de nos
rangs. Nous sommes des amis accourus pour sauver votre vie
menac^e par une troupe d'Irlandais ivres et furieux qui
veulent vous assassiner." i. e., " Do not move out of our
ranks. We are friends coming to protect you against a band
of Irish drunkards who want to kill you." In less than a
minute, I found myself surrounded by three circles of brave
and well armed French Canadian countrymen.
Knowing that there was a plot in the lowest classes of the
Irish Catholics to take away my life when I would arrive at
the station, seventy^five intelligent and fearless young coun-
trymen had formed a secret association under the name of
" Francs Fr^res," and they had drilled themselves in the most
perfect way for several days, in order to be able to go through
the crowd with the swiftness and power of an irresistible
hurricane, and to form three impenetrable rings around me.
I felt that my merciful God had looked in His mercy on His
unprofitable servant. He had chosen those dear young country-
men as (lie angels of His mercy to save my life in that hour,
when so many were engaged to take it away. I blessed Him
from the bottom of my heart. I felt absolutely safe in the
midst of those three rings. I would have pitied the poor
Irishmen who would have tried to go through those circles to
strike me.
My generous friends had in readiness a number of sleighs
to take us to the St. Lawrence Hall where they had engaged
the best rooms for me, including the beautiful large parlour,
for the price of $50.00 a day.
A Macedonian Cry from Canada i ^2
One of the leaders of that band of dear countrymen, was
Guibord, whose burial was to make so much noise a few years
later.
What was my surprise and joy when those friends, giving
me their names after our arrival at the hotel, I found that
they were the 6lite of the literary as well as the cream of
our best and wealthiest French Canadian families of Mon-
treal. With only one exception they all belonged to the
Church of Rome.
To understand better my feelings of admiration and grati-
tude, let the reader remember that the previous Sabbath, the
Bishop of Montreal had ordered a mandement to be read in
all the pulpits, forbidding the Roman Catholics to have any-
thing to do with me. To speak to me or hear me was a dam-
ning crime, for which they would be excommunicated. And
that mandement had been published in all the French daily
papers.
The actions of those dear countrymen who, in spite of such
a threat, had exposed their lives to protect mine, and who
were surrounding me in that splendid parlour, and overwhelm-
ing me with all the tokens of their respect, w-as already the
assurance of a more glorious victory over Rome than I had
ever expected. They remained with me till twelve at night,
then left me after having concerted the plans of campaign for
the rest of the month, with the utmost prudence and wisdom.
But before leaving, they granted me the favour I had asked, to
read the one hundred and third Psalm: " Bless the Lord, O
my soul! And let all that is within me bless His holy name."
And when alone I read again the so simple and sublime
expressions of the gratitude of David for the mercies of his
God. In fact, where could I find words more appropriate to
express what I felt, after such narrow escapes and such mar-
velous protection in the very hour of danger? My heart was
filled with the hope that, though this evangelical mission was to
be connected with great dangers for my life, it was to be a
154 P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
most blessed one. All the echoes of the plains and the
mountains of Canada, were bringing to the ears of my soul
the dear Saviour's words, " Fear not ... I am with thee."
The last thought of my mind and the last words of my lips,
on that memorable night, were: "The Lord is my shepherd;
whom shall I fear? "
CHAPTER XIV
The Gospel Preached to Thousands of Roman Catholics fo Montreal. I hear
the Priest of Napicrville Denounce me from his Pulpit
The Lord of Hosts is With Us; The God of Jacob is Our Refuge.— Fs. 46:2
My heart would have fainted within me, the morning of
the second of February, 1859, had not the words of ihe
prophet, read at the head of the chapter, come to strengthen
me.
Very early the tempter had whispered in my ears, " What can
you do here, when alone, cursed by the whole clergy, and abso-
lutely forsaken by the Protestants. For have you seen anyone
of their ministers or people here last night to shake your hand
or to give you a welcome? No! The seventy = five French
Canadians who saved your life are freethinkers who do not
care a straw for the Gospel you want to preach.
"They like you because they think that you will help them
to demolish the power of the priests whom they hate and fear.
But they are night-birds, you will not see them during
the day. They are ashamed of you. They do not want
to be known or be seen among your friends.
"The ground on which you stand here is cursed by the
Bishops and priests as well as by their faithful Roman Catho-
lic people . . . cursed by the Church of Rome, despised
by the Protestants, you will be left alone in these large par-
lours as if infected with the smallpox. You have made a fool
of yourself by coming back to Canada after your apostasy
from the Roman Catholic Church, You have to go back to
your colony covered with shame and followed by the exe-
crations of your French Canadian fellow countrymen. Far
from converting them from their errors, you will make them
stronger in their faith by your miserable failure."
155
156 Forty Years In the Church of Christ
There was so much common^sense in those thoughts that I
had no answer to give thtun. I felt for a time overwhelmed
by their weight. Those thoughts were to my mind what the
dark clouds are to the sun in a stormy day; they had taken
away tlie light. I felt surrounded l)y such a desolating
mental darkness, that I could not see where to put my feet,
or on what side to turn my face. Alone in that large parlour
of St. Lawrence Hall, which my friends had engaged for me
at such a high price, it seemed that my position was so
ridiculous and so compromising, that the people would speak
of sending me to the lunatic asylum before the end of the
day.
Whether pacing that large parlour, alone, or sitting in one
of the fine chairs or sofas, without anyone to exchange a
word of frieniiship, or inquire about me, I was asking my-
self, "What shall I do here? Why did I come to Montreal?
Where are those who invited me to come and speak to them
of the Gospel?" There was no answer to my inquiries — no
echo to my fainting voice. At the breakfast table I had
tried to exchange a few words with the two guests nearest me,
but they had refused to answer; the servants were keeping as
far as they could from me as if I had had the plague.
Ten oV-loek had struck and I was still alone! Every mo-
ment of that solitude seemed to me as long as an endless
night looks to the poor sick when devoured by a deadly fever.
My heart was tilled with an unspeakable sadness. My poor
soul seemed to be crushed under a mountain of lead. I fell
on my knees, and as much with tears as with my lips I prayed
to the only One from whom help, strength and life can come.
But my merciful God had heard my humble supplications
even before I had uttered them. For I was hardly on my
knees to pray, when I heard three knocks at the door. The
waiter was come to say that several persons wanted to see me.
" Let them come in," I answered. And it was my unspeak-
able joy to see a band of thirty farmers from the vicinity of
Montreal, who had been among my most devoted friends when
Preaching in Montreal 157
I was preaching temperance, enter to give me a hearty shaking
of hands with the assurance that the whole people all around
Montreal w^ere pleased to hear of my coming again to spend a
few weeks in Canada.
I had not finished offering them the chairs and the sofas to
sit on, when a still larger number followed, and so on till the
large hall was so filled that there was no more room to sit or
to stand. I was beside myself with surprise and joy.
" My dear friends," I said, " I have no words to tell you
how I thank God for the privilege He gives me to see so
many of my dear countrymen here, around me, to=day . . .
You remember how happy we were together, some years ago,
when I was establishing the societies of temperance all over
Canada. I see by the expression of pleasure on your friendly
faces, that you remember those happy days. I was then
going among you with a drop of the waters which flow
from the fountains of eternal life — temperance. You tasted
that drop and you found it sweet. You accepted that tem-
perance as one of the greatest blessings God had ever given
to your families and to our dear country. But it was in this
Bible that I found that blessed drop of water. To=day I
come to offer you not only a drop, but the whole fountain of
the waters of life, by presenting you this Bible, as the most
precious gift heaven has ever given to earth. Yes! I am
coming back into the midst of my dear countrymen, to ask
you to accept this Bible as the most precious treasure God
has ever given to man. You will accept it, I hope, as the
bread of your souls, as the light to your steps, as the key
which opens the gates of heaven to those who possess it."
For about one hour I spoke on the Bible and on the
necessity to accept, read and study it in every French Ca-
nadian family, as the only way to make our dear Canada
happy, great, prosperous and free.
Never have I seen anything like the attention, respect and
pleasure of my auditors as in that happy hour when one of
the chief policemen in the city came and interrupted me by
158 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
sayinp, "The street before the hotel is absolutely crammed with
such H multitude of people, who waut to see and hear you,
that the circulation is completely stopped. Though it is
against the law to let such a crowd fill the street, we did not
like to be hard on them, when they tell us that their only de-
sire is to see and hear you once more, if it were only for
a few minutes. Would you be kind enough to grant the
recjuest they have asked me to ask you, which is to show
yourself at the window and address them for a few minutes?"
Asking the crowd around me to pardon me if I would leave
them alone for a few minutes, in order to grant the petition
of their friends, who were in the street, I opened the window.
To my unspeakable surprise I saw that the policeman had not
exaggerated. The street was absolutely crammed by such a
compact multitude, that the usual circulation was impossible.
The noisy expression of the joy of that crowd when I put
my head outside of the window was such that I became al-
most mute by the sentiments of emotion which filled my
heart. My address lasted about fifteen minutes — on the text:
"I am not a.shamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth."
After exhorting them to read and follow the Gospel, as the
surest guide to an eternal life of happiness, as the only way to
become a happy, great and free people, I thanked them for
the joy they had given me by coming, some of them a long
distance, to hear the Christian message I had to deliver to
them, and atklressed a short prayer to our merciful heavenly
Father to bless them all with their families.
Then a voice from the crowd said, "Would you be kind
enough to give me one of those Bibles of which you have
said such . beautiful things?" " Yes, my dear friend," I
an.swered, "come this afternoon and you shall have as many
as you want."
It was then nearly twelve o'clock, I had spoken over an
hour and a half, a part of the time in the open air, through
the window, and I was feeling tlie want of rest; so, after a
Preaching in Montreal 159
short prayer, I dismissed the crowd which was filling the
parlour. But many of them had questions to put to me, and
they asked permission to come again, after expressing grati-
tude for what they had heard.
Where can I find words to tell the sentiments of admiration
and gratitude I felt towards my God when alone, thinking of
the marvelous things that I had seen that morning?
Peter could not have been more astonished and grateful at
the enormous quantities of fishes he had hauled in his nets,
at the voice of the Saviour, than I was at the incredible num-
ber and the respectful attention of the people who had come
to hear the messages of peace I had delivered to them.
What had just occurred that morning was not less miracu-
lous, to me, than the hauling of the fishes, to Peter. Both
occurrences were true miracles of the mercies of God.
Two o'clock had not struck before not only the large par-
lour was again crowded to its utmost capacity, but the street
before the St. Lawrence Hall was so filled with the people
of the city and the surrounding country, that it was rendered
impassable. At the request of the police, I began by address-
ing from the window my friends in the street. After I had
spoken to them for half an hour, and had dismissed them, I
gave an address of one hour to those in the parlour. But when
I had closed that address, a new crowd, as large, which had
gathered in the street and in the corridors filled again the
large hall and it was nearly five when, absolutely exhausted, I
was left alone to breathe.
I soon, however, forgot my fatigue, when one of the great-
est Christians of Canada, Sir William Dawson, with Mr.
James Court, one of the founders of Pointe aux Trembles
College, was kind enough to visit me and invite me to dinner
with him at his residence, McGill University. The 6lite of
the Protestants of Montreal, the Dougalls, the McKays, the
Redpaths, the Lymans, etc., were there to give me the first as
well as the most earnest Christian welcome I ever received
from my Protestant brethren of Montreal.
i6o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
But I could reuinin with them only till ('ij:,'ht o'clock, when
my French Canadian friends came with sleighs to take me to
the Mechanics Tlnll, where 2,000 of my Roman Catholic
countrymen wi're waiting' f(jr a lecture on the reasons why I
had left the Church of Rome. In order to keep the rowdy
class from our mectini^'s, my friends had determined that no
one should enter the hall without paying twenty=five cents to
help me to meet my expenses.
But will not the readers help me to bless the Lord with the
old propliet, that the works of His mercies are above all the
works of His hands, when I tell them that the story of this
my first day in Montreal, is the history of the following four
days, with the only exception that the next day I took dinner
with Mr. Lyman and the third with Mr. Redpath? By the
good providence of God, though we were in the coldest sea-
son of Canada, those four days spent in Montreal were so
mild and the sun so bright, that the snow was melting all the
time. We had not any trouble in any of the meetings except
that on the Saturday night, when a few men, sent by the
priests, tried to make some noise, but they were stopped by
the police and turned out of the hall.
During those four days it had been my privilege to present
the Bread of Life to at least 10,000 hungry souls and to dis-
tribute 800 Bibles and Testaments. Eternity alone will re-
veal the good done during those four days. The Church of
Rome lost her power over many who began to see the light
of the Gospel and to love it, and though the fruits were not
ripe to be gathered immediately into the granaries of the
Father, the good seed was not lost. Today we see the fields,
everywhere, covering themselves with a rich crop which will
soon be ripe.
The night of Saturday had been chosen by my friends to
drive me to Napierville, which was the first parish we wished
to attack.
Though 1 was very tired, I traveled all night, in order to be
Preaching in Montreal i6i
in that village at the dawn of the Sabbath. It had been
found less dangerous to select that time.
It was about four o'clock Sunday morning when I could
take some rest in a dear friend's house. The sleep from
four to eleven that morning was sweet indeed. For my heart
was filled with such a joy! And the expressions of gratitude
of the thousands I had preached the Gospel to, the last four
days, were like music from heaven to my soul.
When the hour of dismissing the Roman Catholics from
their church, after mass, had come, I dressed myself to go and
meet the people at the door of the church. My host tried to
dissuade me from that project, by showing the evident danger
I was running to be insulted, or even beaten if not killed by
the people. " It is to=day," he said, " that the letter of the
BishoiD against you will be read in the church . . . you
will be shown there under the darkest colours. The people
will be furious against you when they will have heard their
priest calling you ' a devouring wolf.' Do not go into the
midst of such a people when there will not be any one to pro-
tect you." I answered him, " You are mistaken when you
think that I am alone. I do not come here in my own name,
or for my private interest and pleasure. There was no pleas-
ure for me last night to travel through the three feet of snow
and the frost of one of your coldest nights of a Canadian win-
ter; and I have no personal interest, surely, to go into the
midst of that poor deluded people. But I am the ambassador
of Christ and I am sure He is with me to jDrotect and shield
me as He protected Daniel in the den of lions."
And I went to the door of that large church. When there,
without noise, I opened it a little to see if the service was
near the end. The priest was in his high pulpit, just begin-
ning to read the long and terrible letter of the Bishop against
me. I was represented as, the ambassador of the devil, a mon-
ster, a devouring wolf among defenseless lambs. The people
were forbidden under pain of excommunication and eternal
1 62 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
damnation, to hear nie, shake hands with me, to lodge and
receive me into their houses, etc.
Wlien tlu' priest had finished reading that interesting let-
ter from his superior, he added his remarks, and said, that
the eternal fires of hell would be the abode of those of his
people who would listen to my seducing words, or talk with
me or even shake hands with me. " That monster has
already sent to hell thousands of precious souls," he said,
"and he is coming into the country only at the instigation of
the devil to destroy and damn you. Though I hope that he
will not come to soil our dear parish of Napierville with his
infectious presence, I hope that, if he comes, you will give
him such a reception that he will not be tempted to come
again."
After these words he finished his mass by blessing the peo-
ple and dismissing them.
I had closed the door before any one could suspect that I
was there hearing every word of their priest against me, and
I had withdrawn to the northern corner of the high platform
which the people had to pass from the church down the
stairs.
No words can tell the surprise of that people, when, coming
out of the building, they perceived and recognized me stand-
ing there. They could hardly believe their eyes. I appeared
to them as a phantom (as some told me after), others thought
that they were dreaming. As I had many times visited that
people when a priest in Canada, passing whole weeks in their
midst, preaching, hearing their confession, and giving them
the pledge of temperance, they had all known me and loved
me till that day, as if I had been their own fatlier.
Their eyes had hardly met mine, when they had all for-
gotten what they had just heard from their priest. Many,
])ressing my hands with the warmest expressions of respect
and friendship, were saying: "How happy we are to see you
again in our midst." Many others, unable to approach me on
account of the dense crowd, which, coming as an irresistible
Preaching in Montreal 163
tide, was driving them down the stairs in spite of themselves,
were crying to each other with unmistakable expressions of
joy: "Father Chiniquy! Father Chiniquy here! Is it pos-
sible? How glad we are to see him again!"
Only two or three said, " Father Chiniquy has no business
here. Our duty is to drive him away."
But their voices were drowned by hundreds of people say-
ing, " If you do not like to hear or see Father Chiniquy, shut
your eyes and run away. For us we like to see and hear
him again."
I do not really think that there has been another circum-
stance so strange and solemn in my whole life. I felt more
than ever in that strange hour that " the Lord was my keeper
and that He was with me."
As the people were going down the stairs, carried by the
irresistible tide of the multitude coming out of the church, they
were turning their faces towards me, and in a few minutes I
stood alone on the high platform, having at my feet more
than one thousand of those dear, honest fellow countrymen
evidently waiting to hear what I had to say. As soon as the
last ones had taken their position at my feet, I said: "My
dear friends and countrymen, you have just heard in your
church what your priests and Bishops say against me. Now
Would you not like to know what I have to say in my de-
fense? You are too honest and Christian to condemn a man
without hearing him, even if he is accused by priests and
Bishops. God has given you two ears that you may hear
both sides of every accusation. I do not come here to say
one single word against your venerable Bishops and pastor.
I respect them. I only ask you to allow me to say a few
words in my defense to explain to you my present position.
Will you grant me that favour?" The whole multitude an-
swered with one voice: "Yes, Father Chiniquy, speak — speak
— we are glad to hear you!"
Then I said, " Many of you are fasting, for some of you
have received the communion this morning, I know it. Many
164 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
«ood mothers are in a hurry to see their dear little ones at
home. And we are all in the open air where it is not safe
to talk much. I ask you all to grant me the favour of coming
to hear me at three o'clock this afternoon in that large hall
which is there in your beautiful village.
" When I came here I was sure that I would be among a
noble and most intelligent people, and I was not mistaken.
The way you have received me here, just after what you have
heard, is the assurance that your minds are as bright as
your hearts are noble— not condemning me before hearing
me.
"Wherever your admirable present conduct towards me will
be known there will be a cry of admiration for your high and
honest intelligence, and you will be blessed.
"May the God of the Gospel bless you all, and may He
bless our dear Canada forever."
The whole crowd had only one voice to say, " May God
bless you also, dear Father Chiniquy!" And they quietly
dispersed.
CHAPTER XV
>My Missionary Tour Continued. The Dagger of the Assassin on My
Breast at Quebec
The first Sabbath of February, 1859, at 3 o'clock, the large
hall of the village of Napierville was filled by the intelligent
Roman Catholics of that interesting town, who wanted to
know why I had left the Church of Rome. Far from follow-
ing the advice of their priest by giving me such a reception
that I would never be tempted to come again, they over-
whelmed me with all the marks of respect and friendship
which they were able to give. It was the same thing next
morning when their hall was again crammed by an audience
to hear why a man could not make God with a wafer.
In the afternoon the doctor of the village was sent by the
priests to argue against me and to defend Auricular Con-
fession. He tried to show us that our Saviour had established
that sacrament of penance (Auricular Confession) as the
only way to get pardon for our sins. But he was soon at
the end of his arguments, and I asked him to tell us how long
it was since he had gone to confess his sins to the priest.
He was forced to answer, " Ten years." The people laughed
at him to their hearts' content. This threw so much cold
water on his fiery eloquence, that he found the only way to
save his lost cause was by making use of a dozen rowdy
Irishmen to drown my voice every time I tried to speak.
Though the immense majority of the people wanted to hear
more, we had to stop the meeting. But much of the good
seed had fallen on that welbprepared soil. The Rev. Mr.
Lafleur, Revs. Cyr and Roussy had faithfully worked before
me in that precious part of the Good Master's vineyard. A
good number of its families had already given up the errors of
165
1 66 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Rome and formed a very interesting congregation of Protes-
tants.
It was my joy in the evening meeting, in my host's house,
to get. from ten lieads of Roman Catholic families, the assur-
ance that they had also taken the resolution to accept the
Gospel as their only guide and Jesus Christ for their only
Saviour.
The next day, Tuesday, it was my unspeakable joy to meet
the honest and intelligent farmers of Lacadie, in their inter-
esting village. For more than an hour they listened to the
address I gave them on the Gospel as the only solid founda-
tion on which a people should stand to become strong, happy
and free.
A notary having been sent by the priest to interrupt me
was politely taken to the end of the village on the shoul-
ders of six sturdy farmers and requested to be quiet, there, if
he would not fare worse.
I was not surprised at the friendly reception I received
from the people of Lacadie, when I remembered that it was in
the midst of this town that the Grande Ligne Mission was
spreading floods of Gospel light and truth for the last ten
years. There, again, a good number of families accepted the
Gospel.
From that place I came back to Montreal, in order to
take the train for Quebec, where I was expected the very next
day.
In the Quebec Gazette of February 11th, 1859, was the fol-
lowing:
" ARRIVAL OF MR. CHINIQUY.
" This gentleman reached Point Levis on Wednesday evening
by the train, and was waited upon by a large number of the
inhabitants of that locality, and also of this city, who went
across for the purpose of receiving him. He remained at
Frazer's hotel for that night, and came over to the city yes-
terday forenoon, and took up his residence in Crown Street,
St. Rock.
The Dagger of the Assassin on My Breast 167
"We are informed that the number of persons who have
visited him since his arrival cannot have been less than four
thou- and. Twice he was obliged yesterday to speak to the
multitude from his window. The people flocked from all the
neighbouring parishes, and many had stayed since Monday
to see him. Some on hearing of his arrival at Point Levis,
the night previous, came up from St. Anne Chateau Richer
and the Orleans Island. Not an offensive word was used by
any one, but all evinced the extreme pleasure of having
amongst them once more one for whom they entertained the
most sincere affection.
" Mr. Chiniquy addressed a public meeting in the lecture
hall, St. Anne's Street, this afternoon, but the hour is too far
advanced to admit of our giving particulars to=day.
" We would just say, however, that the building was crowded
to its utmost capacity, principally by his own countrymen;
and that, up to the time that we left, the greatest decorum
prevailed, the remarks of the reverend gentleman being fre-
quently applauded with great enthusiasm."
Just as the Quebec Gazette gives it, that address of
Thursday was a glorious Gospel success, as well as those of
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which were all given at 2
P. M., for I did not like to wait till the night to address the
people. There were not sufficient lights in the streets of
Quebec to prevent the rough element from playing their
mischief.
The Quebec Gazette tells it, in the intervals of the ad-
dresses the large room I occupied was filled with friends and
enquirers, and the street before the house was so crammed
with the multitudes of kind friends who wanted to hear the
Gospel message I had to give them, that two or three times
a day I had to address them in the open air from the
window.
Of course the priests were furious. You could have seen
them running through the streets to stop the multitudes that
were coming from every side to see and hear me, and asking
i^)S I'^orty Years In the Church of Christ
them: " Where are you going?" The answer was, invariably
" We go to hear Father Chiniquy.'" " But don't you know
lliat it is a crime, an abominable sin, to hear him? Don't
you knDW tliat you are excommunicated if you speak to that
alxMuinable heretic?" "Yes, we have been told that," said
the crowds, "but have you not told us hundreds of times
that you have the power to forgive all our sins?" "Yes,
yes," answered the priests, "our Saviour has told us: All
the sins ye forgive on earth shall be forgiven in heaven."
"Well," rejoined the people, "after hearing dear Father
Chiniquy, if our conscience is too much in trouble, we will
go and confess to you again, and you will forgive the new sin
with the rest." And the priests had to go to another corner
with that sarcasm in their ears.
The second day a band of brave men who were all among
the five hundred who had invited me to come, told me that
the priests were evidently preparing a mob to kill me during
the night, and they otfered themselves to guard the house.
I answered them to do as they pleased in that matter. As
it was at their invitation that I was in Quebec, it was their
business to prevent this trouble they were in fear of. And a
guard of fifteen well- armed, intrepid young men was organ-
ized to watch, during the dark hours of the night, around my
lodging.
The Sabbath address was, "Our Salvation Through Christ."
Though the most terrible fulminations and excommunica-
tions had been launched at the morning service against all
those who would come to hear me, or would even talk a single
word with me, the crowd was so great that we had to open
the windows of the large hall, so that the multitudes who
stood outside from the want of room could hear.
The joy that filled my heart was such that, though I was
exhausted, when the night came I did not feel the fatigue.
The sight of those multitudes who were hungry and thirsty
after the bread of Life, and to whom I was permitted to
give that bread and that water, was such a marvelous thing
The Dagger of the Assassin on My Breast 169
to me, that very often I could not speak to them except
with my tears of joy.
But at 10 p. M. two very respectable friends came to tell
me: " Dear Father Chiniquy, you will surely be killed this
night if you do not leave the city. We have just come from
a meeting of the most desperate rowdies of the city which
has been addressed by two of our priests. They have so in-
flamed th6ir brutal passions, that more than fifty have sworn
to set fire to your house this night, and to kill you when you
try to escape; please leave the city. We have a good sleigh
in readiness to take you to a safe place eight or ten miles
away." I answered them: " I thank you for your kindness,
but I cannot follow your advice. When I left the Church of
Rome, as well as when I came to Quebec to preach the
Gospel, I knew the cost.
" I did not come here to run away. If it is the will of
God that I should shed my blood this night for the cause of
His Gospel, I shall have the whole eternity to bless Him for
that favour." " Then," said my friends, " you cannot pre
vent us from putting a double guard this night to protect
you." " Do as you please in that matter," I answered. And
they left me alone.
The few hours before a man expects to die, under such cir-
cumstances, are too solemn to allow him to sleep. The
shores of eternity are so near, look so bright and grand, that
one can hold his breath at their aspect. At about three
o'clock in the morning one of my night guards came to me
and said: "As the night is much advanced, and the first
rays of the day are very near, we think that the danger of an
attack from the mob is over. If you have no objection we
will go home and take a few hours of rest, for we are all
working men, and we must be at our different posts by seven
this "morning."
"All right, my dear friends, go and rest a few hours; may
the dear Saviour bless you for your kindness towards me," I
answered. And they left.
lyo Forty Years in the Church of Christ
I then went to the ^ood waiters, who were also watching,
to ask them to give me a cup of cofFee. As I had not shut
my eyes, I felt the want of some food to keep up my
strength.
I was just going to take that cup of coffee when we heard
a terrible noise at the door. That door was evidently broken
down, and a multitade of men were running upstairs to the
parlour.
They were the very ones who had prepared at the evening
meeting of the priests, to set fire to the house, and to kill me
when I would try to run away. Every one had a mask on
his face. Too cowardly to approach the house when it
was guarded by my thirty young friends, they had con-
cealed themselves in a building at a short distance, wait-
ing for the moment that my guardians would leave, at the
dawn of day. I asked them: "What do you want here at
such an hour of the night?" The leader, who had a long
butcher^knife in his hand, answered: "Miserable apostate!
we come to put an end to your infamous life, if you do not
swear that you will never preach your d — d Bible any more."
And seizing my right arm with his left one, he planted his
knife on my breast. The half of his companions, armed with
sticks and daggers, made a circle around me, and repeated
what their chief had said: "D — d apostate! if you don't swear
that you will never preach your d — d Bible again, you are a
dead man." During that time the rest of the band filling the
room with terrible imprecations, were breaking the chairs
and threatening to kill the good man, who, with his wife, con-
sented to lodge me during my stay in Quebec.
I told them: " Let those people alone — if it is a crime to
preach the Gospel of Christ here, I am the only guilty one —
kill me — death has no terror for me, but do not molest those
people."
In that moment I felt the dagger so hardly pressed on my
breast that I thought at every moment it would go through
The Dagger of the Assassin on My Breast 171
and through. Raising my supplicating hands towards
heaven, I said: "Dear Saviour! For my sake Thou hast
shed Thy blood on the cross, if it is Thy will I should mine
for Thy sake, may Thy will be done: but come and receive
my soul into Thy hands."
These words were hardly said when the would-be murderer,
with a most awful imprecation, said: "Infamous apostate!
We do not come to hear your heretical prayers, we come to
put an end to your infamous life, if you do not swear that
you will never preach your Bible." He then pressed his
knife so hard that I felt blood running on my breast. Expect-
ing every moment to fall a corpse, I again raised my hands
towards heaven, and said: "My God! In a moment I will
be in Thy presence and I bless Thee for it. But as they want
an oath before I die, they shall have it; I swear that, as long as
my tongue can speak, I will preach Thy Holy Word as I find
it in the Holy Bible." And then opening my vest with both
hands, I said, " Now, strike the last blow." But my dear
Saviour was there to protect His poor, helpless soldier.
The would be murderer began to shake from head to foot.
The dagger fell from his hands on the floor, and with a
trembling voice he said, " Well, Father Chiniquy, if you
promise to go away we will not kill you."
He evidently meant that I would promise to go away from
the city. But I thought it was not very wrong to deceive
him, when saying the truth. I answered, " Yes, I will go
away," secretly meaning, "I will go away from your bad com-
pany." And he left me alone.
The snow had fallen more than two feet deep in the street
during the night, and I had a pretty long distance to walk to
reach the house to which I wanted to go. I felt my bodily
strength pretty much exhausted by the trials of that night, and
I thought it prudent, before leaving, to take my cup of cofiPee,
which was there on the table. Besides that, I wanted to gain
some time, in the hope that some of my friends or night-
172 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
guards would know my iwsition and come to ray help, for
I had seen one of the servants running away, probably to
give the alarm.
I told the mob, which was then silent, though their bloody
eyes were watching me closely: " I have to walk quite a long
distance in the snow to my knees; you will not find fault
with me I hope, if I take a cup of cofiFee, with a mouthful
of bread." And I sat at the table. But I had not drunk
liiilf of the cup when a furious voice, which I had not yet
heard, cried out: " Do you not see that he is deceiving us?
He takes too much time. And he means to remain here."
Saying that he upset the table, broke the cup and plates,
and with a fearful blasphemy said, "Infamous apostate!
Go away at once! No delay! Go Quick!" And he nearly
brought me down with his fist.
I felt I had to go. Putting on my overcoat and my cap I
took my bag and walked to the door. It was still very dark
and, as I said before, two feet of snow had fallen in the streets,
iluring that night. I was not without anxiety how I could
walk the long distance which was before me. But, by the
good providence of God, a carter was just passing before the
door with his sleigh. I asked him, " Can you take me to the
pro mayor, Mr. Hall?" "Yes, sir," he answered. And
soon I was safe under the roof of that noble Scotch Protes-
tant.
For, by the marvelous mercy of God, the mayor, Langevin,
a most fanatical Roman Catholic, was absent for the few days
I was in Quebec.
I showed my bleeding breast to Mr. Hall, and I told him :
" Sir, I am just escaping from the hands of a furious Roman-
ist mob who have sworn to kill me if I continue to preach in
Quebec. As I promised yesterday to give, to-day, my last
address on the Bible and the right which every man has to
read it, I will fulfil my promise even if I have to die for it.
I come to put myself under the protection of the British flag,
for the enjoyment of my rights and liberty."
The Dagger of the Assassin on My Breast 173
" If you can swear upon that," said Mr. Hall, "I will pro-
tect you. But I have a favour to ask of you. Please do not
speak of the wound that you have on your breast, nor of the
blood you have lost. You do not know the terrible effect that
sight has upon me. Blood calls for blood. If it were known
that you had received such a wound in Quebec, and that you
have had to shed your blood from the hands of the priests, it
might have the most terrible results. It might be difficult, if
not impossible, to calm the rage of our Protestant soldiers
and the other Protestants whom I must call to protect you.
For I must put the city under martial law and gather all the
powers I can lay my hands on, if I want to save your life,
and perhaps my own, to-day, against the mighty and bloody
power of Rome."
Half an hour later the city of Quebec was proclaimed
under martial law, and more than 1,000 English soldiers with
their bayonets were around me to protect my life. It was
between the two ranks of those soldiers of British liberty
and fair play, that the mayor drove me, at noon, in his own
sleigh, to give the last lecture I had promised on the Bible.
When on my way to the hall between the two ranks of
bayonets glittering in the sun, it was quite amusing to see
the priests of Rome, half dead with terror, running through
the crowds of their poor slaves who were massed all along
the streets, saying: *' Do not make any demonstration, do
not make any noise, do not move a finger against Father
Chiniquy. The city is under martial law! The soldiers will
fire at you and slaughter you at the least appearance of
trouble. For God's sake, be still!"
The large hall could not contain half of the people who
wanted to hear what I had to say about the Holy Bible and
the right of every one to have and read it. Several thou-
sands who could have no place in the hall, were standing
around and listening with breathless attention, through the
windows which were opened. The day was splendidly bright
and mild as a summer day.
174 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
I had large boxes coiitaiiiiiig six hundred New Testaments
wliich I distributed, to the last one, to my dear Roman
Catholic countrymen, after the meeting.
Thanks to God, the good seed sown in those days has not
all been lost, and the blood shed has not been shed in vain.
The modest evangelical work which our Protestant societies
had begun there, some time before, under the Rev. Mr.
Tetreau and Normandeau, two converted priests, has taken a
new and rapid extension.
Not far from that very spot where I was so cruelly wounded,
a fine stone French Protestant church, for the Canadian con-
verts, has been built. That church would be much too small
to day, if our dear French Canadian converts from Rome
could have remained in their own country. But, alas! many
have been forced to take the sad way of exile. The cruel and
unmanly persecutions they are subject to from the priests of
the Pope have made it impossible for many to remain in
their own country. Thousands of them are now eating the
bitter bread of exile in the United States.
CHAPTER XVI
How Roman Catholics Understand Liberty of Conscience. My Letter to
the Bishops of Quebec and the Priests of Canada
"I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast . . . and
decked with gold and precious stones, . . . having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written,
Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abomi-
nations of the earth.
"I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints."
(Rev. 17:3-6.)
If it were possible to awaken the Protestants of Canada
from their deplorable and mysterious slumber, and to make
them understand the anti-Christian and anti=social principles
of the Church of Rome, the events of the fourteenth day of
February, 1859, would have done it.
Of all the daily and weekly papers edited by the Roman
Catholics of Canada, not a single word was written to blame
the rioters for having attacked violently and driven me from
my house. They all said that I had no right to preach doc-
trines contrary to the doctrines of Rome in Quebec, because
the majority were Roman Catholics.
Though unable to find a single word of abuse fallen from
my lips, they, however, said that they had the right, it was
their duty, to kill me if I refused to go away.
They all declared that Mayor Hall was wrong to come to
my help and protect me. They all proclaimed that he had no
right to employ the civil and military fofees to save my life
and protect me. His duty was to let the rioters come, break
everything in the house where I was staying, pull it down, if
I refused to obey them.
175
176 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Here are the very words of Mr. Audet, one of the council-
lors of the city of Quel)ec, reproduced and apjiroved by the
Roman Catholic press of Canada on this subject:
" I acknowledge Mr. Chiniquy's liberty of speech when
coming to speak against our holy religion, as I acknowledge
the liberty of a thief to steal, and the liberty of an assassin
to kill.
" When I deny the right of the robber to rob, and of the
assassin to assassinate, of the sacrilegious to commit sacrilege,
I also deny Mr. Chiniquy the right of coming here to insult
and outrage us."
Let us now come to the affair of Monday last.
" That day Mr. Chiniquy was to lecture in the hall of St.
Anne St., and you, Mr. Pro^ Mayor, you had received deposi-
tion affirming that there were to be disturbances at that lec-
ture. Accordingly, by your order, all the civil forces were
under arms! You knew that Mr. Chiniquy was the cause of
all those troubles, and notwithstanding that, you, the first
magistrate of the city, went yourself in search of Mr. Chini-
(juy to deliver that lecture to you! Suppose, Mr. Pro-Mayor,
that there had been a riot and a bloodshed, would you not
havelaeen the cause of it? The Canadians have always re-
spected every religious faith; but be assured that we will
exact for ourselves the respect we bear towards others.
" We demand protection, and let it be distinctly understood
that if it be refused to the 45,000 Roman Catholics of this
city, they will know how to protect themselves; and then evil
be to those who dare attack them. This will interfere some-
what with the Bible societies, but I warn them to seek some
other field for the exercise of their zeal.
"Have they not, for instance, India, China, and Japan
where they can go and throw their Bibles?"
These are some of the reflections of the " Quebec Mercury '
concerning the above harangue of Mr. Audet.
" Mr, Audet has not only publicly uttered, but deliberately
put on record, a declaration of war against the British popu-
Liberty of Conscience 177
lation of this Province. His appeal to the 45,000 Koman
Catholics of Quebec is a cry for blood. And in what a cause?
This agent of the priesthood has deliberately propounded the
principles of the Spanish Inquisition as applicable to those
who boast themselves (however erroneously) the free Protes-
tant subjects of a Protestant sovereign.
" Mr. Audet boldly announces that opinion is a crime, —
and that the magistrates are bound to restrain it.
" A man, he says, has the same liberty to lecture against
Komanism, as to be a robber!
" The meaning is clear. He may be as liable to punishment
in the one case as the other. The language of ' The Uni^
vers,' the Ultramontane organ in France, is nearly identical
with that of Mr. Audet: it distinguishes liberty from right.
He declares a man has no more right to be a Protestant than
to commit a murder or a theft!
" Liberty of sj)eech is to be forbidden, lest those it offends
should deliberately break the law, and direful misfortunes
for the whole world which must be subjected to the conse-
quences of doing so!
" Mr. Audet concludes his speech by calling on his Roman
Catholic hearers to make a new St. Bartholomew's day of
their Protestant neighbours ! And he finishes by a threat to
the Bible societies, to which the treatment formerly received
by Mr. Papin, gives the utmost significance."
When I went back to Montreal, I thought it was my duty
to address a letter to the Bishops and priests of Canada. In
the first part of that letter I gave a faithful history of the
riot, which I will not repeat here. I will give only the sec-
ond part.
" To the Roman Catholic Bishops and Priests of Canada:
" You have thus an abridged but faithful history of your
own work of the fourteenth of February. But before leaving
Canada, I owe it to my fellow countrymen, I owe it to the
cause of truth, to address you a few words more.
" Within three years, look at the four riots you have caused
lyS Forty Years in the Church of Christ
to rid yourselves of those you call 'Protestants, apostates,
and enemies of your holy church.'
"Iacapal)le of meeting your opponents on the ground of
argument, worthy descendants and supporters of the Holy
Inipiisition, you have recourse to violence, to oppose and
destroy the truth which makes you afraid; you have recourse
to bloody riots to prop up your tottering power. It is well;
continue; accustom the people to use the stick and the club
for an argument. Discipline your adepts to shed the blood
of those that you call the enemies of the holy Roman Church;
applaud the murderers who knock down their victims, with
cries of rage, and the robbers who violate the most sacred
right of nations, that of the domestic hearth; you will then
prove to all that you are the worthy successors of those who
slaughtered thousands of their brethren on the night of St.
Bartholomew; you will open the eyes of the blindest to the
spirit and tendencies of the Romish Church; you will demon-
strate to the most incredulous that you have completely re-
nounced the Gospel which tells you not to do to others what
you would not like done to yourselves; you will show to
the most ardent of your zealots that you are the enemies of
Him who said to Peter: 'Put up the sword in its sheath, for
those who make use of the sword shall perish by the sword.'
"You do not wish that those who differ from you in re-
ligion shall have the right to speak; you excite against them
the rage of riotous men; you cry for their blood. But really
do you think that the people will leave you long in the pos-
session of this power?
" Do you not see that the shoulders of this poor people are
bruised and bleeding under the heavy and odious yoke you
lay upon them? Do you not hear the low and threatening
murmurs that come from the breasts of this people, when they
see you drag from them their last farthings, for the souls of
your insatiable purgatory? Yes, all these confraternities, all
these medals, these indulgences of five, twenty, forty sous, but
for which you extract the money from the poor as well as the
Liberty of Conscience 179
rich, will open the eyes of the people. Already many are
persuaded that if you really did believe in the fires of purga-
tory, you would not wait until you got twenty = five cents to
take a poor suffering soul out of that purgatory, no more than
you would demand twenty=^five cents to save a person drowning
before your eyes. There are even those that blush for you,
when they hear you say, in speaking of such a person,
deceased, ' He is probably in purgatory, give me $10.00 $20.00,
and I shall immediately try to get him out.'
"This shameful traffic begins to be understood and to be
despised. The people see that the enormous sums they give
you for the souls in purgatory remain at the bottom of your
purses and that the good souls do not get a fraction. Con-
tinue your infamous commerce in prayers, indulgences and
medals; build for yourselves with those funds, sumptuous pal-
aces; rear up gigantic cathedrals; robe yourselves in purple
and the finest garments; load your tables with delicate viands;
knock down those who disturb your repose; and continue to
elect in every country the enemies of the people. But mark
well what I tell you: the people will soon awake from the
profound slumber in which you have kept them. In spite of
you, their eyes will be opened to the light which is coming
in upon them on every side.
" But this waking up will be terrible, like that of the lion.
This people who till the ground, with the sweat of their brow,
have not a cent left; the poor people are nearly naked, and
their children are trembling with cold. Many are obliged to
leave their own country to go and eat the bitter bread of exile,
and to be the servants of other people. But they will soon
awaken, and they will say, ' I have now nothing left, I am
naked, hungry, without shelter! Where are the goods that
God gave me? ' And a voice from heaven shall say to them,
'Behold them, there, in those magnificent palaces; there is
the price of your hard labours, and the bread of your children.
Under the cloke of religion, your priests have ruined you and
made you their slaves. They have snatched away a thing
i8o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
more precious than eartlily treasure— the Word of God — the
Divine Gospel that Christ has sent you to succour you in your
wretchedness.'
"And then a disturbance will take place, but a terrible dis-
turbance, and a frif>:htful disturbance, such as is rarely
seen on tlie surface of the globe. What you have done to
others will be done to yourselves and in the same measure.
In those days of agitation, of vengeance and retribution, the
Canadian people, like the French people in 1792, will settle
their accounts with you, and will make you pay dearly for
your frauds, your impostures, your intolerance, and your
tyranny. You will be dragged with violence from your pal-
aces; and your mournful cries will be but the echo of the
cries and desolation of your victims. Your blood will be
mingled with the blood you have shed. Your reign, the
reign of man, will be at an end, and the reign of Christ, the
reign of God's Word, shall have begun."
CHAPTER XVII
A French Officer Saves My Life at Beloeil. Grande Ligne and Longuevil
Visited. Rev. Theodore Lafleor
To throttle the Church of Rome, which means not only to
dare her fury but to bring down her sceptre into the dust in
the greatest citadels of her power, Quebec and Montreal,
could not be the work of Chiniquy, it must be the Lord's
work.
The mighty hand of my God was so visible in the com-
plete humiliation of the haughty tryants under the feet of
whom the people of Quebec and Montreal were crushed for
almost three centuries, that there was no possibility for me to
be tempted by the the demon of human pride. I had only to
be humiliated and amazed when considering that such a work
had been wrought through such a weak instrumentality.
Protestants as well as Romanists were amazed that those so
dreaded weapons — excommunication, interdicts, etc., ful-
minated from all the pulpits, which, till then, had kept the
French Canadian people at the feet of their haughty tyrants —
had suddenly been turned into ridiculous child's play, and had
become powerless and been thrown by the people into the
muddy ditches, along the public roads.
It was the first time, on the continent of America, that the
Roman tiger had been so well shut up in his own den, and
that the monstrous snake of Romanism had been so roughly
handled without being able to bite the hand that was strik-
ing it. ^
No words can give an idea of the humiliations of the Roman
Catholic clergy, when they heard that I was determined to
spend another month in Montreal and vicinity in exposing
their frauds, their idolatries and their corruptions.
181
1 82 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Superhuman .tforts were made by Bishop Bourget to bribe
me, but he lost his time. He felt more aud more every day
that I was not only terribly in earnest, but absolutely proof
against his threats, his perfidious flatteries, and his impotent
rage.
By his orders, the priests invented and published the most
horrible calumnies against my character. But in the good
providence of God, these calumnies were invariably destroy-
ing themselves by their own absurdity and want of every one
of the elements on which their fabrication could stand.
The gold medal they had put on my breast, the title of
" Apostle of Temperance of Canada," they had so solemnly
given me, the sacred silver vases they had presented me with
the very day I had left Canada for the United States, the
echoes of my voice which were still vibrating within all the
walls of their cathedrals, the tears I had dried, the hearts I
had consoled, the marvelous reformations I had wrought all
over our country, the giant enemy of Canada, intemperance,
which, by the help of God, I had conquered, were facts
which, not I, but my God, was bringing to the memory of my
countrymen, as an infallible antidote against the poisoned
arrows thrown at me by the Bishop and priests, which
poisoned arrows were wounding only those who were throw-
ing them.
The whole week I spent in Montreal, after my return from
Quebec, it was my unspeakable joy to see again my parlour
constantly filled by the 6lite of my dear countrymen, who
wanted to hear the Gospel message the Good Master was
sending to them. I had also to bless God for the daily marks
of Christian regard and kindness I received from the Prot-
estants of all denominations. The evening lectures continued
also to be attended by as many people as the large hall could
contain, and this, without a single mark of public bad feeling
from any quarter.
Friends and foes, Protestants as well as Roman Catholics,
were equally astonished and glad at such an unexpected
Further Experiences in Preaching 183
triumph of the great principle of liberty against slavery; of
fair play against brute force; and of truth against error;
since, till then, the most deplorable as well as the most bloody
riots had so often been a dark s^^ot on the fair name of Mon-
treal.
To the many who asked me how such a change could be
seen, I answered, " This is the Lord's work. The hour is
coming fast when the dark night of Popery will have to dis-
appear before the shining sun of the Gospel. What you see
now is the dawning of that blessed day. This is not my work,
it is our merciful heavenly Father's work. Let us bless Him
for it."
It would be too tedious to give the details of the different
evangelical missions of the next month, in the district of
Montreal. I will only mention two or three on account of
some interesting circumstances connected with them.
A great number of Beloeil, Chambly, and St. Mathias peo-
ple had requested me to give them a week of my time, and
they had selected the splendid hotel of Beloeil Mountain for
the place of the meetings, for that hotel had a very large
parlour where several hundreds of people could easily be accom-
modated. Its manager was a true gentleman who had been an
officer in the French army. He had attended several of our
meetings in Montreal, where he had bravely and publicly
given up the errors of Rome to follow the Gospel. I was
then sure to find in that hotel the protection I wanted for
myself and those of my dear countrymen who would come to
hear me. I was not mistaken. The success of those meet-
ings was again above my most sanguine expectation. The
large and si)lendid parlour was filled from morning till night,
by inquiring people of every condition, coming from every
point of the compass.
But on the last days, a respectable farmer came from St.
Mary to tell me that one of the priests had said in his pres-
ence to some of his people: "Just as you have a right to
kill a wolf when crossing the prairie to slaughter your sheep,
184 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
so you have the right to kill that miserable apostate, Chini-
quy, who is destroying our holy religion."
"Do not betray me," said the good farmer, " but be on your
guard when you see a man with a red collar around his neck.
He will have a pistol to shoot you if he finds his opportunity,
for he is a good shot."
I thanked him, and I gave my secret to the fearless French
ex=oflBcer, that he might see the best way of protecting my
life, though I asked liim not to do any harm to the would=be
murderer, if possible.
Among my hearers that evening (it was Saturday), I
noticed a strong, tall man just before me not more than ten
feet distant, with a red collar around his neck. His manners
indicated that he was half drunk, and several times he made
so much noise that I had to stop speaking on account of him.
I had hardly given the last word of my address, when he
made a quick movement through the crowd and stopped
when not more than five feet distant from me. Then, with a
horrible oath, he said, "This is your last heretical address."
Drawing then a pistol from his coat pocket, he pointed it
towards me, uttering a new blasphemy.
But the French oflBcer had watched all his movements and
had remained close by him since he had entered the room.
Quick as lightning, he drew his sword, and struck such a blow
under the pistol that it flew almost to the upper floor from
the hand of the woukbbe murderer, after the ball had gone
and broken a pane of the opposite window.
This rash and daring act was followed by an indescribable
confusion. Some of the women fainted, some were crying,
but I had a number of friends who did not lose their
presence of mind. With the sword at his back, that miserable
tool of the priests was quickly driven, or rather roughly car-
ried away to a long distance, where he received such a lesson
that he was not tempted to come again.
The next few weeks were given to St. Pie, St. Mary, St.
Athenase, St. Gregory, with the same crowds of Roman
Further Experiences in Preaching 185
Catholics who were trampling under their feet with the utmost
contempt, the f ulminations, excommunications and interdicts
of their religious tyrants in their eagerness to hear the
preaching of the Gospel.
At St. Mary it was my joy to address the large and so
admirable congregation of converts which the zealous and
fearless Baptist ministers of the Grande Ligne Mission had
gained from Rome. That congregation, composed of thirty
families, was then under the care of the late Reverend M.
Roussy, whose name will be blessed as long as there will be a
disciple of the Gospel in Canada.
I could not contain my tears of joy when I saw so many
of my dear countrymen who had broken the yoke of Rome
gathered in their comfortable chapel. These interesting con-
verts, with their pastor, were among those I had most cruelly
abused and persecuted when I was a priest of Rome. How
happy I was, then, to have the opportunity of asking and
obtaining their pardon! And how my heart was filled with
joy when I could unite my feeble voice with theirs to bless
the dear Saviour for His mercies towards us all.
The last place in Canada I laboured in before leaving
for my dear colony of Illinois, was Longueuil.
In the midst of that important village, the Baptists had,
then, a thriving mission school for Protestant and Catholic
young ladies, under the superintendence of the Reverend
Theodore Lafleur.
In the good providence of God, the Reverend Mr. Lafleur
had been brought to the light of the Gospel many years be-
fore me, when he was quite a young man; and some wealthy
Protestant, admiring his piety and his rare talents, had sent
him to Switzerland to pursue a complete course of study.
Having returned to Canada several years since, he had con-
secrated himself to the preaching of the Gospel to our coun-
trymen, with remarkable success. Though I had bitterly
persecuted him, when I was a priest of Rome, I had become
the object of his fervent prayers at the Throne of Mercy. He
i86 P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
had addressed me several letters full of Christian logic in the
beginning of my public conflict with the Bishops, to show me
that the only way to possess the glorious freedom and the
Divine truths, which Christ had brought from heaven to save
the world, was to entirely break the yoke of the Pope and
accept the Gospel.
More than that, his burning zeal for my conversion had in-
duced him to cross the thousand miles which were between
us, in order to come to St. Anne, Illinois, and spend several
days in friendly discussion with me.
Among the many gifts which Mr. Lafleur has received from
G(xl, is a wonderful treasure of kindness and affability to
which his terse logic and truly admirable Christian spirit
gave him an irresistible power over me.
When alone, after having spent one or two hours with him,
I had to confess to myself that there was, in that so-called
heretic, a perfume of piety I had never met in my church. I
was also confounded by the irresistible power of his argu-
ments, and the teachings of history to which I had nothing
to oppose.
I am happy to say that the letters and the private conver-
sations of the Rev. Mr. Lafleur are among the providential
things which, by the mercy of God, helped me much to ac-
cept the truth when it came to my mind with its splendour.
I was, then, happy to have an opportunity of showing the
Christian esteem and the gratitude I felt towards that true
servant of God, in the two days I was his guest in his literary
and evangelical institute of Longueuil.
Many citizens of Longueuil availed themselves of my pres-
ence in their village to come and ask me a thousand questions
about what they called my new religion, and this gave me the
golden opportunity of presenting to them the saving truths
of the Gospel.
During the first night, a few Roman Catholic boys, sent by
the priests, had caused us some trouble, by throwing stones
through the windows and breaking the glasses. But the respect-
Further Experiences in Preaching 187
able part of the population were indignant at that act of
brutal cowardice. The next evening they came in great num-
bers to hear the address I gave them, in the large hall of their
village. And though they were excommunicated and thrown
out of the Church of Rome by that very fact, they were so
pleased with the jproofs I gave them that their Pope, with his
cardinals, bishops and jDriests, was a fraud, that it was twelve
o'clock at night when they consented to be dismissed, Very
few of that large meeting left the hall without shaking
hands with me and heartily thanking me for what they had
heard. And the perfect silence and tranquillity of that whole
night, told us clearly that we were in the midst not only of a
respectable and intelligent people, but among true friends,
when in the village of Longueuil.
So it was that, alone, and, humanly speaking, without pro-
tection, I had been able to dare the power of Rome in her
strongholds, Montreal and Quebec, for two months. But I
was not alone. No! For the protecting hand of my God
had been a visible shield over my head all the time.
The Gospel of Christ had been preached to at least 50,000
people, many of whom had never heard it. Several thousand
Bibles or New Testaments had been distributed to people who
had never seen them before. And the Holy Book was to
remain there to feed the hungry souls, and quench the thirst
of my dear countrymen.
Where could I find words to express my gratitude to my
God for such a visible and constant protection through so
many dangers and obstacles?
When going back to my dear mission of Illinois I could
say with the prophet:
"1. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now
may Israel say;
" 2. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when
men rose up against us:
"8. Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their
wrath was kindled against us:
1 88 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"4. Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had
gone over our soul:
"5. Tlien the proud waters had gone over our soul.
" 6. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey
to their teeth.
" 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of
the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
" 8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made
heaven and earth." (Psalm 124.)
CHAPTER XVIII
Admitted into the Presbyterian Church with the Bible Alone
in My Hand
The fifteenth of April, 1860, ought to be a day never to be
forgotten by the French Canadian disciples of the Gospel at
St. Anne,
After we had broken the fetters which had kept us chained
to the feet of the idols of Rome, in order to become the happy
followers of Christ, we felt that we could not honestly con-
tinue to call ourselves Roman Catholics. We had to change
our church name.
In a general meeting of all our dear converts, where every
one was invited to give his views, we unanimously adopted
the beautiful name of Christian Catholics, and we determined
to give the hand of fellowship to all the difiPerent denomina-
tions of Protestants who would tell us that they were looking
to Christ as their only Saviour, that they accepted the
Gospel as their only rule of life.
From the beginning of our religious change my fear was
that we were to make a new branch of the Christian Church
and that sooner or later the new branch would be called
Chiniquy's Church as had occurred more or less in the days
of Luther and Calvin.
I was horrified at the thought and possibility of such an oc-
currence, and we determined to avoid it at any cost. We felt
that there were already too many separate branches in the
Church of Christ.
It was not long before we saw that our fears were too well
founded; every one, even amongst the Protestants, instead of
calling us by the beautiful name of Christian Catholics, called
us Church of Chiniquy. The only remedy to this threaten-
189
190 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
in^ drn\vl)ack, was to connect ourselves with some of the
neif^hbouring venerable churches, and we soon made our
choice of the Presbyterian Church. For our intention was to
form a sacred link with the martyred Christians of France
known and blessed all over the world as Huguenots for hav-
ing so heroically shed their blood for the Gospel cause. I
showed to our dear converts that many among them were
bearing the very names of those heroic soldiers of Christ, that
probably the blood of many of those blessed martyrs was
running in their veins.
Six elders were chosen to accompany me to Chicago, in
order to respectfully ask the Presbytery of that grand city to
give us the hand of fellowship and allow us to connect our-
selves with that noble Presbyterian Church whose branches
extend from one end to the other of the earth and whose
shining Christian faith is a terror to Popery all over the
world.
How happy every one of those venerable ministers felt,
when, after the many questions everyone of them had to put
to us, they found that our religious views were perfectly cor-
rect, and that the great religious movement we were in-
augurating was perfectly Christian. They unanimously con-
sented to receive us into the great Presbyterian family and
oflPered their Westminster Confession of Faith for us to
adopt, and thus declare ourselves faithful children of the
Presbyterian Church.
They were, however, not prepared for the disappointment
they were to meet, when I respectfully requested them to
withdraw that book and to put the Bible in its place, as the
only standard of our faith and life.
With an emotion which he could not conceal the modera-
tor answered me, " My dear Mr. Chiniquy, we cannot do
that. Our custom is that our venerable Westminster
Book of Faith is the standard to which the new members we
receive subscribe as the pledge they give us that they wish
to become Presbyterians. We cannot change that rule."
Christian Catholics 191
I answered him, " Mr. Moderator, please do not forget that
you have here to deal with babes in the faith. You must
bear with children when they request you to give them the
food which you are not accustomed to give to fulhgrown
people. We do not come here to teach you any lesson, we
want to be taught by you. However, we respectfully ask you
to allow us to give you the reasons why we want the Holy
Bible to be the only key which will open to us the gates of
that Church of Christ of which He is not only the corner
stone, but which is the blood of His blood and the flesh of
His flesh. When we ask you to grant us the honour and
privilege to become Presbyterians, it is not in a narrow,
sectarian sense of the word, it is the large, broad sense of
Christianity. We do not want to press only the Presby-
terians to our breasts, we want to press all those who love
and serve our Saviour Jesus Christ, and look upon Him as
their only hope and their only Saviour, by whatsoever name
they may be called. We do not want to be on the narrow
platform, for instance, on which the Old and New Schools
stand, and on which they fight against each other as wild
cats. We want to belong to that large. Divine platform which
our adorable Saviour presented to the young man who asked
him, 'Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?'
We want a platform, in a word, on which we shall love as
brethren, and press to our breasts as brethren and sisters, all
those who, repenting of their sins, look to Christ and love
Him as their only Saviour. Allow me to tell you that after
reading many of the books published by the most learned
men of your different denominations, we have come to the
conclusion that your differences are more in appearance than
reality. Do not find fault with us, if we respectfully ask you
to allow us to believe that our adorable and merciful Saviour
was indicating your different denominations when saying,
*I am the vine; ye are the branches; and My Father is the
husbandman.' There is no need at all that the branches
should be of the same form and the same size to bring good
192 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
fruits. The only thing necessary is that they should be well
united with the vine. I got that assurance a few days ago,
when rondini.? that marvelous fifteenth chapter of St. John,
under the shadow of a splendid vino which I have j^lanted in
my garden, and which I cultivate with my own hands. After
reading with a prayerful attention these marvelous and
mysterious words addressed by Christ to His disciples, ' I
am the vine; ye are the branches,' I observed for the first
time that there was not a single one of the branches like the
other branches. I noticed for the first time a branch, a very
near one, which was very large, just as your noble and great
English and American Episcopal Church, and just at a very
short distance I saw a small branch resembling your modest,
though much to be admired Congregational Church. A little
farther on there was a fine branch going straight up towards
heaven, our ardent enthusiastic Methodist brethren, and just
by its side I much admired another branch which was de-
scending like our Baptist friends when they go down in their
water baths. And last, though not the least, I had to admire
some very crooked branches, as the beloved Presbyterians
with whom we want to unite ourselves. But I remarked that,
though all the branches of that vine were quite different in
appearance, they were all loaded with splendid grapes: for
they were all perfectly united with the vine!
" Evidently there are some varities of views between the
many different denominations which form the Church of
Christ. But so long as Jesus, and Jesus alone, the Son of
God and the Saviour of the world, is their only hope, their
only refuge, their only life, and His Gospel their only rule of
faitli, we want to press them all to our hearts as our brethren
on earth, and our co-citizens in heaven.
" This is the reason that, though we entertain great respect
for your Westminster Confession, we ask you as a favour to
allow us to lay our hands on the Bible as the only door
through which we wish to enter the grand and noble Presby-
terian Church."
Christian Catholics 193
No words can give an idea of the attention and kindness
with which my address was received and my request granted.
The next morning found every one of the members of that
Presbytery on their way to Kankakee City, by the Illinois
Central Railway. There they found good carriages in wait-
ing to drive them to the village of St. Anne, about twelve
miles distant. The day was splendid and the grand scenery
of the boundless and rich prairies, sjjreading on every side as
far as the vision could extend, was magnificent. Our large
chapel was more than crowded.
Multitudes of our dear converts had come from all the
surrounding towns and cities, even from Chicago, to the
number of more than 2,000.
It was as much with their tears of joy as with the words of
their lips that the members of the Chicago Presbytery ad-
dressed them and received them all as the new-born children
of the great Presbyterian family.
Words are inadequate to express the sentiments of joy and
gratitude to God which were filling every heart in that
solemn and never-to=be=forgotten day.
A new and glorious page in the history of the Church of
Christ was written. The melodious voice of our bell was
proclaiming far and wide the new victory of the Gospel.
The angels of God were again singing their harmonious
chorus — their hymn of joy:
" Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men! "
CHAPTER XIX
Muskegon — On the Borders of Lake Michigan
If you want to have aii idea of the marvelous lumber in-
dustry of the United States, go and see the numerous saw^
mills which are around the city of Muskegon, and count, if
you can, the piles of lumber, of every size, which stand like
giant sentinels along the shores of Lake Michigan.
In the year 18(52 the greatest number of those saw^mills were
manned by our French Canadian emigrants who, to the num-
ber of hundreds of thousands, had to leave the country of their
birth, in order to go and eat the bitter bread of exile in the
United States.
The Archbishop of Quebec, Bishop Baillargeon, had a
near relative among those emigrants, who addressed me the
following letter at the end of September, 1862:
'• Dear Father Chiniquy: —
" Though I have not met you for several years, I hope
that you will remember me when I tell you that I am the
near relative to the present Archbishop of Quebec, Bishop
Baillargeon, who visited you in the autumn of 1843 when
you were curate of Kamouraska. Obliged, as so many of our
countrymen, to exile myself, I am keeping a large boarding
house here in Muskegon, on the borders of Lake Michigan.
Many of our countrymen have emigrated here with me.
Like yourself, we were born and raised in the Roman Catho-
lic Church, but you understand that our faith has received a
serious shock by your so public and solemn step of passing
to the side of the Protestants. However, I would not be
honest if I were leaving you under the impression that our
own faith in the Church of Rome had not been shaken be-
fore you left it.
194
On the Borders of Lake Michigan 195
" Our last two priests have done more here than yourself
to cause us to suspect that the religion of the Pope of Rome
is not the religion of Christ.
" One of them was almost constantly drunk. Several times
it has been my sad duty to pick him up when lying drunk
along the streets.
"We complained to the Bishop, and, at our request, he
gave us another one. But we fell into bad hands again, for
this last one was making use of the confessional to corrupt
his female penitents. His life was a public scandal which
forced us to blush. The shameful conduct of those priests is,
to many of us, a sure indication that they do not believe in
the religion they preach, and we ask ourselves : Is it not a su-
preme act of folly to believe in it?
" There is no need to tell you that the scandalous lives of
those priests, with your public exit from our church, have so
shaken our faith that many of us have absolutely ceased from
attending any religious services. However, that state of
things cannot last long. We want a religion for ourselves and
our children. But how can we make the choice of the true re-
ligion of Christ, without the help of some one who is wiser
than we are?
" Please do not rebuke us when we ask you to come to our
help in these days of supreme anxiety and distress. In the
name of our common Saviour, come and give us the benefit
of your experience and knowledge in the choice we must
make of the religious way which will lead us to a happy
eternal life, after the sad experiences of these few days of
tribulations through which we have to pass in this land of
exile and misery."
The only answer I could give to that so pressing request
was to go without any delay to the help of those dear, but so
distressed, countrymen. A few days later it was my privilege
to be the guest of my old friend, Baillargeon, and to shake
hands with the multitude of my dear countrymen by whom
he was surrounded.
196 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
The news of my arrival had been quickly spread, and I was
hardly half an hour in the hall of the hotel, when it was
crowded to its utmost capacity.
I saw at once that I was in the presence of a great diffi-
culty. Every one of that multitude had his private and per-
sonal difficulties. Some wanted me to tell them how it was
possible that a priest could make God with a wafer, others
wanted to know how it was possible that a drunken priest,
whose name was connected with sins, could forgive the sins
of his penitent, whose life, very often, was more moral than
that of his Father Confessor. I told them:
" My dear friends, we should avoid a very fatal mistake.
If you speak all together with the hope of getting the answers
at once, we shall have a renewal of the confusion of the
builders of the tower of Babel. Please let only one of you
alone put his questions, and when I shall have answered
him, another one shall have the same privilege." This being
agreed, Mr. Baillargeon said: " As it is my privilege to have
you in my humble house, I will take the liberty of opening
the meeting by calling attention to the article of our religion
which I consider the most puzzling of all. "We are told that
when our Saviour Jesus Christ took the bread in His hand at
the supper with His disciples, ' After He had given thanks,
He brake it and said, Take, eat; this is My body, which is
broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.
" ' After the same manner also He took the cup, saying, This
cup is the New Testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft
as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death
till He come.' (1 Cor. 11: 24-26.)
" Our Roman Catholic Church teaches us that, by this cere-
mony and these words, our Saviour Jesus Christ not only
changed the bread and the wine into His body, soul, and
divinity, but that He gave to His apostles and to all our
priests the power to perform the same stupendous miracle.
" Now, Mr. Chiniquy, you had to believe that, and to teach
On the Borders of Lake Michigan 197
it, before you left our church — but we know that you do not
believe it any longer. Now please give us the reasons you
had for changing your faith on that subject."
"Yes! yes!" repeated every one of the multitude which
surrounded me. " Tell us why you have changed your views
on that solemn question."
I replied, " Before answering you, let me read you the first
and second commandment of God as they were given to
Moses on Mount Sinai,
" 'And God spake all these words, saying:
" ' I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jeal-
ous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil-
dren unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate
Me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love
Me, and keep My commandments.'
" In the second commandment our God forbids to take a
created thing, — to make an image of it — to make a god of
it, — and adore it.
" But what does the Poj^e of Rome order his priests to do
every morning? He orders them to change those wafers into
gods! Does he not give them the power to make as many
gods as there are wafers before them? But do you not see
that this is an imposture? The very moment that you have
said that there is only one God, you are sure that the Pope is
an impostor when he says that the priest has the power to
make as many gods as there are wafers about him ! Surely
our Saviour, when holding the bread, said, ' This is My
body,' but He immediately added, ' Do this in remem-
brance of Me,' that we might understand that it was not His
body, but only a remembrance of His body.
198 h'orty Years in the Church of Christ
"In the Gospel of St. John, chapter 10: 9, Christ says, 'I
am the door,' and in chapter 15:1, He says, ' I am the
true vine.' Will the Pope nnike us believe that our Saviour
was really a door and a vine? No. Our Saviour M-as neither
a vine nor a door. When He called Himself a vine, a door,
it was oidy in a fiijurative way; it was to show us that it was
through Him alone that we could have any hope to enter into
heaven.
" St. Paul, speaking of the rock which Moses struck with
his rod in order to quench the thirst of the Israelites in the
desert, says, ' That rock was Christ ! '
" Will the Pope persuade you that that rock was really
Christ? You understand that it was only through a figure of
language that Paul said, 'That rock was Christ.' It was only
to make us understand that it was only to Christ alone we
must go to find the spiritual favours we are in need of for our
salvation. So our beloved Saviour called the bread of the
holy communion His body, that we might, when receiving
the bread of the communion, forever remember that His
body was nailed to the cross, and He died the horrible death
of Calvary, that by His sacrifice we might have our sins for-
given.
" Is it necessary to address you a long speech to prove to
you that the Pope and his priests are impostors the very
moment that they assure you that they make as many gods,
every morning, as they have baked wafers before their eyes?
Transubstantiation is an imposture; the mass has been in-
vented to make money. Paul, speaking to the Athenians,
said, ' God cannot be made with gold and silver.' If the great
apostle had been questioned on that subject, he certainly
would have denied that God Almighty can either be made
with the cakes baked by the servants of the priests. The
ceremony of the masses, for which you have to pay from
twenty- five cents to one dollar, or more, is an imposture in-
vented to fill the purse of the Pope and his priests.
"The moment our Saviour has said: *I do not come to break
On the Borders of LaKe Michigan 199
the commandments of My Father, but I come to fulfil them,'
He could not take a created thing, a wafer, a small piece of
bread, into his hand and make a god of it. We see that the
doctrines as well as the practices of the Church of Rome
about the Communion are not the same that we find in the
Gospel; for, in that Holy Book, we see that the apostles, and
Christ Himself, received their first communion after supper.
But, according to the teachings of the priests, it is a mortal sin
to receive the Holy Communion after breakfast, and still
more after supper. If the teachings of the Pope and his
priests are correct on that subject, we must believe that
Christ and His apostles were guilty of a mortal sin for dar-
ing to receive the great sacrament after supper! And, as they
never repented of that sin, we must believe that they are for-
ever lost for having made such a sacrilegious first commun-
ion."
It pleased the Good Master to give such a blessing to my
few clear and simple arguments that it was evident the huge
fabric of the teachings of Rome on that subject had crum-
bled down before their candid minds.
It was then nearly ten P. M., I added:
" You have all worked hard to=day, you want some rest.
Come again to-morrow evening, and with the help of God I
will continue to answer your questions and to show you some
of the errors of Rome."
And I dismissed them after a short prayer.
CHAPTER XX
Second Day at Muskegon. A Narrow Escape
The bright sun had hardly spread its rays on the peaceful
waters of Lake Michigan the second day of my evangelical
work at Muskegon when two of my dear countrymen
knocked at my door to warn me of an imminent though unsus-
pected danger.
" Among your hearers last night, " they said, " there was a
young man called Bowker who, though half drunk, knew well
what he said. He had not walked fifty feet out of the door
last night, when we heard him swearing that your address
against his Church was the last one you would give. He
swore that he would shoot you dead, this evening, if you dared
to continue to speak as you did last night. We come to
warn you before it is too late. But please, when you will
make use of our warning to protect yourself, do not speak to
anyone of the friendly message that we bring you, this morn-
ing, for there is Indian blood in that young man. His
great=grandmother was an Iroquois squaw, and he is as cruel,
merciless and blood-thirsty as his savage ancestors were. He
will kill us if he is aware that we have warned you against his
vengeance." I answered them: "No doubt he has got from
his priest the notion that it is his right and duty to kill me.
In authentic Popish books it is positively said that it is not a
sin for a Koman Catholic to kill a Protestant. More than that,
it is said that it is such a good and holy thing to kill a her-
etic that all the sins of the man who would kill me would be
forgiven instantly. When I left the Church of Rome I
knew the cost. They have already tried several times to
iiiurd(>r me, but they have failed. My hope is that the same
200
A Narrow Escape aoi
merciful heavenly Father, whose mighty hand has protected
me, will be still my shield to=night. However, we must be
prudent and take the precautions of common sense and wis-
dom against the threatening danger, I see that you are
among the few soldiers who have been honourably dismissed
from the army after serving your time. Please grant me the
favour to follow my advice. I have been told that you have
a half =dozen young French Canadians, honourably discharged
from the army, in this town. Try to meet two or three others
of them as friendly to me as you are, carry your guns well
concealed under your coats when you come this evening to
the meeting. Put yourselves around that young man and
watch him closely. If you see that he makes any demon-
stration to do mischief, as quickly as a welhdrilled soldier
can do it, put the muzzles of your guns to his face, and
sternly tell him, ' You are a dead man if you move a finger
against Father Chiniquy or anyone else here!'
" You will see that the vision of those guns so near his face
will soon change his mind; you will at once turn that wolf
into a lamb. Do not do him any harm, but wrench his pis-
tol or his dagger from his hand, and deliver him into the
hands of one of the magistrates of the town, whom you will
engage to come to the assembly for that purpose. Follow
my advice with wisdom and see that he may not have any
suspicion of what you are doing."
Those brave young countrymen followed my advice to per-
fection. In the evening the meeting was, if possible, still
more crowded with my dear fellow countrymen who wanted
to know why I had left the Church of Rome. My object that
evening was to show them the sacrilegious and idolatrous
worship of Mary in the Church of Rome.
After telling them that we should respect the memory of
the mother of Christ as the most blessed woman who has
ever existed, we ought not to call her the mother of God. I
showed them that God being eternal and having no begin-
ning could not have had any mother. That she was the mother
102 Forty Years in the Church of* Christ
of Christ only as a man. That He had really taken His
flesh from her flesli and His blood from her blood — but He
could not have taken His Divine nature and His Divine
person from her. No woman can be the mother of her fa-
ther. The father must be born before the daughter. And
Christ, as God, had no beginning — He had created this
world. He was the creator of Adam and Eve. Christ could
not be the son of any man or woman. " It is a remarkable
thing," I added, " that in the Gospel Christ never, never
called Mary His mother. When addressing her or speak-
ing of her, He always called her woman. More than that," I
said, "in two of the most solemn circumstances of His life, He
refused to acknowledge her as His mother. There is that
strange fact as narrated by St. Matthew and St. Mark . . .
Here are the very words of the Gospel of Christ. When
Jesus was speaking to the people, His mother and His broth-
ers, who were outside, wanted to speak to Him. Someone
told Him, there are your mother and your brothers stand-
ing outside who want to speak to you. But He answered
the one who had told Him that. Who is My mother and who
are My brothers? And stretching His hands toward His dis-
ciples, He said, here is My mother and here are My brothers.
For anyone who shall do My Father's will, is My brother^ My
sister, My mother. (Matt. 12: 46-50; Mark 3: 31-35.)
" If it is such a holy thing to worship Mary as the Roman
Catholics do to obey their Church, how is it that Peter, speak-
ing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, said: * He is the stone which
has been rejected by you.' He is that principal corner stone
which you have rejected. There is no salvation by any other
one. For, under heaven, no other name has been given
through which man can be saved.
" When the Holy Ghost, through Peter, tells us that the name
of Jesus is the only name through which we can be saved,
what right has the Pope to tell you that the name of Mary
must be invoked to be saved."
These last words had hardly fallen from my lips when the
A Narrow Escape I03
wliole assembly was convulsed by the furious cries, " Infamous
apostate: those are the last blasphemies which will fall from
thy cursed lips!"
No words can give an idea of the terror and the confusion
which followed, when the people heard these threatening
words and saw the muzzle of a pistol aimed at me at such a
short distance, that it nearly touched my face."
"My God! My God! Stop him! Stop him!" was cried from
every corner. But quick as lightning the would-be murderer
saw the muzzles of four guns so near his face that some of them
even touched his skin; he heard at the same time voices tell-
ing him, "You are a dead man, if you move a finger. Let
that pistol drop from your hand immediately, or your brain
will be scattered to the four winds." These words were
hardly heard by the would-be murderer when the pistol
was dropped on the floor and putting his hands to
his face, he cried with a supplicating voice, "For God's
sake do not kill me! O My God! O My God spare me!"
My four young, brave friends, putting their hands on his
collar told liira, " You are our prisoner. Here is a magistrate
who has been the witness of your criminal intention. We
deliver you into his hands that he may deal with you accord-
ing to law."
Trembling from head to feet, the young criminal answered:
"For God's sake, do what you please with me, but spare my
life. I confess that I am guilty of a great crime against you,
dear Father Chiniquy, but I ask your pardon. Do not get me
punished as I deserve." I answered him, " I do not want
you to be punished as you deserve. But you cannot find fault
with us if we ask the protection of the laws of our country to
save our lives."
In less time than I can say it, by the order of the magis-
trate the hands of the young criminal were tied, and he was
ordered to be marched to the common jail to wait for the
course of the law about his criminal action.
The pistol having been picked up by the magistrate, it was
2Q4 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
found that it cunlained four bullets which were to be lodged
in my breast, if my merciful God had not protected me in
Huch a visible way.
Of course the indignation of the crowd knew no bounds, and
the unfortunate young man would not have gone back with
his life, if I had not i)leaded for mercy and stopped the arms
of those who thought that the proceedings of the law were
too slow for such a visible and public crime. It was only
through exerting my influence to the utmost I had on that
multitude that I prevented a deplorable new case of lynch
law. I had with me the ninth volume of the Theological
works of St. Thomas. I opened it at the page ninety and I
read them the following words of that author, which are
notliing but the expression of the Church of Rome:
"Though heretics do not deserve to be tolerated we must
wait till they are twice admonished, but if after a second ad-
monition they refuse to repent and submit to the Holy
Church, they must not only be excommunicated, but they
must be delivered to the secular power to be extermi-
nated."— St. Thomas Aquinas, Vol. 4, p. 90.
After reading this law of the Church of Rome, I told my
dear countrymen, "It is not against that unfortunate young
man that you must express your just indignation to=day, it
is against the Church of Rome. It was only to obey his
Church and follow its teachings that he wanted to take away
my life.
" I know on good authority that he spent the greater part of
yesterday with his jpriest. There is no doubt that his nerves
were strengthened to commit that crime, even at the risk of
his life, by w^hat he heard from him. He was told, wliat all
the priests say of me, that I am a monster, unworthy to live,
H cursed man, condemned to hell by Almighty God as well as
by his holy Pope. He was probably promised the forgive-
ness of all his sins if he would put an end to my life.
" Whenever the Church of Rome has the power to do it she
has persecuted the Protestants to h er utmost capacity. She
A Narrow Escape 205
has sent them to jail, she has confiscated their goods, she has
sent them into exile, or even put them to death. Before the
conquest of Canada by the English, it was forbidden to
Protestants to live in that country. They had the choice
between going to gaol or becoming exiles, if they per-
sisted in their Gospel religion. In France, thousands have
lost their lives, and have been forced to go and die in exile
for becoming Protestants. In a single night, and the four
or five months after the St. Bartholomew massacre, seventy =
five thousand Protestants were slaughtered in France by the
order of the Pope.
" The whole night would not be long enough to tell you the
tortures, the persecutions, the slaughters of the Protestants, by
the order of the Pope, in Italy, France, Spain, England,
Holland, and all other countries where the Church of Rome
was strong enough to execute the laws of blood and death she
had passed against those who refused to worship her idols
and prostrate themselves at the feet of her Pope and Bishops.
You have seen with your own eyes, this very evening, one
of the acts engendered by the bloody and cruel laws of
Rome. Is it your desire to continue to belong to such a
church?"
There was a universal cry: "No. We do not wish to be
any longer the slaves of such a system of tyranny and in-
tolerance."
It was my unspeakable joy to see the whole crowd of my
dear countrymen give up the heavy and ignominious yoke of
the Pope in order to accept the Gospel of Christ for their
only rule of faith.
CHAPTER XXI
The Assassination of Lincoln
Several years ago in my book " Fifty Years in the Church
of Rome," I had n chapter on the assassination of President
Abraham Lincohi. I charged that on the Jesuits, which
took the world by surprise. Many of my best friends thought
that that was the weak point in the book. They thought
that it was hardly possible that the emissaries of Rome should
commit such a horrible crime. The Jesuits, for three hundred
years, have been guilty of many black crimes; but it was
thought that to charge this to them was more than they
deserved. But I had most conclusive evidence of the truth
of what I alleged, and felt confident that I stood on solid
ground. I did not arrive at my conclusion hastily, and was
not warped by my hatred of the papal system and by my con-
viction that Jesuits were capable of anything, according to
the principle that the end justifies the means.
There is no man living who has had so good an opportu-
nity of knowing Mr. Lincoln, under most trying circum-
stances, as I had. There was no man who had taken so much
pains to investigate and understand the real circumstances
and facts relating to his murder. I procured documentary
proof at an expense of $2,000, which I have now in my pos-
session, before I reached a positive conclusion, and announced
it to the world.
I add here on this bloody tragedy a few considerations to be
followed by a statement of facts brought out under the most
searching investigations by others, all of which go to con-
firm the truth of what I had written on the subject.
At the time of the murder of Lincoln the American Repub-
206
The Assassination of Lincoln 207
lie had just passed through the most terrible civil war in
the world's history. Slavery was the cause of the conflict,
which held in its grasp a vast multitude of human beings,
Abraham Lincoln was President when the conflict broke out,
and to its end. He seemed to be the man raised up by provi-
dence for the time that tried men's souls. He foresaw with
prophetic eyes that slavery must come to an end if the
national life would be preserved. After waiting for some
time till circumstances became favourable, he issued the proc-
lamation of the emancipation of 4,000,000 human beings
from slavery. The captives thus liberated were more in
number than had ever been liberated at any one time in the
history of the world. The negroes often called Lincoln their
Moses, before and after their freedom. On the first of Janu-
ary, 1863, the commanding officer of the Union forces ap-
pointed a meeting in a grove on old Fort Plantation, Port
Eoyal, S. C, at which the declaration of emancipation would
be read. There was quite a programme marked out, but
which was somewhat interrupted by a remarkable incident.
When the proclamation was read, the many negroes present
suddenly broke out singing the national hymn: "My Country
'tis of Thee; Sweet Land of Liberty." That hymn they
could never sing before, but now that they were free they
sang it with swelling hearts; but how they learned it was
unknown. Their hearts thrilled with joy at the thought of
being free, and rose in gratitude to God. In their joy and
gratitude they did not forget Lincoln, their Moses, who led
them from bondage to liberty.
In the United States, slavery was a controlling power, which
was confined to what was called the Southern States. The
aim was, on the part of the slaveholders, to make slavery
national, and to extend it into new territories which would be
gradually added as states. They saw that their plans were
likely to be thwarted by the opposing sentiment in the free
states. They determined to secede from the Union and set
up a nation where slavery would be the corner-stone.
2o8 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
Several of the leaders of the conspiracy, including JefiFerson
Davis, were officers under the federal government. They
were thus the more favourably situated to frame and prepare
to carry out their plans. They had taken the oath of loyalty
and were drawing their salaries from the treasury of the
United States, while at the same time they were plotting to
break up the nation. Davis and other conspirators, while
concocting their diabolical conspiracy, could make Union
speeches and loud professions of loyalty. Davis came to
Boston and spoke in Faneuil Hall at a union meeting, while
at the same time he came on from Washington for the pur-
pose of dismantling forts and making other preparations for
the prosecution of his nefarious plans.
It was well known that the Roman Catholic Church was in
sympathy with slavery and with the political party chiefly
rej)resenting it. The hierarchy never raised its voice against
the system, but gave it their countenance and practical
support. The general sympathy between the Romanists and
the rel)els was manifest, and the slaveholders knew it, and
relied much on that fact to help them in accomplishing their
object. The Democratic party of the country, as it was called,
was known as the pro=slavery party, and Roman Catholics,
mainly through the influence of their clergy, were almost ex-
clusively the members of that party. Thus Popery and the
slave system by aSinity and through policy became allied.
Any professions that the Roman hierarchy might make at that
time of course were not sincere, but intended tc blind peo-
ple's eyes, so that the end might be more readily gained.
The union of Popery and slavery came closer as tin'e went on
and the rebellion progressed.
When the war broke out Archbishop Hughes professed to
be a friend of the Union. President Lincoln thought that he
might render valuable service abroad in favour of the North,
which he gave assurance he would render. He went abroad,
but evidently with the object in view the direct opposite to
The Assassination of Lincoln 209
that he professed. He saw the Pope and we know what soon
after followed. The Pope addressed a letter to Davis, couched
in the most friendly and endearing terms. This was in fact
a recognition of the slave^confederacy. Let it be remembered
that the only foreign potentate that recognized the Confeder-
acy with Davis at its head was the Pope.
Soon after this the Roman Catholic soldiers of the Union
army began to desert by wholesale, as they soon learned that
the voice of the infallible pontifif must be regarded.
In the document received from the pension department,
which was published in the papers, it ajjpeared that there
were 144,221 Irishmen that enlisted, and 104,000 had deserted,
making the percentage of Irish Roman Catholics who de-
serted during the war, seventy4wo, while that of the natives
of the United States was five per cent., and of Germans ten
per cent. " This," as a prominent living writer has said, " is
a sufficient basis of the charge heretofore made, that a good
Roman Catholic can be loyal only to the Pope, and can never
be loyal to our government and to our institutions."
Soon after the visit of Archbishop Hughes to the Pope, the
terrible riots occurred in New York, when it became necessary
to fill up the ranks which had become thinned, largely through
desertions. The rioters were made up of Irish Roman Catho-
lics, and it was evident that they were acting under tlie aus-
pices of their chief clergy. For three days and nights there
was a reign of terror right under the shadow of the palace of
Archbishop Hughes. It was evident that he had proved
himself a traitor, and was informed by President Lincoln
that for the continuance of the bloody riot he would be held
responsible. He then became concerned for his own safety.
Then he broke the silence and gave a short address to the
mob, calling them his friends, and the rioters dispersed and
order "was restored. Thus it was evident that Hughes was
carrying out the orders of the Pope and was at the bottom of
the whole trouble.
2IO Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Before I speak directly in regard to the assassination of
Lincohi, there is another subject to which I must invite at-
tention, pointing in the same direction.
During the civil war in the American Republic, the French
Emperor Napoleon and the Pope conceived the idea that dur-
ing that conflict there was a good opportunity to establish an
empire in Mexico. The expectation was that such an empire
would be a great Roman power in this continent, and be like-
ly to become part of the slave and Romish nation to be found-
ed on the ruins of the Republic of the United States, and the
ultimate control of North America.
Maximilian, an Austrian prince, came over to found an
empire in Mexico. He came over directly under the auspi-
ces of Napoleon and the Pope. He and his wife Carlota went
to Rome immediately before leaving for Mexico, where they
had an audience with the Holy Father, and received his
blessing to help and give them success in their undertaking.
After they arrived in Mexico, Maximilian found the way to
the dazzling empire before his mind to be a hard road to
travel; matters were going against him.
Maximilian seems to have been naturally amiable, and not
being of a strong mind he could be easily influenced and con-
trolled by Napoleon and the Pope for their own purpose. The
historian, John Lothrop Motley, who at that time, 1863, was
the American ambassador at Vienna, in his correspondence
with Dr. O. W. Holmes thus wrote:
" There is no glory in the grass nor verdure m anything.
In fact, we have nothing green here but Archduke Maximil-
ian, who firmly believes that he is going forth to Mexico to
establish an American Empire and that it is his Divine mis-
sion to destroy the dragon of democracy and re=establish the
true Church, the right Divine, and all sorts of games. Poor
young man."
Maximilian's tastes and religious notions were such as
might be exjjected from his mother and his priestly advisors.
Mr. Motley further writes:
The Assassination of Lincoln 211
"Maximilian adores bullfights, rather regrets the Inquisi-
tion, and considers the duke of Alva everything noble and
chivalrous and the most abused of men. It would do you
good to hear his invocation to that deeply inspired shade, and
his denunciations of the ignorant and vulgar Protestants who
defeated him. You can imagine the rest."
It is true he had just been at Rome and had just received
the papal benediction. Pius IX. felt highly gratified with the
recognition of his approbation and blessing in a cause which
he thought would result in much for the holy Church. By
"Divine right "he could originate a dynasty, and promise
"perpetuity" to it, and "secure to it the blessing of heaven
upon his enterprise."
The Pope had done a great deal of blessing and cursing in
his time; but the results showed that his blessings were
worse than his curses. Such was the results in this case.
Popes have been very successful in getting people into trouble,
but never did much to get them out of it; this finds a
striking illustration in the case of Maximilian,
The time had now come for the United States to take a
decided stand. On the seventh of March, 1864, Mr. Seward
wrote to the American ambassador at Paris, for the inform-
ation of the French government: "A resolution passed the
House of Representatives by a unanimous vote, which de-
clares the opposition of that body to a recognition of a mon-
archy in Mexico." He adds in his letter these decisive words:
" I remain now firm as heretofore in the opinion that the des-
tinies of the American continent are not to be permanently
controlled by any political arrangement that can be made in
the capitals of Europe."
The Confederate States looked with a great deal of interest
on the French intervention. Napoleon had a strong desire
to recognize the Confederacy, and urged the British goA^ern-
ment to join him in such a move. Jefferson Davis said:
" Napoleon was anxious to go beyond this, and so was the
Pope of Rome; and they alone entertained those views on.
212 Forty Years in the Church ot Christ
that question. Napoleon's efiPorts looking towards the break-
ing of our blockatle met with refusal from England, the
country whose artisans were the chief suJEferers by the cotton
famine." The letter of Mr. Seward representing the deter-
mined position of the United States, produced a weakening
and frightening etfect on Napoleon.
The French emperor had announced that he would with-
draw his troops from Mexico, which, with other drawbacks,
made the cause desperate for Maximilian. Carlota left very
suddenly for France and Rome to secure help in the trying
circumstances. When she arrived in Paris and visited Na-
poleon, she met with a cold reception, and was told that he
could do nothing. She then hastened to Rome to see the
Pope, but he promised no practical help, and she, seeing
that ruin was inevitable, became suddenly insane, and has
remained so.
Maximilian, as a last resort, after the surrender of Lee, at-
tempted to strengthen his position by offering large induce-
ments to the Southern rebel leaders to colonize Mexico, and
join him. The idea struck very favourably many of the con-
federates. It was noticeable how readily they could become
the adherents and champions of monarchy and the Pope.
Maximilian utterly failed in his enterprise, and was executed
by being shot.
It was as evident as anything could be that a gigantic con-
spiracy had been formed for the destruction of the American
Republic, the two chief movers of which were Jefferson
Davis and the Pope. As that had thus far been an evident
failure, it was concluded to take the most desperate measures
to accomplish the end. It was decided to strike directly at
the head of the government, the President to be put out of
the way, and the other chief othcers to be assassinated, so
that everything would be in confusion; none at the head of
the government and the army, and the way blocked for a
new election. Then the conspirators would step in and have
their way, and Davis and the Pope rejoice.
The Assassination ot Lincoln 213
In my " Fifty Years " I gave au extended statement of
facts in regard to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In
that work I stated that I had warned Mr. Lincoln long before
the assassination that such an event was likely to take place,
and to be on his guard. The conspirators, including Booth
and John Surratt, were accustomed to meet at the house of
Mary Surratt, in Washington. Romish priests were frequent
visitors there. Those who met there were known as enemies
of the government, and rebels. The assassination had been
announced some hours before it actually occurred, in a town
in a distant state, showing that the plot was known among
certain Romanists beforehand. John Surratt was specially
looked after and harboured by the priests while a fugitive
from justice.
After I had published to the world my account of the as-
sassination of Abraham Lincoln, a full history of it was pub-
lished, written by General T. M. Harris, who had been a
member of the military commission, before which Mary
Surratt had been tried and convicted. Through a certain
chain of circumstances this gentleman had been led to write
a full history of that event.
There is no man in America who has so extensively inves-
tigated the subject as he. He availed himself of all the
sources of information within his reach. His work is a vol-
ume of over 400 pages. It is a perfect Gibraltar, and the
Romanists have not attempted to challenge its statements.
Since the publication of that work, Gen. Harris prepared a
smaller book bearing the title, "Rome's Responsibility for the
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln."
I have held an extensive correspondence with the author
while preparing his books, and I found that there was a com-
plete agreement between him and myself on the subject. His
investigations and their results go to confirm what I wrote in
my "Fifty Years." I quote extensively from his books, which
I feel assured my readers will appreciate not only for the in-
formation, but as confirming what I had previously published
214 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
on the subject, and the proof of the truth of the terrible
charj^e which I first publicly made amounts to an absolute
demonstration.
I now proceed to quote from the writings of Gen. Harris:
" It is my purpose now to review the facts connected with
the assassination of President Lincoln, and the attempted
assassination of Mr. Seward, and the purpose to assassinate
Vice-President Johnson, Secretary Stanton and General
Grant. The object of this scheme of wholesale assassination
of the civil and military heads of the government, was to
throw the country into a state of chaos, and thus retrieve the
fast failing fortunes of the Confederacy. These facts, as de-
veloped on the trials of the conspirators before a military
commission, and on the trial of John H. Surratt two years
later, before a civil court, together with evidence secured by
Father Chiniquy, and given to the world in his book, ' Fifty
Years in the Church of Rome,' show conclusively the hand
of Rome in this stab at our nation's life. I will now proceed
to pass these facts in review, in their proper order, and to
show their significance.
" We will take as our starting point the fact, well estab-
lished, that the headquarters of the conspiracy in Washing-
ton City was the house of a Roman Catholic family of which
Mrs. Mary E. Surratt was the head; and that all of its in-
mates, including a number of boarders, were devoted mem-
bers of the Roman Catholic Church. This house was the
meeting place, the council chamber of Booth and his co=con-
spirators, including Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and her son, John
H. Surratt, who, next to Booth, were the most active members
of the conspiracy in the preparation of the execution of the
plot.
" Booth, the ring-leader, was born and reared a Protestant.
He was only a nominal Protestant, however.
" He was a man of the world, a drunkard and a libertine,
and utterly indifferent to matters of religion.
"That, under the influence of his associations in the con-
The Assassination of Lincoln 215
spiracy plot, he had become a pervert to Catholicism, was
shown, however, by the fact that on the examination of his per-
son after his death it was found that he was wearing a Catho-
lic medal under his vest and over his heart.
" The wily Jesuit, sympathizing with him in his political
views, and in the hope of destroying our government, and
establishing the Confederacy, which had already received the
Poije's recognition and expressions of good will and sym-
pathy conferred upon it, had been able to pervert him to
Catholicism, and to deceive him into the belief that this
medal would conduce to his jDersonal safety, and to the suc-
cess of his enterprise. He had, no doubt, been baj)tized into
the Catholic Church. This medal at once marked and identi-
fied him as a pervert to Catholicism.
" Now we have Mary E. Surratt, John H. Surratt, J. Wilkes
Booth, Dr. Samuel Mudd, and Michael O'Laughlin, five of
the leading spirits in the execution of the plot to assassinate,
belonging to the Eoman Catholic Church.
" My impression is that Herold and Spangler were also
members or adherents to that church. Be this as it may,
they, together with Atzerot and Payne, were the mere tools
and hired agents of Booth and Surratt, and so stood ready to
serve their purpose; and so it boots not to inquire into their
faith or want of faith.
" Our inquiry then, thus far, has established the fact that
five of the conspirators were members of the Roman Catholic
Church, and that these five were its leaders, to whom the
execution of the plot had been confided. We have also seen
that their meeting place, or council chamber, in Washington,
whilst engaged in perfecting their arrangements for the as-
sassinations that had been determined upon, was the dwell-
ing place and under the control of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and
John H. Surratt, her son, both of whom were zealous slaves
of the Pope, and clearly proven, by the evidence given before
the commission and by that given two years later, on the
trial of John H. Surratt in the civil court, to have been lead-
ai6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
ing and active members of the conspiracy. Mrs. Surratt was
a faithful and diligent attendant upon church services; and,
from the evidence given by three or four priests in her behalf
before the commission, she had established, in their estima-
tion, a high character for devotion and Christian piety.
" It was a noteworthy fact, however, that of all these priestly
witnesses but one of them admitted that he had been on
specially intimate terms with her during the five months in
which the plans and preparations for the assassinations were
being made.
" Most of them had been acquainted with her for many
years, and seemed to be well acquainted with her church
reputation, but they had only seen her casually during these
latter months. One of these, Father Wiget, was noted for his
disloyalty, and could hardly been supposed to have spent many
hours with her, at different times, without having heard her
express her views in relation to the one all-absorbing topic of
the time, that was uppermost in the mind of all, and formed
the chief topic of conversation. He could only say that he
did not remember having heard her utter a loyal sentiment
since the beginning of the rebellion; nor could he remember
having heard any one speak of her as notoriously disloyal,
until since her arrest. He said he had become acquainted
with her through having had the care of two of her sons as
his ijupils; one of these was serving in the rebel army, and the
other, John H. Surratt, had been a rebel emissary and spy for
three years, passing back and forth between Washington and
Richmond, and from Richmond to Canada and back, as a
bearer of dispatches, and yet the Jesuitical priest endeavoured
so to shape his testimony as to leave the impression that the
tojpics of conversation between himself and Mrs. Surratt.
whilst all this was going on, and much more, was confined to
such topics as the state of her health, the weather, etc. He
was very positive as to her good Christian character, which he
had been summoned to prove, but had very little recollection
of anything else.
The Assassination of Lincoln 217
" Father Boyle, resident at St. Peter's Church, Washington
City, had made the acquaintance of Mrs. Surratt eight or
nine years previously, but had only met her three or four
times since. He had always heard her well spoken of; never
had heard anything to her disadvantage; had never heard her
utter any disloyal sentiments.
" Father Stonestreet, pastor of St. Aloysius Church, Wash-
ington City, had made her acquaintance twenty years before;
had only occasionally seen her since; had scarcely seen her
at all during the last year or two; had always looked upon her
as a proper Christian matron. At the time of his acquaint-
ance with her (which he was locating twenty years back),
there was no question of her loyalty. Replying to a question
by the Judge advocate: He did not remember having seen
her, though he might have done so transiently, since the com-
mencement of the rebellion ; and knew nothing of her charac-
ter for loyalty, only what he had seen in the papers.
"Father Lanihan, a Catholic priest living near Beantown,
in Maryland, testified that he had been acquainted with Mrs.
Surratt for about thirteen years; intimately for about nine
years; that he had been very familiar with her, staying at her
house. He regarded her as a good Christian woman, highly
honourable; he had frequently talked with her about current
events and public affairs, since the rebellion, but could not
remember ever having heard her express any disloyal senti-
ments; neither had he heard her reputation for loyalty
spoken of.
" Finally, Father Young, of St. Dominick's Church on
Sixth Street, Washington City, was called in her behalf; he
had been acquainted with Mrs. Surratt about eight or ten
years, but not intimately; he had occasionally seen her, and
visited her; passed her house about once a month, and gen-
erally'called there, staying sometimes an hour. He, like the
the others, was a good witness for her as to her character, but
could say nothing as to her loyalty, or disloyalty; he had
never heard her speak as to current events one way or another.
21 8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
How can vre credit, the testimony of this witness? Is it credi.
ble that he could have spent an hour in conversation with a
rebel woman of such positive character and convictions, once
a month, during the heat of the conflict, and yet never have
heard any expressions from her on the subjects that filled the
minds and hearts of all, and formed the chief toj)ics of con-
versation, in all classes of society? Such silence between a
rebel woman and a rebel priest, who were on intimate and
confidential terms, is too incredible to be believed. We can-
not help thinking that all these holy or unholy fathers testi-
fied under the understood mental reservations of the Jesuits.
Father Wiget was, as we have said, her pastor, and so, we take
it, was her confessor. We cannot think it at all probable that
she would have engaged in a conspiracy fraught with so
much danger to her, and such grave consequences hereafter,
without having confided to him her terrible secret; nor with-
out his approval. It certainly is rather strange that she
should have broken her relations with him after her convic-
tion, and taken Father Walter for her confessor and spiritual
guide in her preparation for death.
" There must have been some grave reasons for this change;
and it was made for her, by these Jesuit priests, for some
very important reasons. It is not at all likely that at such a
time, and under such solemn circumstances, she would have
made this change from her pastor to another priest with whom
she had not had any previous acquaintance of her own vo-
lition. Had she been innocent, her trusted pastor would
have been the one to whom she would naturally have looked
for consolation. But Wiget had no doubt told her that she
would incur no guilt in aiding the conspiracy, and so to
Walter she could declare her innocence, having the faith of
a Catholic in Wiget's power to grant her this dispensation.
Father Walter could say 'that whilst his priestly vows
would not allow him to reveal the secrets of the con-
fessional, he could say, that from what there came to his
knowledge, he knew her to be an innocent woman.' There
The Assassination of Lincoln 219
was to be a great effort made to get a commutation, or reversal
of her sentence; and the strong plea of the Father was to be
based on this assertion of her innocence. Failing in this,
Father Walter for thirty years persisted in his efforts to fix
upon the government the stigma of having murdered an in-
nocent woman.
"In its uniting with Father Walter to fix upon our govern-
ment the stigma of a great crime, to its eternal disgrace, the
Roman Catholic hierarchy assumed, with him, the responsi-
bility of perverting the welhestablished truths of history, and
of thus manifesting their hatred of our government, and their
chagrin and bitter disappointment at the failure of their ef-
forts for its overthrow.
" So deep and bitter was their disappointment at the sig-
nal success of the government in the vindication of its au-
thority and its right to exist, that, for a quarter of a century*
it never ceased its efforts to fix upon it the stigma of this
alleged crime, and it was only stopped from this effort by
the publication of my " History of the Great Conspiracy" to
overthrow our government by a series of assassinations, when,
fearing that its further agitation might tend to give publicity
to my book, and that thus the facts of this conspiracy would
become more widely known and the truth of history vindi-
cated, that the agitation of this charge and contention against
the government were dropped as if it had become a hot potato.
We must not forget that, in all this they acted under a full
knowledge of all the facts in the case. These had been fully
displayed to the world through the evidence produced by the
government on the trial of the assassins in 1865, and two
years later, still more fully, on a trial of John H. Surratt in a
civil court. These things were not done in a corner but openly
before the world. Their sympathy with the conspirators and
assassins, and their enmity toward the government, were thus
openly proclaimed before the world; and the attitude of the
hierarchy toward the assassination of the nation's head was
made clearly manifest. It is Abraham Lincoln, it is true.
220 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
that was slain, but it was the life of the nation that the blow
was aimed at. The scheme to aid the rebellion by the assas-
sination of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary
of State, and Secretary of War, and the General in command
of our armies, was concocted by the emissaries of the rebel
government, who kept their headquarters in M(jntreal, Canada.
These emissaries held a semi official relation to the Confed-
erate government. The whole run of the evidence makes it
clear that the Roman hierarchy kept itself in close relation with
these emissaries; and it is highly probable, from a considera.
tion of all the facts, with the head of the government in whose
service they were employed also. It kept itself in these close
relations for a purpose, and was most likely the original
source of the inspiration of the assassination plot. These
rebel emissaries were Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi,
Clement C. Clay, of Alabama, and Beverly Tucker, of Vir^
ginia. These had associated with them, as helpers, George N.
Sanders, Dr. Blackburn, and others; men who preferred to
fight in the field of political strategy rather than on the field
of battle.
"These agents of the rebel government entered into a con-
tract with J. Wilkes Booth and John H. Surratt to carry out
their scheme, and also aided them in the selection of their
subordinates. Whether these emissaries were Protestants or
Catholics, I am not informed. My impression, however, is
that they were nominally Protestants. They were all, how-
ever, wicked men, evidently accepting the maxim that, 'all
is fair in war,' and having no conscientious scruples as to the
means that they employed to give aid to their cause. That
the Jesuits had their ear, and aided them with their sugges-
tions, is made probable by the fact, that in his efforts to enlist
as a helper to Booth and Surratt, a young man who was sent
before the commisson as a witness on the trial, Thompson
used the Jesuitical argument, that to kill a tyrant was no
murder; and so, assuming that President Lincoln was a
The Assassination of Lincoln 221
tyrant, it would be a glorious and praiseworthy act to take
him off.
" That the assassination plot was known to the Bishop of
Montreal (Bourget) and a number of his priests before its
accomplishment, and received their sanction, was made plain
by their subsequent conduct. As soon as the assassination
of the President was flashed over the wires, Fathers Boucher
and La Pierre kept themselves on the lookout, and ready to
help any of the conspirators who might make good their
escape to Canada, John H. Surratt and a companion, whose
identity was never discovered, returned to Montreal on the
early afternoon of the 18th of April, the fourth after the
assassination. The unknown conspirator then sank out of
sight. Surratt was spirited away from the hotel within
fifteen minutes after he had registered, on his return. He
had registered on the same book on his return from Rich-
mond to Canada, on the 6th of April, had gone back to Wash-
ington and played his part in the conspiracy on the night of
the 14th of April, and now, on the 18th, had gotten back to
Montreal, and was so carefully watched for, that almost at
the instant of his arrival he was spirited away and kept
hidden carefully in the house of Porterfield, one of Thomp-
son's assistants, who, for his greater security, had relinquished
his American citizenship and had taken the oath of alle-
giance to the British crown. Porterfield told him that the
detectives were on the alert, and lost no time in hiding him
away.
" Porterfield, deeply exercised for the safety of his charge,
as also for his own, only kept him until he could communi-
cate with Father Boucher, a Roman Catholic priest, who
lived in an out of the way country parish, forty=five miles
from Montreal. Father Boucher immediately sent his serv-
ant to bring Surratt to his place for further hiding. Du Tilly,
Father Boucher's man, arrived before the house of Porter-
field late in the evening of the 21st of April, and, taking
222 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Surratt into his carriage, drove him away under tlie cover of
darkness, and placed him in the keeping of his master. Fa-
ther Boucher. Here he remained for two months, under the
most careful watch and guide of his keeper. Whilst here he
was fre(iuently visited by some of his friends in whose em-
ploy he had incurred his guilt; and by another Father,
La Pierre. This La Pierre was canon to Bishop Bourget, ate
at his table, and was the same to him as a hand and arm,
" A circumstance having occurred that made it necessary for
Father Boucher to unload his charge, he sent him back to
Montreal, as secretly as he had taken him away from there,
and placed him in the care of Father La Pierre.
" This Father provided Surratt with an upstairs chamber in
his own father's house, right under the shadow of the
Bishop's palace. Here he kept him for three months, never
permitting him to leave his room in the day time, and never
at night but in company with himself and in disguise. Thus
was Surratt kept hidden away for five months, in the care
and in the charge of the Roman Catholic Church; two of its
priests keeping watch and ward over him, with a full knowl-
edge of his crime, thus making themselves accomplices, after
the fact, as they also no doubt were before its accomplish-
ment. But how about Bishop Bourget? He stands behind
the scenes, it is true, but was he not equally guilty? The
organization of the hierarchy is a complete military despot-
ism, of which the Pope is the ostensible head; but of which
the Black Pope is the real head. The Black Pope is the
head of the order of the Jesuits, and is called the general.
He not only has the absolute command of his own order, but
directs and controls the general policy of the church. He is
the power behind the throne, and is the real i)otential head of
the hierarchy. The whole machine is under the strictest
rules of military discipline. The whole thought and will of
this machine — to islan, propose and execute — is found in its
head. There is no independence of thought, or of action, in
its subordinate parts. Implicit and unquestioning obedi-
The Assassination of Lincoln 223
ence to the orders of superiors in authority is the sworn
duty of the priesthood of every grade, just as it is the duty
of officers in the army; and as much the duty of the laity to
their priest as it is of the rank and file in an army to their
immediate commanders. There is a complete chain of re-
sponsibility, extending from the head all the way down to
the membership. Thus the whole vast organization can be
wielded, as a unit, to accomplish the plans and purposes of
its head. The priest is virtually an intellectual slave to his
bishop, the bishop to his arch=bishop, and these again to the
cardinals, and all finally, to the Popes, white and black.
This being the case, it is clear that no priest would have
dared to take on himself such grave responsibilities as did
Fathers Boucher and La Pierre, involving so much danger to
themselves, as also to the character of their church, without
the knowledge and assent of their Bishop. It would have
been held to be an act of insubordination, fraught with the
most serious consequences to themselves. But the canon
occupies a peculiar relation to his bishop, and is supposed to
have no other duty but to carry out the order which he
receives from his superior. In this view of the case, which
represents truly the relations between Bishop Bourget and
his canon, La Pierre, can we rationally come to any other
conclusion than that Bourget was, in a moral point of view,
also a member of the conspiracy ? Neither would Bishop Bour-
get have dared to give his consent to this crime on his own
independent responsibility. He knew he was acting in har-
mony with the desire and purpose of the hierarchy for the
destruction of our government.
" The Jesuits plan with the utmost art and cunning, un-
hampered by any moral restraints, and always with the utmost
secrecy; and carry out their plans in the dark. We think,
however, that in this case we have succeeded in tracing the
Jesuit through all the devious wanderings of his dark and
slimy path, and in fixing upon him the responsibility for the
assassination of President Lincoln.
2 24 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"But we are not done yet. In the early part of September,
1865, these unholy fathers thought it safe to unload their
charge to their brethren in England; and so made arrange-
ments for sending Surratt across the Atlantic, under an as-
sumed name, and in disguise.
"For this purpose they arranged for his passage on a British
steamer, the Peruvian, which was to sail from Quebec on the
16th of September, 1865.
"A physician with whom Boucher was well acquainted, by
the name of McMillan, had just gotten the jiosition of surgeon
to this vessel, and they arranged with him to take under his
especial charge a man by the name of McCarthy, who for
certain reasons wished to cross the Atlantic under an as-
sumed name and in the most secret manner. The day before
the Peruvian was to sail from Quebec these two unholy
Fathers conveyed Surratt in a covered carriage to the steamer
that was to carry passengers for the Peruvian from Montreal
to Quebec. They had disguised Surratt by colouring his hair,
painting his face, and by putting spectacles over his eyes.
Father La Pierre went also in disguise of a citizen's dress.
Arriving on board the steamer, Surratt was immediately
stored away in a stateroom, from which he did not emerge
during the voyage; La Pierre remaining in his room with
him. Reaching Quebec, these two uidioly fathers placed
their charge in the care of Dr. McMillan, and then took their
final leave of him.
"They had confided him to the care of their friends in
Liverpool by the hands of Dr. McMillan, and through whose
aid Surratt succeeded in placing himself under the care of
the Roman Catholic Church in a foreign land. Rome is
everywhere, and always the same, and he can feel safe as long
as he is in the custody of the church. Here he waited for
the Peruvian to make another voyage and return. He sent
by the surgeon, to his rebel employers in Canada, a request
to send him some money, but only to receive the answer that
they had no money for hira. The expense of sending him
The Assassination of Lincoln 225
across the continent to Italy thus fell on the Church. His
rebel friends had now forsaken him, but his Church stood by
him. He was sent to Italy, and was mustered into the
army of the Pope. Here he remained safely hidden away
for a year or more, but was finally discovered by a government
detective who had been sent in search of him, and who went
voluntarily, hoping to get the offered reward, and who had
enlisted in the same company to which Surratt belonged.
This detective informed our government of his discovery,
and through the agents of our government the Pope was in-
formed that his soldier, who had enlisted under the name of
Watson, was none other than the notorious John B. Sur-
ratt, who was a member of the conspiracy that accomplished
the assassination of President Lincoln.
" With a shrewd show of virtuous innocence, the Pope has-
tened to clear his skirts, and those of his underlings, by or-
dering his arrest and rendition to our government, without
waiting for its requisition. He was arrested by the Pope's
authority, but was allowed to escape by his guards, and thus
given another chance for life and liberty.
" The story was that he made his escape by a bold leap over
a precipice, at the risk of his life. ' Tell this to the marines;
the old sailors will not believe it.' He was finally captured
at Alexandria, Egypt, and was brought home in chains,
where he was held to answer for his crime.
" Let us here pause for a moment to consider the relations
of the heirarchy to this crime. The testimony given on the
trial of John H. Surratt clearly convicts two of its priests,
Boucher and La Pierre, of being accomplices in the con-
spiracy; and, by implication, as clearly convicts the Bishop
of Montreal, Bishop Bourget. This testimony was spread
before the world, and so must have been known to the So-
man Catholic hierarchy, yet it never called any of these
priests to accountability, or held them responsible for this
crime— the crime of the ages. No one of them was ever
held to have forfeited his standing or good character in the
226 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Church on account of his connection with this conspiracy,
and so the hierarchy stands before the world to day as having
given its approval to their conduct in this matter.
"We now come to the trial of John B. Surratt, before a
civil court. It is not our purpose to go into a general re-
view of the trial, but only to show the interest taken in it
by the Koman Catholic priesthood; the animus of the de-
fense toward the government; and the means resorted to, to
make sure of his acquittal. The hand of the Jesuit is every-
where traceable throughout the history of this trial, and, by
that hand, one of the most important trials that the his-
tory of American jurisprudence records, was well-nigh turned
into a farce by the skill and cunning of the defense. The
cunning of the Jesuit was exercised in the preparations made
in advance to make sure of acquittal of the accused,
" A most noteworthy fact in connection with this trial, as
bearing upon the subject of our investigation, was the deep
interest manifested by the Roman Catholic priesthood of
Washington in this trial, and their sympathy with the ac-
cused. There was scarcely a day, during the trial, but that
one or more of them was found in the court^room. They
also made it manifest that they were there in behalf of the
prisoner of the bar; and that they were ready to aid in his
defense was very apparent.
" Whenever the prosecution brought a witness on the stand
whose testimony was particularly damaging to the accused, a
witness was always found to rebut his testimony, and was always
a member of the Roman Catholic Church. It was also a very
significant fact, that no one of all those witnesses was able
to pass the ordeal of Judge Pierrepont's cross=examination
unscathed. It looked as though the task of these priests was
to aid the prisoner's counsel by finding the witness that they
needed, and stuffing them with the needed testimony. It
was thus made manifest, during the trial, on more than one
occasion, that witnesses had been hunted up and furnished
with a cooked'Up testimony to meet the requirements of the
The Assassination of Lincoln 227
case. It is worthy of note that, whenever the prosecution
thought it important to rebut any testimony, a witness was
always promptly found for them, and was always a Catholic.
The manner of these witnesses in testifying, and the fact
that they never could stand the test of Judge Pierrepont's
searching cross-examination, justly gave rise to the suspicion
that they had been suborned, and were delivering a cooked=^
up testimony. And these facts gave rise to the suspicion
that it was the special business of some one to find and stuff
witnesses for the occasion.
" John H. Surratt had been a student at St. Mary's college
for a year or two, at the breaking out of the war. He had
commenced a collegiate course, having the priesthood in
view. His sympathies were so strongly for the South that
he left the college, gave up his priestly aspirations, and
engaged actively in the secret service of the Confederate
government.
"As a student he was very popular at the college, and
seemed to have won the favour of the president and faculty.
The summer vacations at the college occurred during the
progress of the trial, and the president took occasion to spend
a day in the court=room, and sat, all day, at the side of the
prisoner at the dock. His presence there was, no doubt,
intended to have its effect on the Roman Catholic members
of the jury. It was as much as to say: 'You see which side
I am on.' Many of the students of the college took occa-
sion to visit their former fellow student during the trial, and
always manifested their sympathy for him by the warmest
friendly greeting, taking their places at his side.
One important witness was Dr. McMillan. It will be re-
membered that this witness was the surgeon of the Peruvian,
and that it was to his care that Surratt had been committed,
under the name of McCarthy, by his co- conspirators, Boucher
and La Pierre.
" The voyage across the Atlantic occupied seven or eight days,
and as the doctor was the only man on board in whom Surratt
228 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
could contide, and as he was carryin<^ in his breast the secret
of the great crime that was weighing heavily on his conscience,
and being all the time haunted by the spectre of detectives,
it was natural that he should seek relief in the confidential
companionship of McMillan. He became very communica-
tive, and related the difficulties that he experienced and over-
came in making good his escape from Washington, and in
getting back, to Canada after the assassination; the parts
taken by Porterfield, Boucher and La Pierre in keeping him
hidden away in Canada for five months, and many other
things relating to the conspiracy; and, finally, he revealed
to him his identity. The testimony of this witness was en-
tirely conclusive as to his guilt, and so he was particularly
obnoxious to the prisoner's counsel.
"He was treated by them, from the start, just as they would
have treated a witness who had been convicted of perjury,
although they were unable to discredit him by the legal
methods. They could not look at him, or speak of him, but
with the air and language of scorn and contempt. So impor-
tant did it seem to discredit this witness that Priest Boucher
voluntarily came all the way from Canada to rebut his testi-
mony. His man, DuTilly, was also brought; but notwith-
standing the fact that they showed themselves to be swift
witnesses, of the most ready kind, they failed to discredit this
witness. Under the searching cross=examination of Judge
Pierrepont they were made to corroborate the testimony given
by the doctor in all of the most essential and important par-
ticulars, and the unholy father was made to convict himself
of being equally guilty with the prisoner.
" It would seem that the Jesuits had had it in mind, from
the beginning of the war, to find occasion for the taking off
of Mr. Lincoln. Early in the war they set a paragraph going
the rounds of the press, as far as they had it under their con-
trol, to the effect that Mr. Lincoln had been born in the
Catholic Church, and had been made a member of the Church
by his baptism into it, and that he had apostatized, and be-
The Assassination of Lincoln 229
came a heretic. Mr. Lincoln had seen this statement going
the rounds of the press, and believed that such a gross false-
hood would not have been published without a j)uri3ose. On
the occasion of a visit from Father Chiniquy about this time,
Mr. Lincoln called his attention to this paragraph, saying he
had been greatly perplexed in trying to discover the object of
its publication; and asked him if he could give any clue to
the motive that had inspired such a falsehood. I will give
Father Chiniquy's own account of his interview with the
President on this subject:
" 'The next day, I was there at the appointed hour, with my
noble friend, who said, " I could not give you more than ten
minutes yesterday, but I will give you twenty to-day; I want
your views about a thing which is exceedingly puzzling to me,
and you are the only one to whom I like to speak on that sub-
ject. A great number of democratic papers have been sent
to me lately, evidently written by Roman Catholics, publish-
ing that I was born a Roman Catholic, and baptized by a
priest. They call me a renegade and an apostate on account of
that; and they heajj upon my head mountains of abuse. At
first I laughed at that, for it is a lie ; thanks be to God, I have
never been a Roman Catholic. No priest of Rome has ever
laid his hand on my head. But the persistency of the Romish
press to present tliis falsehood to their readers as a Gospel
truth, must have a meaning. Please tell me as briefly as pos-
sible what you think about that." "My dear President," I
answered, " It was just this strange story published about you
that brought me here yesterday. I wanted to say a word
about it; but you were too busy. Let me tell you that I wept
like a child when I read that story for the first time. For,
not only my impression is that it is your sentence to death,
but I have it from the lips of a converted priest that it is in
order to excite the fanaticism of the Roman Catholic murder-
ers, whom they hope to find, sooner or later, to strike you
down, they have invented that false story of your being born in
the Church of Rome, and of your being baptized by a priest.
230 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
They want by that to brand your face with the ignominious
mark of apostasy. Do not forget that in the Churcli of Rome
an apostate is an outcast, who has no place in society, and
who has no right to live. The Jesuits want the Roman
Catholics to believe that you are a monster, an open enemy
of God and the Church, that you are an excommunicated man.
For every apostate is ipso facto excommunicated. I have
brought to you the theology of one of the most learned and
approved of the Jesuits of his time, Bussambaum, who, with
many others, say that the man who will kill you wuU do a
good and holy work. More than that, here is a copy of a
decree of Gregory VII. proclaiming that the killing of an
apostate, or a heretic, and an excommunicated man, as you
are declared to be, is not murder; nay, that it is a good, a
Christian action. That decree is incorporated in the canon
law, which every priest must study, and which every good
Catholic must follow.
" ' " My dear President, I must repeat to you here, what I said
when in Urbana in 185G. My fear is that you will fall under
the blows of a Jesuit assassin if you do not pay more atten-
tion than you have done till now to protect yourself. Re-
member that because Coligny was a heretic, as you are, he was
brutally murdered in the St. Bartholomew night; that Henry
IV. was stabbed by the Jesuit assassin, Ravaillac the four-
teenth of May, 1610, for having given liberty of conscience to
his people, and that William the Taciturn was shot dead by
another Jesuit murderer, called Girard, for having broken
the yoke of the Pope. The Church of Rome is absolutely
the same to-day as she w^as then; she does believe and teach,
to-day, as then, that she has the right and that it is her duty
to punish with death any heretic who is in her way as an
obstacle to her designs.
'" "The unanimity with which the Catholic hierarchy of the
United States is on the side of the rebels, is an incontroverti-
ble evidence that Rome wants to destroy the Republic, and
as you are, by your personal influence and popularity, your
love of liberty, your position, the greatest obstacle to their
The Assassination of Lincoln 231
diabolical scheme, their hatred is concentrated on you; you
are the daily object of their maledictions; it is at your breast
they will direct their blows. My blood chills in my veins
when I contemplate the day which may come, sooner or later,
when Rome will add to all her iniquities the murder of
Abraham Lincoln.' "
" The charge that Rome was responsible for the assassina-
tion of Abraham Lincoln was first made, so far as I am ad-
vised, by Father Chiniquy; and was founded not only on the
fact which I have here given, but on facts that came to him
as a result of his own personal research. His charge is dis-
tinctly and explicitly made in his book, entitled, 'Fifty
Years in the Church of Rome.' He there shows that Mr.
Lincoln had incurred the deadly enmity of the Jesuits by foil-
ing and disappointing them in the effort they had made to
convict Father Chiniquy of a crime of which they had falsely
accused him; and which, had they succeeded in convicting
him, would not only have ruined his reputation, but would
have secured his incarceration in a prison.
"Mr. Lincoln defended Father Chiniquy, and being fur-
nished, apparently by a special providence, with evidence that
revealed their wicked conspiracy to destroy him, and con-
victed them of perjury, he was able triumi^hantly to defeat
their wicked scheme; and gave them such a scathing as made
them tremble with rage, and slink away with vows of ven-
geance in their hearts.
" Father Chiniquy i n making his warm acknowledgement
to Mr. Lincoln could not refrain from shedding tears. Upon
Mr. Lincoln's expressing surprise at this, and saying to him
that he ought to be the happiest man in the world. Father
Chiniquy replied that it was for Mr. Lincoln, and not for
himself, that his tears were falling. He then exijlained the
cause of his emotion, sayi ng that, knowing the Jesuits as he
did, and reading a purpose of vengeance in their murderous
eyes, he knew that they would never rest until they had com-
passed his death.
"This occurred at Urbana, 111., in 1856. In the providence
232 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of God, the duty fell on Mr. Lincoln of putting down a for-
midable rebellion, and of maintaining the authority of the
government by its military arm; and Father Cliiniquy, realiz-
ing that a state of war would afford the Jesuits the opportu-
nity that they sought to at once wreak their vengeance or.
personal account, and give a stab at the life of the government,
made three different visits to the President, during his admin-
istration, to give him warning of his danger, and to put him
on his guard. As Father Chiniquy has kindly given me the
liberty to use his book freely for the purpose of this book, I
have given above the result of one of these visits, and shall
make still further use of his book in closing up this inc^uiry.
" We have now traced the history of this assassination as
revealed by the testimony given before the military commis-
sion, and before a civil court, two years later; and we find
ourselves coming in contact with the Roman Catholic Church
at every point, and always as a deeply interested party, thus
showing its relation to the crime. Its sympathy was always
with the assassins, wherever we came in contact with it. Its
animus toward the government was always seen to be that of
the bitterest hatred and scorn. Its manner, that of a lion
robbed of its prey. Its every effort was to shield, and give aid
to, those on trial; and when it failed in this, to cast obloquy
on the government, and to bring it into contemjpt. Thus the
history of this great crime reveals to us Rome's responsibility
for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, not as an in-
dividual man, however much of personal hatred on the part
of the Jesuits might have led them to plan for his death, but
as the head of the nation they desired to destroy him. But we
shall now proceed to give the most positive and unequivocal
proof of the complicity of the Romish hierarchy in, and its
responsibility for, this crime."
I have thus quoted fr(^m General Harris on the subject, to
give not oidy the main facts, but to show that the very ex-
tensive research of another goes to corroborate what I stated
in my " Fifty Years."
CHAPTER XXIl
A Great and Good Institution: The Presbyterian College, Montreal.
The Rev. Dr. MacVicar.
During my mission work in Montreal in the winter of 1870,
walking one day on St. Catherine Street with a city pastor, a
friend of mine, we happened to pass by Erskine church.
That friend, knowing the interest I always took in matters
relating to education, asked me:
" Would you not like to see the class of students for the
ministry which the Rev. MacVicar and Rev. Gibson are
teaching?"
" I never heard that there was such a class of students in
Montreal," I answered.
"Yes, there is one," said my friend. " Rev. MacVicar is so
much impressed with the insufficient number of ministers for
the Protestant population of Quebec that he is determined to
teach all the young men who have a desire to consecrate them-
selves to the ministry. As there is no college and no place
for such a work in Montreal, he has gathered his pupils in
the basement of Erskine church."
When inside the basement room, I found it small, low,
badly ventilated, badly lighted. But, if the material aspect
of this newly improvised class-room was as humble and poor
as it could be, it was not so with the appearance of the
teacher.
Nothing could be more pleasant than to look at his honest
face. He was the very personification of health, strength,
intelligence, and Christian enthusiasm.
No king on his throne ever looked more happy than the
Rev. D. H. MacVicar, in that very first hour that I made his
personal acquaintance. His high stature, nearly six feet, his
233
234 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
broad shoulders, fine and perfectly well^formed chest, his
splendid forehead, the evident dwelling-place of very high in-
telligence, all the fine and regular but stern lines of his face,
were telling me that I was in the presence of one of those few
men whose marble statues will some day adorn the public
places of their grateful country.
After saluting me in that gentlemanly manner which is his
own, he continued his lesson. It was the explanation of the
Binomial Theorem of Newton.
When young, the study of mathematics had not only been
a pleasure to me, but it was a real passion, and I felt so
pleased and so full of admiration for his ease and lucidity in
explaining the most difficult parts of that remarkable problem
that the sweet remembrances of my college days were revived
within my heart.
After taking leave of the Rev. Mr. Mac Vicar, I said to my
companion, " I am filled with admiration for the high capacity
of that young mathematical teacher. Sooner or later the
Protestants of Canada will acknowledge his unparalleled
capacity. Such a treasure of learning and zeal will not be
left in the low and obscure basement of this church."
" The Rev. Mr. MacVicar is surely an able mathematician,"
answered my companion, "but his enormous ambition will
destroy him. Do you not know that his dream is to have a
large Presbyterian college in Montreal? We have already
enough, if not too many, of these institutions for the small
means of our young and struggling churches. The theolog-
ical colleges of Kingston, Toronto and Halifax are as much as
Canadian Presbyterian Churches can support. Even Mr.
MacVicar would see this if his unquenchable ambition were
not blinding him. He evidently aims at being called ' the
founder of the Montreal Presbyterian College.' But he will
be disappointed. I am very sorry for that, for I like him; he
is one of our best working men, full of zeal and piety, but his
ambition is almost boundless, and it will destroy him."
" Allow me to differ with you," I answered. " If there is a
Presbyterian College, Montreal 235
thing that is needed in Montreal, to-day, it is a college where
our Christian young men will be prepared to spread the Gos-
pel among the French population of this Province of Quebec,
as well as among the English speaking people. A battle
must be fought, to=day, in this province, of far more impor-
tance than the battle of the Plains of Abraham by the soldiers
of the Gospel, if they want to be true to themselves and to
the God who gave them the vast regions of the Dominion of
Canada. The ambition of the Rev. Mr. MacVicar is a noble
one. It is the grand ambition of a true Christian. I hope
and pray that the day will soon come, when, in the very heart
of this Roman Catholic province, there will be a Presbyterian
college, which will be as the lighthouse from which the blaz-
ing light will show to the mariners how to save the ship from
the rock concealed under the perfidious waves of the stormy
sea. I would give up, this very day, the blessed evangelical
work in which I am engaged among my Roman Catholic
countrymen, if I had not in my heart the hope that, before
long, there will be a Protestant college where the more intel-
ligent of the young men, whom we bring to Christ, will be
trained to preach the Gospel. Before long I will be in my
grave with the few evangelists who are helping me and whom
I am helping in this precious part of the Lord's vineyard; and
who will take our places if there is no college where new
recruits will be trained to continue our evangelical work?
Surely Mr. MacVicar is too poor to build that college, but the
God who has put into his heart the noble and holy ambition
of raising it, is rich enough to do it. The gold and silver of
the whole world are His and there are enough noble and rich
Christian men to do that blessed work, when the hour ap-
pointed by the providence of God will sound from the clock
of heaven.
And, blessed be the Lord, that great and glorious work is
already done.
Come and see it! and tell me if it does not look like a
miracle. Yes! come and see the magnificent Montreal
236 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
college — look at its elegant steeple, pointing to heaven, where
dwells the God whose will is that "every man should be
saved through the preaching of the Gospel!" See the vast
and magnificent rooms prepared for the happy young men
whom the Good Master is calling to work in His blessed vine-
yard! See the beautiful and vast chapel whose walls resound
with the hymns of praise of those to whom it has been said,
" Go and teach all the nations . . . Lo, I will be with
you to the end of the world!"
That college, whose foundations were laid in 1872, is situ-
ated on a most beautiful spot, on the flank of the mountain
whose foot is washed by the waters of the majestic St. Law-
rence river, and whose top is crowned with the grandest pub-
lic park. From the upper part of the college, your vision will
embrace some of the most magnificent scenery the world can
give you. At your feet is the mighty St. Lawrence river,
rolling its deep and rapid waters as far as your eyes can see.
Count, if you can, the splendid steamers or other ships ar-
riving from Europe, or starting with their rich cargoes for the
different parts of the world. Will not your mind be filled
with admiration at the sigh t of the marvelous Victoria Bridge,
two miles long, spanning the giant river from the top of its
twenty=four piers, each one hundred feet high?
If, from the top of the upper part of that college, you raise
your eyes towards the south, you will see the vast and rich
plain, cut in two by the beautiful Richelieu river; and you
will have to admire the mountains of Rouville, Bel^oeil, St.
Pie, which look like giant sentinels to watch over the grand
destinies of Canada. Now let your eyes survey the nearer
prospects and you will see, a little to your right hand, the
princely palace of the Canadian Pacific R. R. station; listen
and you will hear the thundering cars, which, night and day,
are in motion to pour the incalculable treasures of Asia and
Europe into the bosom of each other. Look again and you
will see a part of that marvelous steel chain which binds the
Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans together, holding them as
Presbyterian College, Montreal 237
prisoners to the feet of our dear Canada. It is that marvelous
railroad, 4,000 miles long, which is destined to make only one
nation of all the people of the globe. Yes, it is through that
marvelous Canadian Pacific R. R. that the divers nations of
Asia, Africa, the Islands of the Sea and Europe will now
shake hands and embrace each other with the fraternal em-
brace of peace, common interest and Christian love, on the
very spot where you stand.
From those marvels of the work of God, so well blended
with the marvels of human intelligence and industry, go
and see the library — and there you will not be less filled with
admiration at the number of the rare and precious books that
it contains, from the magnificent edition of the church
fathers to the Codex Sihiaticus.
The value of that college library, though so young, is
already more than $100,000, given by the generous citizens of
Montreal, and others. The college has already endowed chairs
to the amount of $800,000, given by Joseph McKay, Edward
McKay, Robert McKay, Hugh McKay, James McKay, Mrs.
Redpath and several unknown Christian benefactors.
The whole value of that splendid college is almost half a
million of dollars, the fifth part coming from Mr. David
Morrice. And that you may better appreciate the noble
character of the English Protestants of Montreal, let me tell
you that at the same time they were erecting that monument
of their Christian zeal and intelligence, they were giving three
millions of dollars for the endowments and princely build-
ings of McGill University, which are only a few rods from
the Presbyterian college.
Now, from the material survey of that Christian and so
noble an institution, let us spend a moment with the one who
is the soul and the inspiring spirit of the whole — the Rev.
Dr. D. H. MacVicar, born in Dunglass, Argyleshire, Scot-
land. He came to Canada in 1836. He studied in Toronto
Academy, Toronto University and Knox College. His first
charge, when a minister, in 1859, was Knox Church, Guelph;
238 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
his second was the Free Church, C6t6 Street, Montreal. He
became thus, the successor of the eloquent Donald Fraser,
who was called to London, England. In 1868, in the humble
basement of Erskine Church, he began to gather and to teach
the young men who desired to consecrate themselves to the
holy ministry.
He was moderator of the session of C6t6 Street Church
when that congregation moved to the west and built the
splendid Crescent Street Church, which may be called the
first grand monument of his zeal and Christian ambition.
It is to his indomitable energy and zeal, after Grod, we owe
the grand success of the French Canadian Evangelical
Society, of which he has been president from its founda-
tion.
His remarkable business capacity and vast literary acquisi-
tions caused him to be chosen as one of the Protestant School
Commissioners, which board he has served twenty years,
and of which he is chairman. He was sent as a deputy to
the Pan=Presbyterian councils held in America and Europe.
He has been considered one of the ablest teachers in all the
branches of theology and philosophy, and has lectured in
other departments, such as classics, ethics and pedagogics.
In McGill University, he lectured on logic a whole ses-
sion. He has occupied the position of Moderator of the
General Presbyterian Assembly, and there has never been
an important subject discussed in those assemblies where his
eloquent voice has not been heard and listened to with a pro-
found interest.
He received the dignity of D. D. from Knox College,
Toronto, and McGill University conferred on him the honour-
ary title of LL. D.
Besides the immense details of his various duties as prin-
cipal, and professor of systematic theology of the Montreal
Presbyterian college, he has written several learned treatises
on Arithmetic, as well as a large number of very able articles
for " The Quarterly Review" and other public periodicals.
Presbyterian College, Montreal 239
For two years he fought like a giant against the infamous
theft of the $400,000 given by the government (Mercier) to
the Jesuits.
But I would have to write a volume, instead of a short
chapter, had I to say all I know about the zeal and Christian
labours of Dr. MacVicar.
However, I will not omit to say that several times his
great learning, eloquence and zeal have so much attracted the
attention of the rich congregations of New York and other
parts of the United States, that large sums of money have
been offered him if he would consent to leave his position in
Canada to go and work among them. He has always refused
these mundane inducements. He preferred to be poor with
his own people rather than rich in a strange land.
Dr. MacVicar has understood that there is something more
precious and desirable than gold or silver, and he was not
mistaken. The 250 ministers of the Gospel who have already
come out of his college, with the view of preaching the
Gospel, are treasures worth more than all the gold which the
mountains of California and Australia have given to the
world. The splendid Montreal Presbyterian College is a gem
to the crown of Dr. MacVicar more precious than all the
pearls and precious stones in the crown of the Queen of Eng-
land. Through that grand Christian institution, Dr. Mac-
Vicar has become one of those shining lights which cannot
be put under the bushel, but stand on the candlestick, that
men may see it and glorify the Father which is in heaven.
CHAPTER XXIII
Antigonish Riot of the J 0th of July, 1873
At a meeting of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of
the Lower Provinces, held in Truro in 1873, while the subject
of the mission to the French Roman Catholics was under con-
sideration, I was invited to address the Synod, and in the
course of my remarks spoke at length on the subject of
Romanism, and also of my recent and past work.
At the close of my address I received the thanks of the
Synod, and was authorized to visit any of the congregations
of the church, with whose pastors I might make arrange-
ments, and to receive onedialf of the collections which might
be taken up at any of my meetings, the other half to be ap-
plied for the benefit of the Synod missions.
Under this arrangement I visited a large number of the
congregations connected with the Presbyteries of Pictou and
Prince Edward Island.
I was invited by my kind friend, Dr. Goodfellow, pas+or of
Antigonish, one of the most thriving towns of Nova Scotia,
to give an address to his people. In this invitation he warned
me that the great majority of the town was composed of
Roman Catholics, but he said, " You have nothing to fear
here. There is a Roman Catholic Bishop, a college and a
nunnery, and a good number of priests, but they are all my
personal friends." I answered him, that I would go with
pleasure though I had no confidence in the tolerance and
liberality of the Scotch Roman Catholics, and that the
Protestants would do very well to be on their guard; but I
was ready to face the rioters if we were to have a riot as I
expected. Two days before leaving New Glasgow, where I
240
Antigonish Riot 241
was lecturing, I received a letter dated from Antigonish, with
the picture of a skeleton and a coflSin, with these words: "In-
famous apostate! this is what you may expect if you dare to
come and profane by your presence the Catholic town of
Antigonish,"
When in Mr. Goodfellow's parsonage I showed him that
letter; it made him laugh. "Ha! ha!" he said, "this is some
schoolboy's trick to frighten you. The Catholics are all my
friends here, priests and people, and many have told me that
there is not the least danger."
" You do not know the priests of Rome. They are, in gen-
eral, the greatest hypocrites and the most deceitful men you
can imagine. It is when they tell you there is no danger,
that there is the greatest danger; it is when they cry, peace,
peace, that you must prepare yourself for war. They are not
only deceitful men, but they are cowards, they want to attack
you only when you are not on your guard, and unprepared to
defend yourself." This made him laugh outright.
"I have been told," he said, "that you were brave, but I
fear that you are not as brave as I expected, for you see
danger where there is no danger at all."
" Well, when the riot comes and the stones fly round our
heads, we will see who is the braver, you or I."
We dismissed the subject till the hour of the meeting.
When it was time to leave, I asked Mr. Goodfellow to give
me some strings. "What for?" said Mr. Goodfellow. "To
tie my hat to my head so well that I will not lose it when the
sticks hit it." He laughed to his heart's content and said:
" I see that you have a terrible fear of the stones. I thought
that you were more brave than that." "When the sticks and
stones come you will wish to have my strings to keep your
hat solid on your head." " Dear Father Chiniquy," he an-
swered, "a brave man is not used to see danger where there
is none." "You will understand the meaning of your words
when your hat will go. I have been in the fire so many times
that I know what I say. And no doubt you will be wiser on
242 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the subject before the dawn of next day." Then like the old
warriors who never went to war without their shield, I took
my thick shawl which I always carried with me, and as it was
a very warm evening Mr. Goodfellow could not understand
why I wanted such a heavy garment. He only laughed at
the reasons when I told him he would understand why when
the stones would come on our shoulders. "That plaid has
already saved my life several times, and it will probably save
it again to-night. There is nothing like heavy wool to ward
off the power of the stones when they strike the shoulders."
I never heard a heartier laugh of contempt than his, at my
unreasonable fear, but I was not disturbed by his jokes and I
kept my shawl.
We found the church crowded and evidently one=third of
the audience were Roman Catholics.
I had not spoken twenty minutes, when an old woman rose
on her feet, and cried out, "At him, boys!" and instantly a
number of young men rushed towards me, filling the church
with their cries, " That's a lie!" Fortunately there was a good
number of Protestants in front of the pulpit who at once
formed an impassable wall between me and the rioters.
At the same time cries of " Fire! Fire!" were heard outside
and inside the church, and the bells began to ring. Address-
ing myself to Mr. Goodfellow, I said, " You see, my friend, it
is just as I expected, I cannot continue the meeting, the only
thing we have to do is to go back home." In vain Mr.
Goodfellow tried to show the rioters the infamy of their con-
duct, his voice was covered with the cries of "Fire! Fire!"
A few friends having come around me, with Mr. Good-
fellow, we walked towards the door, in the midst of the cries
"You are a liar! kill him! kill him!" At the door were
several bloodthirsty Roman Catholics crying, " That is the
liar! kill him!"
Then eggs began to be thrown at me from every direction.
In a little while dozens had been disposed of. The reader
may understand that I looked more like an omelette than a
man. I was covered from head to foot; but fortunately they
Antigonish Riot 243
were fresh eggs. Then I said to Mr. Goodfellow: " When the
eggs are finished, we shall have stones." He answered me,
" Oh, I hope not." The words were still on his lips, when a
stone struck me on the breast, and I would have fallen on the
ground had not two friends prevented me. A moment after
a Protestant lady, who had stood by me all the time, hoping
that her presence would make the rioters less brutal, was
struck with such force with a stone that we thought that her
leg was broken. She was carried into the first house by two
friends who were near us.
During this time the stones were falling upon me from
every side like hail in a storm, but my hat was well secured
on my head by the strings, and the shawl, well wrapped
around my shoulders, prevented the stones from cutting the
skin and breaking the bones.
Then Mr. Goodfellow, frightened by the horrible cries and
hail of stones, took me by the arm and said: "Let us run;
they will kill us." I answered him, " Surely they will kill
us. We will probably die to-night, but we must die like
Christian soldiers, facing the foe. There is no use, they can
run as fast as you or I." At that moment a big stone missing
me struck his silk hat and it went like a feather before
the wind. Then his head being uncovered was so badly
struck with another stone, that he fell down, his face in the
mud, crying: "My skull is broken! I am killed!" We helped
him to get up. His face was covered with blood and the skin
was torn. I was horrified at the sight and I thought that he
would die. I turned towards the rioters and said: "You are
a band of cowards!" I saw, then, very near us, four priests
encouraging the rioters and laughing outright.
We would evidently have been killed there, if providentially
we had not been at the door of a Protestant merchant, called
Cameron, who, hearing the cries and seeing the rioters
around us, opened his door and said: "You and Father
Chiniquy come in and save your lives."
Mr. Goodfellow could hardly stand on his feet, but. though
bruised from head to foot myself, I could with other friends
244 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
help him into the house, which was immediately closed to the
rioters, who began to throw stones in the windows, smashing
every pane of glass, and threatening Mr. Cameron to set fire
to his house if he did not give me up to be hanged. Mr
Cameron said to me: " Do not fear, the cowards w\\\ not set
fire to my house, for the strong wind now blowing from the
sea would turn the whole town into ashes."
We immediately went upstairs on entering the house, and
w^hile waiting for the doctor, who had been sent for, I asked
one of the elders to read the fifteenth chapter of John.
My soul had never been filled with such joy as then, when,
bleeding and bruised for the dear Saviour's sake, we were
hearing His sweet voice telling us, " Abide in Me; I will abide
in you. I am the vine, ye are the branches. I will not call
you any more My servants, but My friends. The servant is
not above his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will
also persecute you."
And on our knees we were answering Him : " Yes, dear Jesus,
we will abide in Thee; come and abide in us, when wounded
and bleeding we are suffering for Thy sake."
When the doctor was examining the wound of Mr. Good-
fellow and washing off the blood, the rioters fixed a ladder up
to the window, and three times came up with a rope to hang
me. But every time brave young men with axes repulsed
them, telling them that if they came up an inch higher they
would split their heads. And the sight of the axes brandished
above their heads was eloquent enough to persuade them to
pass down the ladder.
We were besieged in that way until after one in the morning.
Then they began to disperse, and Mr. Goodfellow, supported
by friends, was taken back to his house, where his poor wife
was half dead with fright. She had heard the cries and
seen the excited multitudes running and crying, "Kill him!
kill him!" The fact is that she died not long after from
the effects of that terrible night.
It will be imagined what an effect such a brutal attempt
at liberty of conscience produced on the public mind.
Antigonish Riot 245
Indignant at such intolerance practised by the Roman
Catholics in a Protestant province, nay in a Protestant
country, the Presbytery of Pictou, voicing public opinion,
protested publicly against that brutal assault, revealing such
bloodthirsty hatred; took up the affair and instituted law pro-
ceedings, all against my will, for I told them: " So long as you
give liberty of conscience to the Roman Catholics, it is their
right to stone, persecute, and kill you. It is the law of
the Church of Rome that they must exterminate the Protes-
tants. It is not only their right, but it is their duty to kill
you when they have the opportunity. You find this law in
the decisions of their councils and their Popes, which has
never been repealed. Besides you can never get the truth
out of a Roman Catholic when his Church is in jeopardy,
because he is ordered by his Church to lie, according to
the Jesuitical doctrine, that the end justifies the means.
The result of the lawsuit proved that I was right.
The Presbytery took decided action in relation to the
matter. The members made a strong effort to have the
leaders in the riot legally punished; but it failed, as I foresaw
and felt. Of course there were witnesses on hand who were
ready to give testimony under oath, such as would suit the
purpose of those who aided negatively and positively the
cruel persecution. That reacted terribly against the Roman
Catholics, and the Bishop and priests saw not long after that
they had committed at least a great blunder against themselves.
The Romanists have felt the disgrace and the bad effects of
it ever since, and I venture to say that if I had gone to
Antigonish several times since, there would not have occurred
a repetition of the scenes I have described. No doubt that
riot, and the persecution I suffered in Halifax, which I will
give an account of, resulted in preventing any serious
trouble of the kind since, in Nova Scotia, and other Maritime
Provinces. I may say here that the wrath of man seems in
this case to have been overruled for good. Such conflicts
may be regarded as so many battles for libetty of conscience
and free speech.
CHAPTER XXIV
My Re-Baptism
Baptism is recognized in the Romish Church as an ordi-
nance, and one of her seven sacraments. But, like other
dogmas of that Church, it has been grossly perverted and cor-
rupted. It was originally a simple and expressive ordinance
sanctioned by Christ. It was designed as a symbol to repre-
sent a fact — the inward spiritual change effected by the Holy
Spirit. But in the Church of Rome the reality has been
buried and lost sight of in the mere form. There is no
spiritual efficiency in the water itself, nor is there any evi-
dence of any necessary supernatural power attending its ap-
plication. Baptismal regeneration is not taught in the Bible,
and is a corruption held among Romanists and ritualists.
In Popery it is taught that when the infant is baptized all
the guilt and defilement of original sin are taken away and
it becomes as pure as Adam when created. The facts, we
see, are against this, for the children who have this excellent
start have an unspeakable advantage above others, if Ro-
manist teaching be true, and they ought to be very good, at
least much better than others who have not been validly bap-
tized. But we know that this is not the case, as they show
the same natural depravity that others do.
It is amazing how this Divine ordinance has been abused
and perverted. I give here some examples of this in connec-
tion with the work of the early Jesuit missionaries in Can-
ada. These seemed to be so foolish as to think that some
drops of water sprinkled on infants made them Christians,
fitted them for heaven, without which they would be lost.
Among these missionaries was Father Le Mercier, whom I
246
My Re=Baptism 247
allow here to speak for himself. In the Jesuit Relations of
1637, he writes:
*' On the third of May, Father Pierre Pijart baptized, at
Anonatea, a little child two months old, in manifest danger of
death, without being seen by the parents, who would not give
their consent. This is the device which he used. Our sugar
does wonders for us. He pretended to make the child drink
a little sugared water, and at the same time dipped the finger
in it. As the father of the infant began to suspect some-
thing, and called out to him not to baptize it, he gave the
spoon to a woman who was near, and said to her, ' Give it to
him yourself.' She approached and found the child asleep;
and at the same time Father Pijart, under pretence of seeing
if he was really asleep, touched his face with his wet finger,
and baptized him. At the end of forty^eight hours he went
to heaven.
" Some days before, the missionary had used the same de-
vice for baptizing a little boy six or seven years old. His
father, who was very sick, had several times refused to re-
ceive baptism; and when asked if he would not be glad to
have his son baptized, he answered. No. ' At least,' said
Father Pijart, ' you will not object to my giving him a little
sugar.' 'No, but you must not baptize him.'
"The missionary gave it to him once, then again; and at
the third spoonful, before he had put the sugar into the
water, he let a drop fall on the child, at the same time pro-
nouncing the sacramental words. A little girl who was look-
ing at him cried out: ' Father, he is baptizing him!' The
child's father was much disturbed, but the missionary said to
him: 'Did you not see I was giving him sugar?' The
child died soon after, but God showed his grace to the father,
who^is now in perfect health.''
The historian Parkman writes: " Nothing could divert the
Jesuits from their ceaseless quest of dying subjects for bap-
tism, and above all, of dying children. They penetrated
every house in turn where, through the thin walls of bark,
248 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
they heard the wail of a sick infant; no menace and no
insult could repel them from the threshold. They pushed
boldly in, asked to buy some trifle, spoke of late news of
Iroquois frays — anything, in short, except the pestilence
and sick child — conversed for a while till suspicion was par-
tially lulled to sleep, and then, pretending to observe the suf-
ferer for the first time, approached, felt its pulse, and asked
of its health. Now, while apparently fanning the heated
brow, the dextrous visitor touched it with a corner of his
handkerchief, which he had previously dipped in water, mur-
mured the baptismal words with motionless lips, and snatched
another soul from the fangs of the 'infernal wolf.'"
Here was fanaticism combined with deception — a lack of
truthfulness which is characteristic of Jesuitism in which
the end justifies the means — and thus relying on a few drops
of water to save a soul, and that applied by lying, in words
and act. Yet those Jesuit missionaries are often eulogized
and represented as model, self=denying and heroic Chris-
tian men, while at the same time practising dark superstition,
and that by the most flagrant deception and lying.
The false and superstitious use of baptism is carried on
at the present time by the Romanists, and this is an essential
element in their missionary operations. I give here a
marked example of this. The apostolic vicar of Su=Tehuen,
in China, after reporting the baptism in six years of over
112,815 pagan children in danger of death, and the salvation
of twothirds of these who actually died the same year they
were baptized, proceeds:
" We pay faithful persons, men and women, who are ac-
quainted with the diseases of children, to seek and baptize
those who are found dangerously ill. It is easy to meet at
fairs a crowd of beggars with their children in extreme dis-
tress. They may be seen everywhere, in the roads, at the
gates of the towns and villages, in the most needy condition.
Our male and female baptizers approach them with soothing,
compassionate words, and offer pills to the little sufferers,
My Re=Baptism 249
with expressions of the most lively interest. The parents
willingly permit our people to examine the condition of their
children, and to sprinkle on their foreheads some drops of
water, securing their salvation, while they pronounce the
sacramental words. Our Christian baptizers are divided
into two classes: those who travel about seeking for children
in danger of death, and those who remain at their posts in
the towns and villages, and devote themselves to the same
work in their respective neighbourhoods. I intend to print
some rules for their direction, and to stimulate them all in
their work.
"The expenses of the traveling baptizers are 150 francs
($27.90) a year, including his medicines and board; 100
francs ($18.60) are sufficient for a stationary male baptizer,
and 80 or 85 francs ($15.00 or $16.00) for a female; and yet
the number of baptizers is so great that the whole ex-
pense this year (1847) amounts to 10,000 francs ($1,860.00)."
Rev. Jacob Primmer, in his deeply interesting book on
Romanism, gives a graphic description of a baptism he wit-
nessed in Rome, which will illustrate the character of the
Popish superstition. This I here insert, which presents to
the mind of the reader a picture that deserves the name of
pagan, rather than Christian:
A BAPTISM IN ST. PETER'S
" On the left, when entering St. Peter's, is a small chapel,
called the baptistry. The font consists of a marble cover of
a pagan sarcophagus with a bronze top. Everything in
popish ceremonial is connected in some way or another with
paganism. As we were leaving, at 5:30 p. m., preparations
were being made for a baptism. We got near, note^^book in
hand, >as usual, and record as follows: Baptism— purses out
and payment made to priest, who puts on white cotta, kisses
cross on red stole and puts it on— gets his book and goes at
it with rattling speed— he remains outside the baptistry rails
—blows on the face of the child to drive out the devil— takes
2.50 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
spittle and puts it on chin, brow and mouth, goes up to the
font, anoints the child's head — this is how Papists are fab-
ricated— continues his harangue at the same high speed — the
parents and godmother also rattle away as fast as the priest;
holy oil, holy salt, holy crossings, very many; and holy blow-
ing on the face of the infant, in order to dislodge the devil
supposed to be in the infant instead of in the priest. The priest
changes the red stole for a white one, and the father of the
child holds a large bit of candle lit, in his hand, while the
priest still harangues with great rapidity; the godmother
holds the child's head over the font and the priest pushes it
under the water (not sprinkling the head but immersing it).
Responses follow, the whole concluding with 'Amen,' and
the Papist farce of manufacturing a Christian is over —
another coin is given to the priest and off the parties go.
The amazing thing is that the child, while this performance
was going on, never cried. The time taken would be eight
minutes. All a farce. No sincerity, no earnestness. Evi-
dently the endeavor was to see how quickly they could get
through with it."
When I left the Church of Rome I was kindly advised by
the Presbytery of Chicago to be re^baptized. But it seemed
to me then, as it seemed to Luther, Calvin, Knox and many
others, that my baptism in the Church of Rome was validly
conferred. And, after having heard my reasons, the Presby-
tery unanimously resolved to let me go free on that subject.
After that time many venerable brothers in Europe, as well
as on this continent, pressed me to be re-baptized; and,
though they did not entirely decide me to do it, I confess
that they much diminished my confidence in the baptism of
Rome. I had many hours of anxiety on that subject for more
than three years. And the dear Saviour knows that I shed
many tears at His feet, when imploring Him to give me more
of His saving light on that important matter.
When I preached in Antigonish, the Romanists determined
to kill me; and I was most cruelly stoned by several hundred
My Re=Baptism 251
of them. Bruised and wounded and staggering, I expected
at any moment to fall down and die by the side of my mar-
tyred friend, the Rev. Mr. Goodfellow, who was himself ter-
ribly cut on the head, and profusely bleeding; when I heard
in my conscience, a voice telling me, "You die! and you
are not yet baptized!"
That thought distressed me much in that solemn hour. I
escaped from my murderers in a most providential way. I
promised to God to study the question of my baptism more
seriously, with His help; and He knows that I did it. But
though it seemed to me more and more every day that the
reason for being re=baptized was stronger than I thought at
first, the reason for considering my baptism valid in the
Church of Rome was remaining the strongest in my mind.
On the twelfth of August, 1873, having heard that many
citizens around St. Anne were to meet to meditate the Word
of God, pray, and praise Him, it came to my mind that it
would do me good to pass a few hours with them, at the feet
of the dear Saviour, to look with more attention than ever to
His bleeding wounds and to all that He had done and suf-
fered for me, that by His grace I might love Him more and
more.
I had never seen a camp-meeting before, though I had
heard much said against, as well as in favour of, such gather-
ings. But God knows that I went there only with the de-
sire of drinking some drops of those precious waters of life,
which our Saviour never refuses to the thirsty soul who goes
to Him. When I went to that meeting, the question of my
baptism was absolutely out of my mind. I heard several
very good sermons from various Protestant ministers; but
not a word was said, that I remember, about baptism, except
that at 3 p. m. we were invited to pray for those who were
to be baptized at 4 p. M.
There were between two and three thousand people on that
most beautiful spot; they all knelt and prayed. It was a
most solemn thing indeed to see that multitude prostrated
252 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
before the throne of grace and to hear their ardent prayers
their sobs; to see the tears of those penitent and repenting
sinners crying for mercy.
There was no confusion, as I had expected; there were no
contortions, as I was prepared to see. But there was the most
sublime and soul=stirring harmony I had ever seen in the
humble and earnest supplications of the multitudes. The
noise was grand and sublime, as the noise of the deep waters
when the winds from heaven blow upon them. All was grand,
there, as the works of our God are grand and sublime every-
where.
In the midst of that multitude I was praying with all my
heart for those who were to be baptized, when a thought
flashed through my brain and chilled the blood in my veins:
" You are not baptized, and you pray for others, when you
ought to pray for yourself, and be baptized to=day."
I tried to repulse that thought as I used to by saying to
myself, "A priest of Rome has baptized me."
But that day the voice of my conscience spoke as it had
never spoken. It said as loud as thunder, "The priest of
Rome is not the priest of the true, but of the false Christ.
He is the priest of the Christ kept in the secret chambers
(tabernacle). Matt. 24:23-26. The priest of Rome is the
priest of an idol of bread made with a little flour mixed with
some water, afterwards baked. Have you not made that
christ, yourself, with your hands, when a priest of Rome?
And that god made with your hands was he not your only
saviour and god ? Do you think the priests of the idols of
China and JajDan can administer the sacrament of baptism?
Would you believe in the validity of your baptism had that
sacrament been administered to you by a priest of the heathen
Emperor of China? But what is the difference between a
priest of the Pope of Rome who worships a god made with a
piece of bread, and a priest of the Emperor of China who
worships a god made with a piece of wood? Is it not the
same monstrous and damnable idolatry?"
My Re^Baptism 253
At first, I remained absolutely mute before this new light,
for this light had never come to my mind with such an
irresistible power. But a moment after, I said, "Oh, my God!
I understand that I am not yet baptized. At the first meet-
ing of my presbytery I will receive that sacrament."
But more quickly than lightning the voice of my conscience
answered: "Will you see the next meeting of your presby-
tery? Are you certain that you will live tos morrow? Canyon
not be carried away this very night? And when you know
that your God wants you to be baptized to-day will you resist
His will? Do you want to expose yourself to die the death
of a rebel?"
This last thought filled me with distress. I could not con-
sent to risk to die a rebel. I determined to be baptized with-
out any delay.
But I was away from my own people, and it seemed to me
unorderly to be baptized by a Methodist when I was a
Presbyterian, I foresaw so clearly the scornful, the perfidi-
ous, the false and unchristian interpretation, the profane
remarks which would flow as a deluge upon my devoted head
from those who would not or could not understand my
exceptional position. For a moment I felt such a distress in
my soul at the thought of the unkind and unchristian things
which would be said, not only by my enemies, but by my mis-
taken friends, that I again determined to postpone it to the
next meeting of my presbytery.
But my accusing conscience spoke again: "Will you have
more consideration and fear for your friends and your foes
than for your God? That God says, ' to=day be baptized,'
To please the world, will you answer, to>morrow?"
I felt so ashamed at my sorrow that I put my hands on my
face to conceal the tears of regret which were flowing on my
cheeks, and more with my sobs than with my words, I said,
"May Thy name forever be blessed, O! dear Saviour, for
Thy long patience; yes, to-day, with Thy grace, I will be bap-
tized. But before I receive that baptism of water — Oh! Oh!
2 54 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
do baptize me np^ain with Thy Holy Ghost and Thy blood;
fill my heart with more love for Thee."
I rose up, and requested the people to sit for a moment;
then, addressing; the Rev. Mr. Foster, the respected Methodist
pastor of Kankakee, I told him, "Can you baptize a Presby-
terian without affecting his connection with his own
church?"
He answered, "Yes, sir, undoubtedly."
I then said, " Mr. Foster, I am a Presbyterian minister,
connected with the noble Canada Presbyterian Church, and
I hope that nothing will ever break the ties so sweet and so
blessed which unite me with that Church. If I were among
them, to=day, I would ask them to baptize me, and they would
grant me that favour; but I am far away from them. And I
must be baptized to=day ! In the name of our common Saviour,
please do baptize me. I was baptized by a priest of Rome,
the thirtieth of July, 1809; and till this day I sincerely be-
lieved that my baptism was valid. But I was mistaken. My
dear Saviour has done for me what He did for the poor blind
man of the Gospel. At first I was perfectly blind; He
touched my eyes, and I could see men as if they were trees;
but Jesus has just now touched my eyes again, and I see the
things about the priests of Rome just as they are. The priests
of Rome make their own gods and their own christs them-
selves every morning with a little piece of bread — they shut
up that wafer=christ in ' secret chambers ' as was prophesied
by the Son of God (Matt. 24: 23-25). There the wafer^christs
are often eaten by rats and mice. The priests of Rome carry
that wafer=clirist and god from house to house in their panta-
loon and vest pockets, through the streets in their own private
buggies, and in the railroads, to fulfil the prophecy of Jesus,
who says, ' beware of the false christs. Lo, here is Christ or
there; believe it not.' (Matt. 24: 23.)
" The priests of Rome eat their christ every morning, and
often after they have eaten him, they vomit him out of their
sickly stomachs, and they are bound to eat him again. The
My Re=Baptism 255
priests of Rome are idolaters. The Son of God cannot allow
them to administer the sacraments of His Church.
" Besides that, the baptism which Rome gives is not the bap-
tism of Christ; it is quite another thing. Christ has ordered
that sacrament that, by receiving it, we confess and declare
that our souls have been purified by His blood, shed on the
cross. But the priests of Rome administer the baptism to
take away by it the sins already committed before its recep-
tion. Then, the baptism of Rome is not a sacrament; it is a
sacrilegious caricature of a sacrament; it is an insult to Christ
and His Church."
A few minutes later I was kneeling in front of the multi-
tudes, in the midst of a great number of people who wanted
to be baptized with me. And the Rev. Mr. Foster baptized
us all.
I will never sufficiently thank my God for what He has
done in me and for me, in that most blessed hour.
After we were baptized, the ministers who were there of-
fered most fervent prayers for every one of us; they put their
hands on our heads, not as a sacramental sign, but as a mark
of fraternal Christian feeling. But my emotions were too
great and too sweet at that solemn moment to pay any atten-
tion to that circumstance. What I can say is that if all the
brethren and sisters who were there praying around us had
wished to lay their hands on our heads when sending to the
throne of grace their ardent supplications, I would not have
been able to find any fault in that; and even to=day, it is im-
possible for me to see any impropriety, scandal, or any ridi-
cule, when, under the eyes of God and man, such things oc-
curred in the midst of us, children of that great merciful God.
I do not say this as an apology. An apology is unnecessary
regarding such a solemn and sacred action. My baptism was
an affair between my God and me alone — my only regret was
that I had postponed it so long, and that uncontrollable and
providential circumstances had prevented me from being bap-
tized by one of our Presbyterian brethren. But it was the
256 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
will of God that in this, as well as in many other things of
my life, I could not do my own will, but I had to do His will.
The ways of God are not the ways of men.
Since that time it was my privilege to attend, as a deputy,
the admirable (I might say the marvelous) meetings of the
Evangelical Alliance in New York. There the Presbyterians,
the Methodists, the Baptists, and the Episcoijalians have
pulled down, and I hope forever, the walls of division which
Satan has raised up among the children of God, They have
all eaten of the same bread, and they have all sat at the same
table, that it might be said of them: "They are one bread,
one body, one heart, one Church."
And the whole world has blessed the sublime spectacle of
that unity. Our dear Canada Presbyterian Church, which
has tasted of the delicious fruit of that perfect unity, through
her representation at the Evangelical Alliance in New York,
will not find fault with her weakest child, if, in one of the
most blessed hours of his life, he has thought that there is no
more difference or division among the Methodist and the
Presbyterian Churches of this land of exile than there will be
when, around the throne of the Lamb, they will sing together
the eternal Alleluia.
CHAPTER XXV
The Stratagem
In the winter of 1873, all the priests of the city of Montreal
had received the order from the Bishop to prove, on the same
Sunday, from their pulpit, the proposition of their catechism:
" That Mary, the mother of God, is the most powerful inter-
cessor men have in heaven; and we must address ourselves
to her, if we expect to receive the favours we ask."
The next Thursday the citizens of Montreal could read on
fifty large placards, placed in the most conspicuous parts of
the city: "Mary cannot be the mother of God: God has no
mother. Jesus, and not Mary, is the only one to whom we
must address ourselves if we want to receive the favours we
are in need of. This truth will be proved next Sabbath even-
ing at the French Protestant Church of Craig Street, by
Father Chiniquy."
When on my way to church that evening, one of the head
men of the police stopped me on the street, and said: "Fa-
ther Chiniquy, please change the subject of your address.
The French Canadians cannot allow you to speak against
' The Holy Virgin Mary.' There will be a terrible riot this
night to silence you, and your life is in great danger."
I answered him: " I will not say a word against The Holy
Virgin Mary in my address, I will only refute and protest
against the awful blasphemy of your catechism, that Mary is
the mother of God, and most powerful intercessor man has
in heaven. If there is a new riot to take my life, the Lord
will again protect me. My trust is in Him. Let the police
of Montreal do their duty, and I will do mine."
I found the church crowded to its utmost capacity. To
257
258 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the best of my ability I protested against the impious doc
trine of Rome about the power of Mary in heaven, and the
title of Mother of God given her.
Then I read to them the story of
THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE WANDERING vSHEEP.
"Then Jesus spake this parable unto them saying, What
man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath
found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when
he cometh home, he calleth together his friends, and neigh-
bours, saying unto them. Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15.)
I said, in substance:
Let UB weigh each of these words of Jesus, and meditate on
them with the aid of His grace.
The good shepherd hath counted his sheep; but oh! un-
fortunately, one of them misses the call; one of them has
wandered away and is lost on the way. This discovery is a
thorn which pierces his heart. He can no longer rest; he is
uneasy and troubled; and he leaves there his ninety and nine
sheep that he loves so much, he seems no longer to think of
them, that he may think only of the sheep that has gone
astray. He runs after it; he searches every place regardless
of trouble ; and neglects no measure that may put him on the
track of his dear sheep. He is wearied and exhausted in the
search, but no obstacle stops or disheartens him. He loves
his dear sheep so much that he thinks of nothing else. He
courageously continues to seek until he finds it. He sees it
at last, but in what a state! Half dead with fatigue, lacerated
with thorns, its limbs torn by the brambles, and not able to
go another step. What does the good shepherd do at the
sight of his guilty, but still dear sheep? Does he load it
with reproaches? Does he drive it with a lash to make it
walk and return to the fold? No, no; the good shepherd has
The Stratagem 259
not one thought of anger, not one bitter word against his
dear sheep. Its errors have not in the least diminished his
love for it. This guilty sheep has done much to sad-
den and grieve the heart of the good shepherd ; but his heart,
though crushed with grief, has remained full of love and
compassion. He would say, on the contrary, that the errors
and misfortunes of the poor sheep have only increased the
love of the good shepherd towards it. He sees well that it is
too much exhausted to walk and return to the fold. What
does he do? He stoops down to it; he takes it in his arms;
he presses it to his heart. Then he puts it on his
shoulders, and behold him, bowed under his precious bur-
den, carry back his poor deluded sheep to the fold! But this
is not all. The joy of the good shepherd is so great, his
happiness so sincere, that he can no longer contain himself.
He shouts, he calls his friends, he wishes that the joy which
he tastes may be shared by all the world; he does not allow
any one to remain indifferent. " Rejoice," says he to them,
" for my sheep, which was lost, is found."
Behold the Good Shepherd of the Gospel! Behold Him
described by Himself — this Saviour of the world, whose
blessed name makes every knee to bow in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth!
The Good Shepherd — the crucified Jesus — whose Gospel
we preach, is the mercy of God, the boundless and the be-
nevolence of the Eternal, incarnate in the person of the Sav-
iour. The Saviour of the Gospel is not angry, is not in-
censed against His flock, even when they go astray. He loves
them with a love so great, so true, that never, no never, will
saints, angels or virgins be capable of loving them so much.
The Shepherd — the Jesus of the Gospel — never met among
His friends any one who could love His dear sheep as much as
He Himself does. He has never permitted, either on earth
or in heaven, any one to put himself between Him and His
sheep to stimulate Him to love them.
The modern doctrine of Kome which tells us that the heart
26o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of the Grood Shepherd is so cooled and irritated against His
erring sheep that He would forget them or cast them off, if
the Holy Virgin or some of the other saints were not there
to remind Him of what He has suffered for them, is so absurd
and so wicked, that one cannot understand how so many
people of intelligence allow themselves to fall into that
snare.
For what reason does the Holy Virgin interest herself in
the salvation of sinners, more than Jesus Himself? Why
should the heart of Mary in heaven be more compassionate
towards miserable sinners than the heart of Jesus? And
why should her ear be more attentive to our prayers than
that of the Saviour? We can never find answers to these
questions within the laws of common-sense. Never shall we
be able to find, in the Holy Scripture, a single word that can,
in any manner, serve as an excuse or cloak for this monstrous
doctrine; and it certainly insults the saints in heaven, as
well as Jesus Christ Himself, to believe and say, with the
Church of Rome, that our salvation does not depend entirely
on the love and mercy of our Saviour, but that this love and
this mercy of Jesus Christ, being paralyzed by our sins, must
be, as it were, incited and revived by the compassions and by
the more active and the more efficacious mercy of the saints.
To render the sacrilegious worship which she offers to the
saints acceptable, and to induce sinners to put all their con-
fidence in the Holy Virgin Mary, the Church of Rome
assures us that our sins have the effect of cooling the love
and compassion of Jesus Christ for us. But, then, the
Church of Rome ought to tell us how it is that our sins have
not the same effect of cooling the heart of the Holy Virgin
and of the saints who, according to the Church of Rome,
know all that we do,
If, as is no doubt the case, the saints in heaven are united
in will and sentiment with God, that which displeases God,
ought also to displease His saints; that which saddens and
cools the heart of Jesus Christ, ought equally to sadden and
The Sfratagem 261
cool the hearts of the saints (always supposing the system of
Rome to be true, about the pretended knowledge that the saints
have of everything that transpires on the earth), and then,
whilst Jesus is excited and angry in heaven, as the Popes of
Rome assure us, the saints, and especially the Holy Virgin,
ought to partake and approve of His wrath, instead of oppos-
ing it and hindering its effects.
Behold the misfortunes of the Church of Rome, having left
the Word of God, which is the only guide of the human mind,
to follow the fables and traditions of men. She has forgotten
that Jesus is our intercessor in heaven; not only the inter-
cessor for saints, but for sinners; she has forgotten that this
intercessor is sufficient, and that consequently there is no need
for another; she has forgotten that thousands and thousands
of times, Jesus has said to sinners, " Come to Me and ye
shall be saved." And that He never said, " Come to My
mother, or such or such a saint, and ye shall be saved." The
Church of Rome has forgotten that the name of Jesus is the
only name that we can call on to be saved. She has forgotten
that St. Paul, or rather the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of St.
Paul, said, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us there-
fore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:
15, 16.)
The Church of Rome having, then, forgotten that Jesus was
always good and merciful; but believing and preaching to
the people, whom she had deceived, that Jesus Christ was
often angry with the sinner, and seeing that sinners need to
have a Saviour always good, and always merciful, a Saviour,
in a word, always ready to receive those who come to Him, is
bound, then, to invent and try to find another Saviour than
this Jesus, whom she tells us is always angry.
Then she creates other saviours in heaven; she seeks other
friends — other intercessors — other advocates, to whom she
262 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
has sacrilegiously accorded all the goodness, mercy and
unfailing kindness of which she has robbed the true Saviour.
But let us hope that our brethren of the Church of Rome
will soon understand that they are deceived by their Popes.
It is not Mary, but Jesus, who is the " gate of heaven, the
hope of sinners, and the salvation of the world."
Nothing could surpass the respectful attention of my audi-
tors, though more than the half of them were Roman Cath-
olics.
My hope was that the threatening storm had vanished and
that there would not be any trouble. But I had again to be
disappointed.
When I was just entering into my peroration, I felt as if
the ground was shaken under my feet. It was evident that
a great multitude of furious men were rushing towards the
church.
The air was filled with the cries of, "Kill him! kill him!"
and a volley of big stones broke almost all the glass of the
windows, and fell on my auditors as well as on me.
As at the beginning of the address, I had warned the
people that there might be some cries heard outside, and
some stones thrown at me, the excitement was not so great as
might have been expected. I said to them: "Be calm, I am
the only one the rioters want to strike, and kill, if they can.
Do not trouble yourselves. They will not molest you if you
go out of the church, without any hurry, as fearless men and
women. Trust in the protection of the God of the Gospel, of
whom, I hope, every one of you is a true servant and believer.
No doubt you will find some brave policemen at the door who
will protect you."
But, as the stones were falling upon us thick as hail in a
storm, there is no need to say that everyone was rushing to
the doors as quickly as possible.
In a very short time I found myelf almost alone in the
church with the chief of the police.
"You see, Father Chiniquy, that you should have followed
The Stratagem 262
my advice, and changed the subject of your address, or not
have spoken at all this evening. I do not conceal from you
that your life is in great danger. Look through this small
aperture of the door and you will see that there are more than
a thousand furious men whose determination is to kill you.
Do not go out of the church, for I have only twenty police-
men with me to protect you. Remain in the church the
whole of the night and I give you my word of honour that
nobody will injure you; with my men, well drilled, I can
repulse the multitude of rioters, if they want to come into
the church; but my men will be powerless to protect you
if you go out, they will be overpowered by the thousand blood:=
thirsty would-be murderers you see in the street."
I answered him, " I see that you ignore that my God is my
keeper. He is stronger than all those furious men. He has
saved me already from great dangers. He will not forsake
me this night.
" That merciful God has just given me a plan which, I
hope, will save me and confound my would=be murderers, the
priests. For I know it — these poor, blind people are sent by
their priests.
" I cannot consent to spend the night here; though I do
not know where I can sleep. You see that I am completely
disguised. I have changed my fur cap and my fur coat with
a friend to more easily fulfil my j^lan. The entire crowd of
rioters is behind your twenty policemen, just opposite the
door of the church, in the midst of the street. My intention
is to go straight to them, when leaving the church. They
all expect, no doubt, that I shall go right or left of the door
and keep myself at the greatest distance possible from them.
When I go straight to them, not one of them will suspect
that I am Father Chiniquy. They all think I am too wise or
too cowardly to throw myself into the lion's jaws. Follow me
at a distance of twelve to fifteen feet to protect me, if you see
any danger, though I do not exj)ect any. I will go through
the crowd of rioters, penetrate their ranks by pushing, and they
264 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
will open and allow me to pass as one of your personal friends."
The chief of police looked at me with a smile, and said:
" You would have made a good general. I think your strata-
gem is as good as it is daring. Let us try it."
And, without a word more, after asking the dear Saviour to
protect me, I left the church at the double quick and turned
my face to the rioters who were packed, crying like wild beasts,
filling the air with the most awful imprecations against me,
brandishing their sticks above their heads, and asking each
other, "Where is he? Where is he?"
The first I met was a giant man, swearing like a demon
against the Apostate Chiniquy.
I seized him by the arm as roughly as I could do it, shook
him and pulled him out of my way, with as much rudeness
as was possible, saying, " What are you doing here, you band
of fools? Open your ranks to let people pass. W^liat right have
you to obstruct the street? What is the matter with you all? "
He answered me with a curse, " We are looking for the in-
famous apostate, Chiniquy. I want to dash out his brains
with this stick. But, the coward; he is probably concealed in
the church under some pew."
"Chiniquy! Chiniquy!" I said, "I have seen him going
out of the church in disguise. He is laughing at you all.
You had better let him alone, and go back to your homes." I
had to push the next and the next, in the same rough way,
and exchange words of about the same kind, till I had passed
through the whole crowd, and reached the file of patient
hackmen who were peacefully waiting behind the rioters for
customers.
Addressing myself to one of them, I said, " Take me to St.
Catherine Street, and when there go to the Rev. Monro
Gibson. Do you know the number of his house? "
" Yes, sir," said the good hackman, and ten minutes later
I was knocking at the door of the Rev. Mr. Gibson, whore I
met with the most fraternal and Christian reception, and
where I spent one of the most peaceful nights of my life.
CHAPTER XXVI
Deplorable and False Liberality in High Protestant Quarters with Respect
to the Church of Rome
The general indifference on the part of Protestants to the
real character and evils of Romanism arises largely from the
idea that there is a sufficient amount of truth and good in
that system to justify its being regarded as a Church of
Christ. Cardinal Manning truly stated that " the Roman
Catholic Church is either the kingdom of the Son of Grod or
the masterpiece of Satan." As it is most manifestly the lat-
ter, it is certainly not Christianity. The conviction of this
must be deepened before much efficient work is done against
the diabolical system. It is sad to see some prominent Prot-
estants taking a wrong position on this subject.
Rev. Charles Hodge was a professor in the Presbyterian
Theological Seminary at Princeton for about half a century.
He was a man of a powerful intellect and undoubted piety;
but on this subject he was weak, and as his opinions had very
great weight with many ministers and others, his influence
in that direction was, to say the least, unfavourable.
Virgil gives us the history of a skilful mariner, who, de-
ceived by the sweet, but perfidious voices of the Sirens, per-
ished on the rocks of Sylla; so, when traveling on the sublime
and bottomless sea of Christianity, it has been my sad lot to
see more than one shipwreck caused by the sweet but decep-
tive voices Of the Siren of the man of sin.
The venerable Dr. Hodge was an example of this. I give
here^his letter followed by my reply.
"My Dear Sir:—
" The question proposed in your letter is one to which wise
and good men have given different answers.
265
266 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" Some say that the Romish Church teaches serious error.
As the influence of that Church is everywhere, and from its
nature, hostile to civil and religious liberty, therefore it is
wrong to grant it any voluntary support or direct encourage-
ment.
"Others say that, inasmuch as the Roman Catholic Church
teaches truth enough to save the souls of men (of which I
have no doubt); inasmuch as it proclaims the Divine author-
ity of the Scriptures, the obligation of the decalogue and the
retributions of eternity; and inasmuch as it calls upon men
to worship God, the Father, Son and Spirit, it is unspeakably
better than no Church at all. And, therefore, when the choice
is between that and none, it is wise and right to encourage
the establishment of Churches under the control of Catholic
priests.
" For myself, I take this latter view. The principle cannot
be carried out that no Church should be encouraged that
teaches error. For then we could help none but our own.
And the principle involves the absurdity that a little error is
more powerful for evil than a great deal of truth for good.
"Of course public men should act on Christian principles,
and if it is wrong for a private Christian to help a Catholic
Church, it must be wrong for a corporation to do so.
" While, therefore, I dread the influence of the Romish
Church, and recognize its corruptions in doctrines and wor-
ship, I nevertheless believe that it is better that men should
be Roman Catholics than infidels or atheists. Romanists
teach people to worship Christ, and to regard and acknowl-
edge Him as the Salvator Hominum.
" Very truly your friend, etc.,
"Charles Hodge."
"Dear Sir:—
"Since I accepted, by the great mercy of God, the truth as
it is in Jesus, and renounced the errors of Rome, I have, now
and then, heard many strange things about the doctrines of
that Church, but nothing looks to me so strange and sadden-
False Liberality 267
ing as the letter which Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, has written
to approve the Protestants who build up the Churches of
Home. I have just read that letter in your issue of the 24th
of August. And though it seems an act of folly, on my part,
to publicly protest against the views of such a learned theo-
logian, my conscience tells me it is an imperious duty to raise
my voice against the manifest and most dangerous errors con-
tained in the document.
" If Dr. Hodge had not so many titles to the respect and
gratitude of the Protestant community, if he were not truly
one of the most shining lights of our firmament, and if his
long and matchless service in the defense of the truth had
not given him such a title to the confidence of us all, his error
would not be so fatal and deplorable, and I would remain
silent.
"My humble position, my very insignificance, would be my
excuse, in my own eyes, for remaining as a mute dog in the
presence of danger. Even to=day I am tempted to say to my
alarmed conscience: 'Hold your tongue; be still and quiet —
you are in the presence of a giant — with a knock of his little
finger he can pulverize you — let these errors go their way and
spread — you can't help: these ugly stones, coming down from
a high mountain, roll wnth irresistible force — you will surely
be crushed down if you are foolish enough to put yourself in
the way and try to stop them.'
" I see too clearly the errors of Dr. Hodge. I know too well
the incalculable injuries they will do to the cause of Christ,
to allow myself to be guided by any selfish fear. Though the
humblest and weakest soldier of Christ, I have heard Him
say, to all those who were enrolled under His banners, 'Fear
not.' Many times the humblest sentinel, from the ignored
outpost, has saved the army by sounding the alarm in time.
"Dr. Hodge gives three principal reasons for approving the
Protestants who build the churches of Rome: 1st. The
Church of Rome teaches truths enough to save the souls of
men. 2nd. It proclaims the Divine authority of the Scrip-
268 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
tures — the obligations of the Decalogue, etc. 3rd. The
Romanists teach people to worship Christ and acknowledge
Him as the Saviour of the world.
"If these assertions are correct, Luther, Calvin, Knox,
etc., would be the most guilty men of modern times, and the
millions of martyrs whom Rome has slaughtered would be
nothing else but rebels justly punished. If the Church of
Rome's teaching can save souls, why should we continue to
protest against the great soul^saving Church (?) and why do
we not go to the feet of the Pope to make our peace with
him?
" Dr. Hodge is a mighty logician, I know it, and he has,
probably, many brilliant theories in store to support his posi-
tion. But the more arguments he will bring to prove that
Rome is a souhsaving Church, and that she is a true wor-
shiijer of Christ, the better he will prove that Luther and
Calvin, with their millions of Protestant followers. Dr. Hodge
included, were, and are, to=day, the greatest fools and the
most wicked of men for having made so much noise, caused
so much shedding of blood, to get out of the chains of Rome;
the more he will prove the verity of the Rev. Mr. Ecker:
' Protestantism is a failure.' And if the learned theologian
of Princeton can persuade the Protestants that they do well
to build churches for the Romanists, the surer he will make
the prophecy of the same Ecker good: 'Before twenty^five
years the United States will be Roman Catholic!'
" Had Dr. Hodge been, as I have been, a priest of Rome a
quarter of a century, he would have spared his friends and
admirers the surprise and sadness we have felt at his strange
views on the matter.
" I do not pretend to say I am perfectly sure of what the
learned divine means by ' truth enough to save the soul,'
and I would like to know his mind more positively on the
subject. But before I have that favour, I must bear testi-
mony to the truth, and say, * After twenty=five years of ex-
perience and study as a priest of Rome, I do not know a sin-
False Liberality 269
gle truth which that apostate Church has kept intact and un-
mixed with the most diabolical and damnable errors.' Let
us take the nature, eternity, holiness and independence of
God, for instance, as revealed in Christ and by Christ. What
is the god of the Roman Catholic Church, seen or known
through the doctrine of Transubstantiation? A god made
with a piece of bread by a man! Just as Aaron took the
bracelets and the earrings of the Israelites, melted them,
turned them into a golden calf, and said to the people:
' These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the
land of Egypt,' so the priest of Rome says to his servant
girl: ' I want to carry the good God (le bon Dieu) to a sick
man to-morrow, but there are no more wafers in the taber-
nacle; make me fifty wafers or little cakes that I may con-
secrate them.' And the domestic mixes the flour with some
water, bakes the whole between two red irons, on which there
is a cross engraved with the abridged name of Jesus. Then
she takes her scissors and cuts those cakes, which are origin-
ally about five inches large, cuts them into small round
wafers about one inch large, and respectfully hands them to
the priest. The next morning that same priest takes those
small round wafers to the altar, pronounces five magic words,
and showing to the people the wafers, which are now turned
into as many gods, he says: ' This is our God; this is the
Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world; adore
Him,' and the whole people, with the priest himself, falling
on their knees with their faces in the dust, adore and worship
the new-born or new-made god.
•' I ask it — where is the difference between this modern
abomination and the idolatry of the Israelites? The only
difference is that the Jewish idolatry was of short duration;
they did not stick to it, they gave it up the next day, and
shed tears of repentance. But the iniquity, the awful idola-
try of Rome is a permanent fact. Their wafer=god, their god
made by a priest, with the help of the servant girl, is the
basis, the life, the grand, constant and public object of their
i']0 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
adoration. I know that the Romanists and Jesuits have
very curious though very ridiculous arguments to bind the
poor slaves of the Pope, and to prove to them that the adora-
tion of the wafer=god is not idolatry. But I hope that Dr.
Hodge will not prostitute his high intelligence in attempting
to help the sophists of Rome in the efforts they make to
prove to the world that a man can make a wafer, tur7i it into
God, and worship that god which he has just made himself,
without being an idolater. But if Dr. Hodge confesses that
the worship of the wafer-god is an idolatrous act, how can he
say that Rome teaches truth enough to save the soul?
" Through her sacrilegious and idolatrous sacrifice of the
mass, the Church of Rome has not only dragged back the
modern world to the idolatry of paganism, but she has added
the brutalizing and degrading dogmas of the priests of Ju-
piter and Venus.
"During the twenty^five years I was a priest of Rome,
almost every morning I had to turn into a god a wafer made
by my servant girl. I was assured by my Church that that
was my true Saviour and my true God. After that, I had to
eat it in the same way that I eat the food which is on my
table. And there are more than 200,000 priests of Rome who,
to=day, believe, and do preach, the same monstrous things.
"Nay, you do not probably see a single priest in the streets,
or in the cars, who does not carry a dozen of those wafer=
gods in his vest or pantaloon pockets. And we are gravely
told that the church teaches saving truth about God! Well, if
the reverend theologian of Princeton really believes that the
priests of Rome have the power to change the wafer into his
very Saviour and God, why does he not go to worship Him
at the feet of their altars? But if, as I am certain of it, that
great Christian man would prefer to be thrown into a burn-
ing furnace rather than to adore the wafer-god of Rome, how
can he tell us that it is no sin to build temples for such
a sacrilegious and idolatrous worship?
" We are gravely told in that letter that the ' Romanists
False Liberality 271
teach Christ, and regard Him as the Saviour of the world.'
Into what strange delusions good and learned men are apt to
fall. In writing these lines the celebrated theologian, no
doubt, consulted more the kind disposition of his Christian
heart than his vast erudition. When the Protestants meet
their Roman Catholic neighbours, when they listen to the in-
teresting lectures, or read some of their learned books, when
they see their smiling lips, their refined manners, they like
to conclude that such amiable and learned men are true wor-
shipers of Christ. It does them good to live in that illu-
sion; they do not even like to hear anything contrary to what
they consider the only charitable and Christian way to think
of their neighbours.
" So Rome has many ways to deceive even the most intelli-
gent and learned ones — she is so expert in the art of entrajD-
ping and bewitching souls! Is it not written of that wonder-
ful Church that it will ' come after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs, and lying wonders, with all deceiv-
ableness of unrighteousness ' ?
"But the kind and Christian though mistaken feelings of
Dr. Hodge and some other Protestants toward the Roman
Catholics, will not change the awful truth. The apostate
Church of Rome has, long since, forsaken and forgotten the
real Divine Christ of the Gospel, and has forged another christ
to suit her pride, her lust and her unquenchable thirst of
power and human glory.
" The Christ of the Gospel is the only corner-stone of His
church. The Church of Rome has granted that privilege to
Peter. The Christ of the Gospel is the head of His church
— but the christ of Rome, said, ' It is the Pope that is the
head of the Church.' The Christ of the Gospel had promised
His Holy Ghost to all His disciples, even to the humblest
ones, to guide them in all their ways and teach them the sense
of His holy words. But the christ of Rome has promised his
holy ghost only to the Pope, who alone has the understand-
ing of the Scriptures, and the knowledge of the truth. The
272 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
c-hrist of Rome says to the sinner, ' Go to Mary and you shall
be saved.' The Christ of the Gospel is the incarnate love
toward sinners. He loves them; He likes to be called their
friend, He constantly prays for them with a love and mercy
that no human language can express. But the christ of Rome
is constantly angry against sinners — he would not listen to
their prayers: he would shut his ears to their humble suppli-
cations, if his mother were not constantly reminding him of
the price he had paid and the blood he had shed for them.
The Christ of the Gospel is God and man; as God He is as
eternal as His Father, He could have no mother. But the
christ of Rome is quite a modern god; he was born about 1900
years ago; his mother is Mary, who everywhere is invoked
and called the Mother of God by the Romanists.
"As Dr. Hodge is a good logician, he will easily find that if
Mary be the mother of God, Saint Anne, who is the mother
of Mary, and Joachim, who is her father, must be truly the
grandmother and the grandfather of the god of Rome, and
Adam his great grandfather! A most marvelous fact, which,
when well understood, will make it more Christian for the
Protestants to raise temples to a god who has such glorious
grandmothers and grandfathers,
" It is true, as Dr. Hodge says, that the Church of Rome
calls her christ, ' the saviour of the world.' But this is just
as when her executioners called Him, ' King of Israel.' It
is mockery. For, the very moment she has called Christ ' the
Saviour of the world,' she goes to Mary and calls her, also,
' the saviour of the world.'
"Rome says most eloquently in many of her books, that
Jesus is the hope, the refuge, the salvation of sinners. But
this is only to throw dust in the eyes of such good and un-
suspecting men as Dr. Hodge. Turn the page and you will
see, that, with still more eloquence, she calls Mary ' the only
hope, refuge and salvation of sinners— the door of heaven.'
"If some Popes tell you it is through Jesus that every grace
comes to man, and that He is the surest foundation of our
False Liberality 273
hope, that glorious truth in the Church of Rome is only a
blind to deceive — for many more infallible Popes will as-
sure you, in their infallible encyclicals, that it is Mary
who is the surest foundation of our hope. I will not insult
Dr. Hodge by giving the names of the Popes and the docu-
ments which proclaim those plain, clear, blasphemous doc-
trines, for he knows them very well.
"The true Christ was meek, and humble, and merciful. He
rebuked His apostles when they wanted to punish those who
rejected Him. He proclaimed liberty of conscience among
men. But the christ of Rome is a bloody monster, who,
through his infallible vicar, the Pope, has approved the
slaughter of St. Bartholomew, and covered Europe with rivers
of blood and tears.
"No! the christ of Rome, with his hatred of liberty, his
constant oppression to every human progress, his infalli-
ble Pope, his holy inquisitions, his hatred of the Bible, can-
not be the true Christ, who is worshiped at Princeton
seminary. It is an old, false god, smuggled by the Pope
from the old Pantheon of Rome, presented to the world
under the name of Christ.
"No! the christ whom I have made, during the twenty=five
years, with the help of my servant girl, and with a wafer — the
christ, who, through his vicar, the Pope, has made me be-
lieve the most monstrous lies, who has persuaded me that his
body, his blood, his divinity, could be verily and substanti-
ally eaten by me, cannot be the Son of the God of truth. He
is the father of lies and deception; and the disciples of the
true Christ, who raise temples to the spurious christ of the
Popes, may be good, honest, sincere Christians, but they are
mistaken. They give a helping hand to the greatest enemy
of the Gospel; they build up the Bible^burning Church; they
strengthen those who, after having destroyed the Bible, will
not rest until they destroy every vestige of liberty and true
Christianity on earth, even if they have to wade up to their
knees in the blood of the disciples of the Gospel. The Prot-
274 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
estants who build up the Church of Rome give help and
strength to the enemy.
"Rev. Dr. Hodge says of the Church of Rome: ' She pro-
claims the Divine authority of the Scriptures,' and he takes
that as his ground for approving those who build up the
churches of the Pope. What would the good doctor think
and say were I to go to him with a golden cup half filled
with the purest water, but after having put as much arsenic
as there is water in the cup, I would tell him : ' Please, sir,
drink, this is good and refreshing water'? Would he not
repulse me with horror, and justly call me a murderer?
'* Now, what is the Church of Rome doing with the Gospel?
Does she not oflPer it to the people only after she has mixed
it with her poisonous tradition? Does not the Church of
Rome, in the most absolute and positive way, say that the
written Gospel (which we call the Scriptures) is only a part,
an unfinished fragment, of the Gospel? Can Dr. Hodge ig-
nore that the Council of Trent has put the tradition (which
they call the unwritten gospel) on a level with the written
Gospel; that the one is of as much Divine authority as the
other; and that the Roman Catholic is not allowed to drink
the waters of life, except when mixed with the deadly
poison — arsenical preparations — of Popery?
" The learned theologian says that Rome proclaims the Di-
vine authority of the Scriptures, but he forgets that it is
only on condition that we receive the Holy Scriptures in the
light of Romish tradition. For Rome proclaims the Divine
authority of the Scriptures, but only with the condition that,
under that name, we accept the Divine origin and authority
of the traditions about Purgatory, Transubstantiation, Indul-
gences, Auricular Confession, Immaculate Conception, Infal-
libility of the Pope, etc. Does he really accept the meaning
which that Church attaches to the Word of God — Holy
Scriptures? Does he believe that by rejecting the authority
of the one, he rejects the authority of the other? Then he is
a good Roman Catholic; he is all right when he takes the
False Liberality 275
side of the priests of Rome, and approves the Protestants
who spend money in building the churches of the Pope.
But if he rejects with horror, from his lips, the golden cup
which Rome offers her blind slaves, then he is wrong. The
mistake of Dr. Hodge is very common among the honest and
unsuspecting Protestants of the United States. They too
easily forget that the Church of Rome very often says one
thing and means another quite different. When she speaks
of the Holy Scriptures with an apparent respect, and pro-
claims their divinity, many think that she means only that
blessed Word of God which is contained in the Holy Bible,
such as they have at Princeton College. But it is not so.
" When Rome speaks of the Word of God, the Holy Scrip-
tures, she means the Scriptures transmitted through the
written and unwritten tradition. She means the Apocrypha,
purgatory, celibacy, absolution, mass, holy water, works of
supererogation, worship of Mary, infallibility, etc.
" She pretends to have the greatest respect for those two
things when perfectly united in one body of doctrine. But
she does not conceal her implacable hatred of the true Scrip-
tures, the Bible, as Dr. Hodge has it in his hands. That
learned man seems to ignore that the Scripture, the Bible,
separated from the traditions and the Romish commentaries,
is absolutely declared a dangerous, a soul-destroying book by
Rome, and the Council of Trent has forbidden the people to
read it in their mother tongue. He also seems to have forgot-
ten that the Bible Society, whose object is to give the Holy
Scriptures unmixed with traditions, notes and comments, has
been, time after time, declared by the infallible Church of
Rome to be an instrument of the devil to destroy the souls of
men. No doubt the book of the index expurgatory of Rome
is in the library of Princeton. Then let him consult the long
list of books forbidden for their impiety and immorality and
he will find that his Bible stands at the head of the list.
Let him consult the pages of the history of France, Italy,
Spain, Ireland, England, Canada, and even the history of the
1276 Forty Years In the Church of Christ
United States, and he will see that Rome, as often as she
has found her opportunity, instead of proclaiming the Di-
vine authority of the true and unmixed Scriptures, has
burned and destroyed them, as we burn and destroy a viper.
Yes, let him open the store of his memory and vast science,
and he will remember that, not only Rome has destroyed the
true and undefiled Holy Scriptures every time she could do
it safely, but she has invariably condemned to death those
who have been found guilty of reading the Bible.
" The memory of Dr. Hodge cannot be so bad as to have
made him forget that the Madiai of Florence, and the twelve
noble young men in Spain, only yesterday, were condemned
to death by the Holy Inquisition for the unpardonable crime
of having the Bible and reading it.
" That great theologian, following more the instincts of his
kind nature and Christian feelings than the teachings of
history, assures us that the Church of Rome * proclaims the
Divine authority of the Scriptures' ! Yes, by putting the
Holy Scriptures in the ' Index,' at the head of the most
damnable books which hell ever inspired!
" Rome proclaim the divinity of the Scriptures! Yes, by
torturing in her dark and filthy dungeons; slaughtering on
her gibbets; burning, in her auto da f6, the disciples of the
dear Saviour, who dare to read, love and follow those Holy
Scriptures. Rome proclaims the authority of the Scriptures,
says Dr. Hodge. Yes, says the history of these last thousand
years; yes, answer millions of martyrs, she proclaims and
acknowledges the divinity of the Scriptures, just as the Jews
acknowledged and proclaimed the divinity of Christ, by
spitting in His face, nailing Him on a cross as a criminal,
and killing Him between two thieves.
" There are many deplorable things to be seen among the
Protestants of the United States. But one of the most
deplorable is the fatal tendency of so many to ignore the
great apostasy and abominations of Rome. In Europe, where
Rome is better known. Principal Cunningham called that
False Liberality 277
church ' the master-piece of Satan ' — and surely she is the
master^piece of Satan. But what a sad spectacle we have
under our eyes on this continent! Almost everywhere the
Bible==burning Church of the Pope, instead of being sternly
opposed by the children of God, is petted, helped and
enriched, encouraged, strengthened, and praised by the
greater part of them. Everywhere, with very little exception,
the Protestants, shutting their eyes to the silent but rapid
progress of Rome, sleep when the enemy is raising and arming
his impregnable citadels, training his skilful legions, and
sharpening his sword for the approach of the inevitable
contest.
" But there will soon be an awakening, and it will be
a terrible one. When the Protestants see the extent of
their incredible folly in so betraying the interests of truth
and liberty into the hands of their greatest enemy, it will be
too late! There will be then a Roman Catholic President in
Washington. The armies of the Great Republic will then be
commanded by Roman Catholic generals and officers; the
fleets will be commanded by Roman Catholic admirals, and
the fortresses will be in the hands of Roman Catholic traitors.
Then the treasure and the immense resources of this magnifi-
cent country will be at the mercy of the Jesuits, at the
service of the Pope, and the flag of liberty will be trampled
in the dust. Then the American people, who are, to=day, sold
into the hands of Rome by their politicians, and lulled to
sleep by their theologians, will understand that when Rome
speaks of the Divine authority of the Scriptures it only
means that the Bible must be dragged out of the schools, and
torn away from the hands of the old and young, to make a
bonfire.
" There are two things which Rome hates with an implacable
hatred. They are the Bible and liberty. At any cost, Rome
is bound to fight down these two things, till they are com-
pletely destroyed. But the more she hates our dear Bible
and our glorious liberty, the more she conceals her hatred
278 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
under the most deceptive words, and the most fictitious
demonstrations of love and respect. It is just when she lays
the surest and most perfidious plans to drag away the Bible
from tbe school and the private house that she proclaims most
eloquently its Divine authority, just as the murderer puts
on a smilini^ face at the approach of his victim the better
to prevent him from being on his guard. Thanks to the
betrayals of the politicians, and the delusions of the theolo-
gians, except God makes a miracle of it, the Bible and liberty
are doomed in the United States.
" Till lately I have had my doubts about that deplorable
issue. But these last few years study of things and men here
makes it impossible to entertain any doubt about it. Blind,
indeed, must be the man who does not see the portentious
signs which foretell that the days of liberty are numbered, and
will be very short. With the hundred thousand Protestants,
who give their daughters, their sons, and their money to the
Jesuits, and with the connivance, the silence, if not the pub-
lic approbation of thousands of ministers who dare not speak
out, Rome is raising her proud banner on every hill, in every
valley, of the United States.
"See how Rome is ruling in the midst of all our great
cities, from New York to San Francisco; from Quebec to San
Jago. It would require the united efforts, the stern energies,
of all the disciples of the Gospel to put a stop to the giant
power and aggressive work of Rome; but, instead of trying
to defeat the public and grand conspiracy of Popery against
liberty and the Bible, the Protestants, with few exceptions,
are vying with each other who will most efficiently give aid
and comfort to the enemy.
" Does Dr. Hodge take the ground that the Church of Rome
proclaims the Divine authority of the Scriptures? But there
is not a student at Princeton who does not know that the
faith of Rome in the Holy Scriptures, and the so=called proc-
lamation of their Divine authority, are founded on what the
logicians call a vicious circle.
False Liberality 279
" Does not Rome boast that she receives the Holy Scriptures
because they point to her as the only infallible Church, when,
in the meantime, she refers us to those Scriptures to prove
the title she has to the supreme respect and submission of the
nations? I ask my intelligent readers, what is all that bom-
bast of Rome about her faith in the dignity of the Scriptures,
if it is not a castle built in a misty cloud high in the air?
Who can believe in the divinity of a thing in favour of which
not a single reason can be given which can be accepted by
common=sense? Who will believe Rome, proclaiming the
Divine authority of the Scriptures, when she has no other
argument or reason to our intelligence than a vicious
circle !
" Though there is a great deal of show in the Church of
Rome there is no real faith even among the priests. The
little faith which remains has no more solidity than the
building raised on quicksand. From the highest to the
lowest ranks of Rome, with very few exceptions, infidelity
and skepticism are the rule; very few, to=day, even among the
priests of that apostate Church, care anything for the
Scriptures.
"They do not ask, 'What saith the Lord?' but they ask,
' What saith the Pope?' It is not necessary to be so pro-
found a logician as the celebrated theologian of Princeton to
understand that with an ' infallible Pope ' there is no need
of an infallible Bible. It is just because the Scriptures
ceased to be an authority in the Church of Rome that it was
found necessary to provide another authority to guide the
human intellect. As the Holy Bible had ceased to be the
oracle, the source of truth among the Roman Catholics, it was
a question of life or death to find or invent a new oracle, a
new fountain of truth and life. Yes, it became a necessity to
proclaim an infallible Pope the very day that the Holy Scrip-
tures had ceased to be an infallible guide. Many have mis-
understood the terrible logic which forced the Roman Catho-
lics, almost in spite of themselves, to proclaim the infallibil-
2 8o Forty Years in the Church of Christ
ity of the Pope. To every serious thinker, the proclamation
of the dop;ma is the most natural and most logical fact. These
last ten centuries the Roman Catholic nations have sternly,
but in vain, tried to resist the logical consequences of the
false and anti^Christian principles which their Church had
accepted as Divine truths. The proclamation of the infallibil-
ity of the Pope is not only the logical consequence of the re-
jection of the Divine authority of the Scriptures in the Church
of Rome, it is also the last and ultimate effort of that ai)ostate
Church to get forever rid of the Holy Scriptures, in every page
of which she finds her condemnation written. From the pro-
found thinker, Bossuet, to the learned Montalembert, many
intelligent Roman Catholics had foreseen and foretold that
the proclamation of the infallibility would be a death blow to
the authority of the Scriptures, and would sweep away the
last Christian principle from their Church.
" But logic is stronger than men. When men, in a moment
of blindness, have accepted a false principle to replace a
Christian one, which they have rejected, they are dragged, in
spite of themselves, into its fatal consequences. By admit-
ting the divinity of traditions which were opposed to the
Holy Scriptures, the Roman Catholics had prepared for the
rejection of the authority of those infallible oracles, and the
necessity of finding some other infallible guide.
" From one abyss the Roman Catholics had fallen into a
profounder one, with the same fatal necessity and irresistible
law by which a stone must roll to the bottom of the pit the
very moment the crumbling support on which it rested on the
side of the precipice had been removed.
"By proclaiming the Divine authority of the tradition which
gives an infallible Pope, and by accepting that man as equal
to God in wisdom and science, the Roman Catholic Church
has fallen to the bottom of an unfathomable abyss. Human
folly and depravity could not go further. The last link which
united Rome to the Christian world has been cut. It is no
more from Christ, speaking to him through the Holy Ghost
False Liberality 2,81
in the Scriptures, that the Roman Catholic will receive the
truth — it is from the Pope. By taking away the corner-stone,
Christ, whom the Father had laid as the foundation of His
Church, in order to give place to her infallible Pope, Rome
has renewed on earth the awful rebellion of Lucifer in
heaven.
"And the Protestants who build the church of this modern
Lucifer, like those who approve them, may be honest and
learned but they are mistaken men. They give help and
comfort to the enemy. They are of those for whom Christ
said on the cross: 'Father, forgive them, they know not what
they do.'
"C. Chiniquy."
CHAPTER XXVII
A Presbyterian Minister Approves. The Romanists Condemn
and Persecute
In 1876 I spent some days in Halifax, N. S., where I spoke
in Fort Massey Presbyterian Church.
The Pastor was the Rev. R, F. Burns, D. D., and his con-
gregation was large and influential in the city. He was
thoroughly in sympathy with me and my work, and was
made up of the stern material which characterized his ances,
tors in Scotland, the Covenanters. He had no sympathy with
the name Protestantism which does not earnestly and prac-
tically protest. He was told before the meeting in his church
that there would be a disturbance from the Romanists, which
he was reluctant to believe; but, let the apprehension of
trouble be what it might, he was not going to shrink from
having a Presbyterian minister speak in his pulpit, in a city
and country where the British flag waves, which means civil
and religious liberty.
The people came pouring into the church at the appointed
time until it was packed, and there being a large crowd at the
the doors, who could not find room, it was concluded to close
them. A crowd of Romanists collected around the church
for the avowed purpose of preventing the ajwstate Chiniquy
from preaching against Popery. During the service there was
constant commotion, there was 8tone4hrowing, and panes
were smashed. Again and again large stones crashed through
the windows. The Pastor, Dr. Burns, declared that such at-
tacks were a scandal upon the common freedom of speech
and worship. After other plain and pointed remarks from the
doctor, I arose and said that what we needed was a dozen of
Orangemen to go out and clear the street. The disturbance
282
Friends and Foes 283
continued, but the meeting, though disturbed, was not broken
up, and, after a collection was taken, it closed about ten o'clock.
There was intense excitement inside and outside the church.
A band of ruffians laid wait by the front door.
Dr. Burns, myself, and several friends passed out by a side
door. The rioters soon discovered this and followed, throw-
ing stones and snowballs. I was struck several times. Dr.
Burns with several friends took refuge in a friendly house at
the head of Tobin street. The crowd increased and two hun-
dred of my friends, principally orangemen, formed in close
order and came to the rescue. We proceeded to the Halifax
Hotel, pursued by a howling mob.
When we were about half way the rioters resorted to a ruse,
and separated, so as to more successfully close in on me and my
friends, and if possible hustle and crowd us into the harbour.
Near the hotel the cry was raised, " Chiniquy is here!" Then
stones and sticks were freely used, by which I was struck
several times. I entered by a private door, and the stones
came showering after me as I went in. An empty bottle
struck a young man and cut him badly.
My head and arms were bruised, but my injuries were not
serious.
No arrests were made at the time.
Of course this persecution, though not openly defended by
the Roman Catholic priesthood, was " allowed," and was not
frowned down as might and ought to have been, were the
priests true friends of liberty and order.
Such is a fine example of the freedom Romanists claim for
themselves but deny to others, even in a land where they
have full freedom to worship without molestation.
It is with satisfaction I record that public opinion in Nova
Scotia so emphatically condemned my ruthless persecutors
that, though afterwards I revisited Halifax frequently and
addressed many meetings in the city and in very many
churches throughout the country, no attempt was ever made
to disturb my meetings or to injure me in any way. Even
284 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the Orangemen have safely marched in i^rocession through
the streets of Halifax; and freedom of speech and religious
liberty have thus been happily vindicated. What is, thus, true
of Halifax and Nova Scotia, is true of many other places —
cities and rural districts in Canada, in Australia, in the
British Isles and even in the United States.
Dr. Burns preached and published a sermon, soon after,
called out by the riotous demonstration. It was on the text:
" Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy
gods, nor worship the golden image thou hast set up." In
the discourse he drew a comparison between the Babylon of
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylon of Popery. He proved
that there was a close correspondence between them.
This sermon of Dr. Burns was so timely and outspoken,
that I give several ijassages from it which I feel sure my
readers will appreciate. If we had more such fearless and
heroic men in our pulpits, Rome would not stalk forth with
such a bold front as she now does.
" Even now may the handwriting on the wall of the Vati-
can be discovered — distinct as that which formerly paled
the faces and paralyzed the frames of the giddy and godless
revellers in the palace of Babylon. When she is saying —
' Peace and safety, sudden destruction will come upon her,'
and the world echoes the doleful dirge, ' Babylon the great
is fallen, is fallen.' May the Lord hasten it in His time.
" Our subject admits of a ready application to the scenes of
Monday evening — a night much to be remembered in the
history of our city and Church. How singular the contrast
a few brief hours brought round!
" We thought not last Sabbath, when encircling so peace-
fully and profitably a communion table, that it was to turn
out a table spread for us in the presence of our enemies, and
that our blood was so near being mingled with our sacrifice.
"Hitherto we had known nothing but peace within and
around these walls, but it seemed as if the Lord were coming
not to send peace but a sword, and as if judgment were going
Friends and Foes 285
to begin at the house of God. Should the uppermost feel-
ing with us be, ' An enemy hath done it,' let us feel it right to
be taught even by an enemy. Nor let us be unmindful of
the higher uses, for, ' Is there evil in the city, and the Lord
hath not done it? ' He permits what He does not sanction.
And, 'We have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord
is very pitiful and of tender mercy.' For we have found
abundant reason to sing of mercy as well as of judg-
ment, and to conclude that the things which have hap-
pened to us will turn out rather to the furtherance of the
Gt)spel.
" Very plainly has it been made to appear that the wrath of
man worketh not the righteousness of God, and with equal
distinctness that God can make the wrath of man to praise
Him, while He restrains the remainder thereof.
" We are thankful that the venerable preacher was un-
harmed during the service, and sustained no very serious in-
jury afterwards. We are thankful that the audience behaved
so well, considering the noisy demonstrations outside and the
repeated assaults made on the building. In circumstances
less critical, and with no such dense masses collected, there
have arisen panics that have issued in results most disastrous.
We feel thankful that the hostile elements inside were kept
under control through the force of superior numbers, and the
fear of immediate exposure and expulsion. We are thank-
ful for the part the press has taken, and the determination
evinced by our public authorities to prosecute the investiga-
tion, and to bring the perpetrators of the outrage to justice.
We are thankful for the efficient aid rendered by those out-
side ourselves, and for the sympathy expressed by the other
churches throughout the city. We are thankful that the
Protestant pulse amongst us beats stronger than it did a
week ago; that the blood flows purer and freer. We have
been at ease in Zion. We need arousing. In our simplicity,
we had thought the voice Jacob's. We have found the hand
Esau's.
286 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" The features of the ancient Babylonians came out in their
modern representatives with a somewhat repulsive promi-
nence, especially that spirit of bigotry and intolerance which
could not put up with the frank outspokenness of the Hebrew
heroes, and their fearless protest against the popular preva-
lent idolatry. Wherever our modern Babylon is thoroughly
in the ascendant, the minority have no rights which the
majority are bound to respect. The faithful protesters must
be hustled out of the way. Away with them, away with them!
The spirit that worked on the banks of the Euphrates is re-
produced on the banks of the Tiber and of the St. Lawrence,
too, and it is the same that has startled and surprised us here
in our fair city by the sea. Then and there it was three
young men. Here and now it has been one old man.
Against them were kindled the flames of the furnace.
Against him were directed brickbats and bottles and blud-
geons. In both instances, freedom of speech and freedom of
action were sought forcibly to be put down. I suppose those
lads were looked on by most as fools and fanatics — disturbers
of the general peace, and deviators from the general practice.
And so by some, even from whom better things might have
been expected, our ' old man eloquent ' has been regarded.
It is easy to criticise him — to take exception to his sayings
and doings — to pelt him with paper pellets soaked in vinegar
and smelling of brimstone, from snug offices or cosy arm*
chairs; but it's not so easy to run the gauntlet as he has
done — to take one's life in one's hand and to face, for nigh a
score of years in succession, the kind of weapons that have
been wielded against him. And what has been the head and
front of his offending? Simply this — that ever since com-
plying with the command, 'Come out of her, my people, he'
has continued to be a courageous and consistent protester
against the sins of our modern Babylon, and ceased not to
* teach and to preach Jesus Christ.' Simply this — that he
has kept ringing out the ancient battle cry: 'Be it known
unto thee, O Pope, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
Friends and Foes 287
worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' This is
true Protestantism. The Protestant who does not protest
against Rome is unworthy of the name.
" The very lif e=blood of the Protestant faith oozes out when
there is no protesting. For over eighteen years this remark-
able man has been in close grapple with this ' mystery of
iniquity,' and it is not to be wondered at if one of his tem-
perament, and with his surroundings, and with the intimate
knowledge which a quarter of a century behind the scenes
has given him of Rome's inner life, and with the rough
handling he has got from those he has left; I say it is not to
be wondered at if he should occasionally ' speak unadvisedly
with his lips.'
"Through all these years the most industrious and insidious
efforts have been made to smirch and to stain his character
in accordance with Rome's customary policy towards those
who abandon her communion. From the fiery ordeal he has
come forth like gold.
*' He may have been at times hasty in word or deed, but so
were the reformers, and so were the apostles and the prophets
which were before them. Nevertheless, while a man of like
passions with ourselves, and compassed with kindred infirmi-
ties, no breath of slander has dimmed the lustre of his
character, or moral stigma been fastened upon his good name.
From 1833, on through the twenty-five years of his priestly
life, his character was of the best. He was a pure priest, and
has in his possession the most undoubted testimonials to this
effect, from the highest dignitaries of Rome. He was for
years by far the most popular priest in Lower Canada — the
very idol of the people. He was known as the great Apostle
of Temperance — the Canadian Father Matliew. Within the ten
years of his wonderful crusade, no fewer than 200,000 of his
countrymen were certified as having received the pledge from
his hands. The change thereby effected was without parallel.
He had the offer of being made Bishop of the great Norths
west, but had the humility to decline it. So devoted was he
288 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
however, to the interests of his order, that he received a spe-
cial commission to gather into one fold those of his country-
men that were 'dispersed among the Gentiles.' Going, as he
did, from one place to another in the States, he was not a lit-
tle surprised to find that not less than 150,000 French Cana^
dians had left their native country to live in that great Repub-
lic, and he was truly sorry to see that the greater part of them
were in deadly danger of losing the Roman Catholic faith,
from their being scattered among the Protestants, and from
there beingsomany denominations of Protestants who were try-
ing to convert them to their religious views, and to bring them
into what he then called the Protestant net. On going back
to Canada he brought this under the notice of the Bishops,
who empowered him to throw himself into this department of
missionary work.
" In 1851 he settled in the great Prairie State, Illinois, and
12,000 of his countrymen gathered round him. Some seven
years later the Damascus scene was repeated. * There shone
a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, and
there fell from his eyes as it were scales.' It was principally
the entrance of the Word which gave him light. Into this
marvelous light he sought at once to lead his people. This
has been his life-work since. He has led out from Rome six
or seven thousand of his countrymen in Illinois, and at least
as many more in Canada, and other portions of the States.
" During the past six months it is certified that after deduct-
ing some 200 who were deemed unworthy, 500 families, em-
bracing 2,000 individuals, have come out from Rome, in and
around Montreal. Considering the unusually strong foot-
hold Romanism has got in Lower Canada, and the uncom-
mon devotion of the French Canadian Catholics, such a re-
sult is truly surprising. When the Lord turned the cap-
tivity of these people, we were like men that dreamed.
" It was on the tenth of June, 1862, that Father Chiniquy
applied for admission to the Canada Presbyterian Church.
I had the honour and privilege of making the motion in our
Friends and Foes 289
Synod expressive of our deep interest in himself and his work
and appointing the committee to adjudicate on his application
I was a member of the first committee.
"The following year (on the 11th of June, 1863), he was
formally received, amid great enthusiasm, so that he has
been for nearly thirteen years a minister of our Church.
During my residence in Chicago I repeatedly visited the St.
Anne settlement, and, as a member of the Kankakee commit-
tee and convener of the French Evangelization Committee
(they are now united), I had ample opportunity for forming
a judgment regarding him.
"While in Montreal he often occupied my pulpit, and
audiences of ten and twelve hundred, principally of his own
people, hung upon his lips. His power in French is amaz-
ing. No one in our Dominion can come near him in reach-
ing the ear and the heart of the French people. When he
came, therefore, to our great city, I hailed him as an old
friend, and gladly welcomed him to this sacred desk, in com-
mon with my beloved brethren in the ministry.
" It seems passing strange to me that such a man, who has
had access to the best circles of British and American society,
and to the leading pulpits and platforms of Christendom,
who led a blameless and useful life for twenty^five years
under Pajpal and for over eighteen years under Protestant
auspices, who emancipated 200,000 from the slavery of alco-
hol and some twelve or fifteen thousand from the slavery of
Rome, and who has for thirteen years made full proof of his
ministry in our Church, should have been here branded as
a fugitive and a vagabond, stigmatized as a liar in our pulpits,
howled at as by a pack of wolves swarming round our holy
and beautiful house, and hooted and hounded for half a mile
along our streets, as if he were the filth of the world and the
ofPscouring of all things, under the shadow, too, of a garrison
of British soldiers, and beneath the folds of that glorious flag
which throws the impenetrable shield of her protection around
the obscurest subject and the humblest slave.
290 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" It seems passing strange, too, that all this should have
occurred in the clear moonlight, and only two or three of
these hundreds have been recognized. It seems almost
stranger still that those respectable gentlemen, of whose order
the old man was once a most distinguished ornament, should
not have publicly testified against such cruel and cowardly
behaviour, and thrown themselves in the forefront of those
who are trying to bring the perpetrators to justice. One of
them could have accomplished more than our entire police
force, without disparaging its members in the least. Of this
I feel persuaded, and I know I can speak for my brethren as
well as myself, that were it possible to conceive of hundreds
of our people surrounding a Koman Catholic church, break-
ing many panes of glass, and disturbing by their yells, for an
hour and a half, the service going on, and then assaulting,
with murderous intent, the officiating priest, we would have
been promptly out to try and check them. The first papers
of the morning would have published our indignation. We
would have at once tendered our sympathy, nor slept till
we had lent our influence, to the making an example of some
of them.
" Let our Protestantism get a healthier tone from this ex-
perience. Let our generous youth imbibe the spirit and imi-
tate the example of those blessed young men and say boldly
of Roman and every other species of corruption, ' Be it known
unto thee,' etc. But let no grudge rankle in our breasts, for
the religion we profess is a religion of love, and ' Love work-
eth no ill to his neighbour.' Let us ever keep the line drawn
between persons and principles. We loath Rome. We love
Romanists. Let us live as the noble Argyle died — when he
said on the scaffold, ' I die with a heart=hatred of Popery.'
' Which thing I hate,' as the blessed Master says of the doc-
trines and deeds of the Nicolaitans. With a generosity and
magnanimity his enemies would do well to imitate, Chiniquy
says: 'There are, in the Church of Rome, many millions of
sincere and respectable men, and we must seriously pray the
Friends and Foes 291
Lord to send them His light — but we cannot go further. We
must not abuse them.' How can I more fittingly close my
discourse than in the words of his yesterday's letter to me?
'Let every one of my friends unite their fervent prayers to
yours to the throne of mercy for the conversion of the mul-
titudes of the blind followers of the Pope, who want to take
away my life. Oh, let the dear Saviour look down in His
mercy upon them all, to give them His saving light that they
may come with us to His feet, to find light, peace and eternal
life!'"
Dr. Burns, in an appendix to the sermon from which I have
taken these extracts, offers some true and pertinent thoughts
in regard to the method of dealing with Romanism. They
are certainly in place in this connection. My methods may
at times seem severe, and to border on irreverence, but they
appear to me to be such as the subject needs. The wafer^^god
of Rome is so utterly ridiculous, ludicrous, idolatrous and
absurd, that it should be dealt with accordingly, which I have
not hesitated to do. The author of this sermon shows very
forcibly that my style in this respect is fully sustained by
examples found in the Bible.
"Mr. Chiniquy has been taken severely to task, even by
some Protestants, for breaking the wafer in pieces, which,
after the priest's consecration, is believed by the Romanists
to contain in it the ' body, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus
Christ.' This infallible authority declares that a single con-
secrated wafer makes only one god, but that if you break that
consecrated wafer into a number of fragments, the 'body,
soul and divinity' of the God- man is in each separate frag-
ment, so as to contain as many gods. On Rome's principle,
' once a priest, always a priest,' Mr, Chiniquy has still this
great power. It was to show the folly and blasphemy of
sucb an assumption, that Mr. Chiniquy acted as he did. He
meant not the slightest disrespect to a sacred ordinance for
which, in the true Scriptural view of it, he entertains the pro-
foundest reverence. The irreverence lies with those who
292 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
thus desecrate and travesty it, Chiniquy's mode of proced-
ure may not precisely suit our modern ideas of propriety, but
it is an ancient Bible way which has repeatedly ' received
Divine endorsation.' It was substantially the way of Moses
and Elijah, and Isaiah, and Hezekiah, when exi^osing the
folly and falsity of the idolatries with which they had to com-
bat. When the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, Moses,
their leader, burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, strewed it
in the water and made them to drink of it. (Ex. 32: 20.)
" Was the calf =god treated thus, then why may not a cake=god
be treated in like manner? Was Moses chargeable with ' bad
taste ' in treating so contemptuously the object of the peo-
ple's blind veneration?
" Elijah, in like manner, poured contempt on the Baal
worshipers at Carmel and brought the sharpest irony, the
most scathing sarcasm, to bear against them. ' Elijah mocked
them and said. Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is talk-
ing, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure
he sleepeth and must be awaked.' (1 Kings 18:27.) Was
it counted ' bad taste ' in this holy man thus to 'make fun'
of these worshipers who evinced their sincerity by their
continual crying and ' cutting themselves with knives and
lances' (like the flagellants) 'till the blood gushed out upon
them.'
" As a ' take=off ' on idolatry, we know nothing to equal the
vivid and graphic portraiture of Isaiah. (Chap. 44:9-20.)
The man cutting down the cedar, using part of the wood for
warming himself, part for cooking his food, etc., then em-
ploying the residue in making a god. * He burneth part
thereof in the fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh ; he roast-
eth roast and is satisfied; yea he warmeth himself and saith,
Aha, I am warm; and the residue thereof he maketh a god,
even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worship-
eth it, and prayeth unto it and saith. Deliver me, for thou
art my god.'— Verses 16 and 17.
" From the standpoint of our modern critics, Isaiah (or the
Friends and Foes 293
Spirit of God speaking through him) showed the extreme of
'bad taste ' in violating the religious sensibilities of so many,
and turning into ridicule their conscientious convictions.
" And how did the good king Hezekiah act towards the
brazen serpent? It was the time^honored relic whose preser-
vation seemed pardonable as a quickener to gratitude. But
when undue homage began to be rendered to it, it was
treated by the king as our modern iconoclast has been treat-
ing the wafer; ' He brake in pieces the brazen serpent that
Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel
did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan — a piece
of brass.' (2 Kings 18:4.)
" The parallel supplied by these four cases is perfect. If
Mr. Chiniquy violated the proprieties, he did so in good com-
pany. Moreover, his action was intended as a test. If Deity
resided in that thin, tiny cake and every portion thereof,
would He not avenge His own honour thus sacrilegiously in-
sulted by the prompt and signal punishment of the aggres-
sor? That no harm came to him so impressed the beholders
that thirty of them, the morning after the wafer was subjected
to this test, abjured their allegiance to Rome.
" We are far from saying that Mr. Chiniquy's modes of
procedure are always what we or our brethren would adopt.
But he knows thoroughly the people with whom he has to
deal, and adapts his treatment accordingly. In such mat-
ters 'let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind,' and
the best criterion, probably, after all, by which to judge his
measures, is the wonderful success with which they have been
attended."
CHAPTER XXVIII
Rebuked by a Prominent Presbyterian Minister. Approved
by His Congregation
My Christian readers would be much mistaken if they
were thinking that the lecturer on Romanism is constantly
walking among sweet briers and roses, and that he is sure to
be fed with sugar plums when working among the Protestant
population of America and Europe. More often than is
suspected his paths are among thorns, and his bread is mixed
with the bitterest gall.
I am, as the dear Saviour was, looked upon as an impostor
and a disturber of the peace by many of those very Israelites
He wanted to enlighten and to save; so, very often, the
brother who is called by God to open the eyes of the Protes-
tant people to the errors and idolatries of Romanism has
nothing to expect from many of them but unkind and ungen-
erous and utterly disappointing treatment.
After I had been, several times, so kindly invited by dif-
ferent Christian ministers of Halifax to address their congre-
gations, it was remarked that I had never been seen within
the walls of St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church, of which
Rev. Dr. Grant was pastor.
To the question several times asked me by elders of that
Church, why I had never addressed them, I invariably an-
swered: "Your good pastor possesses more historical and theo-
logical knowledge in his little finger than I have in my poor
brain about the errors of Romanism; he feels as I do, that he
does not want me to teach you anything on that subject.
He can do that himself better than anybody else."
They answered: "You may think and say what you please
about our minister, but the fact is that we have never heard a
291
Rebuked and Approved 295
word from his lips against Romanism. It is the very contrary.
Not only do we see him in company with the Bishop and priests
of Rome, but he is ready enough to show us that he is in
sympathy with that Church in many things.
"We would not admire him less cordially, if he were a little
more frank in dealing with Rome. Remember that we do
not think that our pastor is such a traitor as to try to lead us
into the sink of errors of Romanism. We only regret that he
is absolutely mute about the past and present errors of that
system. As Protestants we want, not only for ourselves,
but for our children also, to hear some warning words from
our pastor against the snares of Popery.
"Now and then we have the sad and shameful spectacle of
some of our Protestants in Halifax turning Romanists. This
would never occur if our ministers were more attentive to
warn us against the snares of those wily and implacable foes
of the Gospel. Would you accept an invitation to give us an
address in our church, if you were invited by our pastor?"
I answered, " I will accept such an invitation from your good
pastor with the utmost pleasure, for there is not a Protestant
minister in the whole of Canada for whose talents I have
greater admiration."
The result of this conversation was, that, later on, in 1876,
after the riot of Fort Massey Church, I had the honour to sit at
the tea table of Mr. Grant, previous to the address which he
had requested me to give, that same evening, on a subject of
my own choice, about Romanism. Those who are acquainted
with the gentleness of Dr. Grant need not be told that noth-
ing could surpass the courtesy with which he presented me to
his people before the address.
I took for my text the second chapter of the second epistle
to the Thessalonians, where St. Paul, speaking of the future
enemies against whom they would have to protect themselves,
mentioned, " that man of sin, that son of perdition, who op-
poseth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshiped; so that he as god sitteth in the temple
296 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of God, showing himself that he is God." (2 ThoBs. 2: '.i, 4.)
Among other things I said, were these:
"After having been twenty=five years a priest of the Church
of Rome, no doubt remains in my mind that that anti =
Christ, that man of sin, who sits in the temple of God, and
who does not only believe but makes the people believe that
he is above God, is the priest, the Bishop and the Pope of
Rome.
"Yes! Popery or Romanism is the embodiment, the per-
sonification of the power, the religion, of the church of anti=
Christ.
" Go where you please from one end to the other of this
terrestrial globe, and I ask you to show me any persons, who,
more than the Pope with his bishops and priests, persistently
and publicly say, before all the nations of the earth as well as
the angels of God, that they have such mighty jjower that the
eternal and almighty God, who created heaven and earth, is
absolutely powerless in their presence.
"Please pay attention to what I say here, and understand
that which I want you never to forget.
" As soon as a priest is ordained by the imposition of the
hands of his Bishop, he is to believe that he is more above
God than the heavens are above the earth; he is obliged to
believe that in his presence the Word of God and God Him-
self, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who with
a word of His lips has created the sun which was so bright
to=day, with that beautiful moon and those millions of stars
which are so bright over our heads to=night, does absolutely lose
His power in the presence of a priest. Yes, He must obey
the priest more submissively than the vilest slave has ever
obeyed his master. He must submit Himself to the will of
the priest more quickly, more absolutely, than the little dog
need obey you when you have tied a rope to his neck and
obliged him to follow you.
" I know you are amazed and horrified when you hear me
telling you these things. You are tempted to think and say
Rebuked and Approved 2,97
that I exaggerate. But please give a moment of attention, and
you will see that these are no exaggerations, but that I am
telling the simple but the most frightful truth you ever
heard.
" Look at these small cakes which I hold in my hands.
This small one is for the use of the people, and the large one
for the use of the priests.
" These cakes are made with a little wheat flour by the
servant girls of the priests or by the nuns, between two well=
heated irons. Every day, some of them, to the number of
ten, twenty or sometimes to the number of a hundred, ac-
cording to the number of communicants, are put by the
priest into a silver box, called ' cibarium,' and placed on the
altars where he performs, every day, a ceremony called the
mass.
" About the middle of that mass, taking that silver box in
his hands, he pronounces upon it the following words in
Latin, just as I will pronounce them in your presence, ' Hoc
est enim corpus meum.'
" Then he must believe and every one of his people must
believe that there is such a marvelous, such a divine power
given him by the Pope, that more quickly than lightning,
the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Son of
God and God Himself, has been forced by him to come down
into his hands — and change Himself into those wafers — and
change every one of those wafers into body, soul and divin-
ity. He must believe and make his people believe, that there
are no more wafers in his hands or in the silver box, but that
every wafer has become Christ, God and man, whom you
must accept, love and adore as your Saviour and your God.
" As soon as the priest has performed this wonderful mira-
cle, he lifts up this newly created god above his head, and
says to his people, 'Come and adore your god; who to save
you was made man and died on the cross.'
" And the whole people, falling on their knees, bring their
faces to the dust and adore the god whom their priest has
■298 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
just made before their eyes with that wafer baked by his ser-
vant girl between two well=heated irons.
" I was an lionest man when I was a priest, just as I hope
that all the priests who live in Halifax, to=day, are honest;
but I was cruelly deceived, as they are, by the devil.
" I made and adored that newly made god every morn-
ing of my life during the twenty=five years I was a priest, as
all the priests of Halifax made and adored their ridiculous,
execrable and contemptible idol, this very morning.
" I do not say these things that you may have any con-
tempt or bad feeling for the Roman Catholics. I do not give
you these awful details about their idolatrous worship that
you may say to each other when you go out of this temple,
after this address, 'How stupid and blind are those poor,
ignorant Roman Catholics.' No; our dear Saviour did not
come from heaven to teach us to despise our neighbours
— He came to teach us how to love and save them.
" The Roman Catholics are no more stupid than you are;
but they are in the dark, and it is your fault! Yes; Protes-
tants, it is your fault, it is your sin if your friends and
neighbours of the Church of Rome are in the dark regions of
Popery! You have the light and you keep it for yourselves.
You have the truth about those solemn mysteries of the
Gospel and your neighbours have it not! And what do you do
to give them the light and the truth? I ask it in the name
of the great God you adore: What have you done to show
the truth and to give the light to the Roman Catholics on these
great and solemn mysteries? If you have done anything, it is
so small that it is almost an insult to God.
" The Church of Rome would have been a dead thing long
ago, if you soldiers of the Gospel had fought it as you should
have done. Yes; the Roman Catholics would have accepted
the light long ago if you had done your duty towards them!
" You have forgotten that you are the soldiers of Christ,
enrolled under His sacred banner to silence and conquer His
enemies!
Rebuked and Approved 299
" Why has the great God of heaven granted you to con-
quer Canada if it were not that you might bring its people into
the ways of the Gospel?
"Have you done it? All the echoes of heaven and earth
answer: No!
" Do not speak of the difficulties which you have to encoun-
ter: it is neither British nor Christian to be frightened and
paralyzed by difficulties, when the great Captain of Salvation
calls you to conquer the French Canadian people to the Gospel.
" Were your heroic ancestors frightened when the Parlia-
ment and the King of England said, ' We must conquer
Canada?' No! From one end to the other of Great Britain
the heroic cry was heard: ' We must conquer Canada! '
" Some people said: ' But to conquer Canada we will have
to shed rivers of blood — we will have to expend millions
and millions of pounds.'
" Your heroic fathers answered: ' We must conquer Canada
at any cost — let the blood flow — let the millions of pounds go
— at any cost we must wrench Canada from the hands of our
foe, France.' And Canada was conquered!
" Be true soldiers of Christ, to-day, as your fathers were true
to their king and their country. Go and fight Rome as
British men know how to fight. Go to the conquest of
Canada with a British heart, a British intelligence, a British
pluck and a British liberality, and Romanism will melt and
disappear as the French colours had to fall and disappear at
the roaring of the British lion on the Plains of Abraham,
September thirteenth, 1759.
'* But it is not with carnal weapons that we must fight
Rome. It is not by hating or abusing the Roman Catholics
we shall convert them. The only weapons which will give us
the victory against Rome are the weapons of love which
Christ 'has brought from heaven to save the world.
"The first weapon which will break the doors of the New
Babylon and cause her strong walls to totter and fall into
dust is the prayer of our hearts.
300 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" ' Anything which you ask My Father in My name will be
granted,' said our adorable Saviour. One of the great sins
of tlie Protestants in Canada is that they do not pray as they
ought for the conversion of the poor idolaters whom the Pope
of Rome keeps enchained to the feet of his idols in Canada.
Oh! let the day come when every disciple of the Gospel,
every true servant of God, among you will raise his supplica-
ting hands to the Mercy Seat, and then the walls of the modern
Babylon will crumble, and on their ruins the angels of God
will sing, 'Praise the Lord, Babylon is fallen!'
" The second weapon is to send the Gospel of Christ into
every family, through faithful and intelligent Christians.
" There is an irresistible power in the Word of God. As
the dark hours of the night are changed into the bright hours
of the day when the rays of the bright sun come down from
from the skies, so the dark night of Popery will disappear,
whenever you persuade our honest but cruelly deceived
Roman Catholic countrymen to read the Word of God!
" The third infallible weapon to destroy Rome in Canada
is, to give good example.
" Let the day soon come when the Protestants in Canada
will everywhere give examples of a holy and Christian
life, and you will see how my dear Roman Catholic country-
men will soon break the heavy and ignominious yoke of
Popery.
" The eyes of the Roman Catholics are sharper than you
suspect. When they look at you, they too often see your
shortcomings. They see many who desecrate the holy day
which the Lord has put aside to serve and glorify Him in.
They see too often men who have a Christian name forget the
respect they owe to themselves and to their God in the infa-
mous saloons. They too often hear of the dishonesty in the
ranks and files of those who have a Christian name in your
midst.
"The result is that they say to each other: 'Why should
we leave our ranks in order to go among people who are ac
Rebuked and Approved 301
bad as we are.' Yes; the scandalous lives of too many Prot-
estants in Canada constitute a wall so high and so thick
that my poor Roman Catholic countrymen can neither go
over nor through it.
" But let every disciple of the Gospel in Canada be true to
Christ, and give the example of a holy life, and very soon the
Roman Catholics will see it not only to admire, but to follow
you. At the sight of your Christian life, my dear country-
men will say: 'How beautiful are thy tents, O Jacob, and
thy tabernacles, O Israel!'
" They will say to each other: ' Let us go into the midst of
that people, for surely the Lord is their shepherd.'
" They will come to you, brought by that irresistible attrac-
tion of your Christian virtues; and you will take them by the
hand to the feet of the Lamb who will make them pure with
His blood and free by His word. And, after having given up
the false Christs of the Pope to follow the true Christ of the
Gospel during the few days of their earthly pilgrimage, they
will go with you to the Eternal Kingdom, where, during the
whole eternity, we will bless our God for having so much
loved the world that He sent His eternal Son, Jesus, to save
the world."
My last word had hardly gone from my lips when the Rev.
Mr. Grant rose and addressing his people, said something to
this effect: "Now I understand why we almost constantly
hear of tumults and riots wherever the Rev. Mr. Chiniquy
gives his lectures. His language is by no means soothing or
conciliatory towards Roman Catholics. He has no right to
call them blind idolaters as he does. ... If I were a
Roman Catholic, after hearing him, I am not sure that I
iould meekly accept his teaching. I might even be glad if
;m' were silenced."
After a short tribute to my mission work in Montreal, Mr.
Grant sat down.
I thought my duty was to answer him. I rose and said, as
calmly as I could:
302 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" My dear sir, you are mistaken if you think that I shall
accept in silence the judgment you have just passed upon me.
I believe with my whole heart what I have said; and I have
not spoken in an unkindly spirit. Let me appeal to your
people who have just heard every word that fell from my
lips."
Then turning towards the multitude who had listened to
my address with breathless attention, I said: "Ladies and
gentlemen, after listening to my address with such a kind
attention, you have just heard the sentence passed upon me
by your pastor. If you think that I deserve that public rebuke
and that want of confidence, I will accept it as well merited.
I want you all to give me your mind just as it is before God.
Please let those of you who are of the same mind as your
pastor lift up your hands, and, if you do it, I will confess
guilty and ask pardon for what I have said. Please let
those of you who are approving the censure which I have
received in your presence lift up your hands."
But, though I requested that great gathering twice to
lift up their hands in approbation of their pastor's views,
not a single hand was raised:
Then I said: " Ladies and gentlemen, I appeal again to
your Christian consciences and intelligences to know what
you think of my address.
"Let those of you who disapprove the unfavourable sen-
timents uttered by your pastor raise their hands."
And all the hands, without exception, were raised. I then
turned towards the Rev. Mr. Grant, and told him, " My dear
sir, there is the sentence of your people, and I bless God for
it. Please let us sing the Doxology: 'Praise God.'
And the Doxology "Praise God" was sung by the angels
of God, I hope, as well as by that intelligent and noble people.
CHAPTER XXIX
On My Way to Australia, California, Oregon and Washington
Territory
My sixty=nine years of age, with the incessant labours of the
last four years in Montreal, had so much impaired my lungs,
that my physicians advised a voyage on the Pacific Ocean as
the only remedy which could give me a chance of working
a few more years in spreading the Gospel among my coun-
trymen. My noble Presbyterian Church, in 1878, granted
me a whole year of rest. Without losing any time I crossed
the vast plains of Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah,
Nevada and California to breathe the bracing atmosphere of
the Pacific Ocean.
I will leave to others to speak of the innumerable marvels
which the hands of God have sown, and which we meet at
every step from the Mississippi river, so well called by the
Indians the "Father of Great Waters," to San Francisco,
that so young but already so mighty Queen of the West. It
would require a large volume to give the history and descrip-
tion of that gigantic railway which encircles the whole of the
United States and binds the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific
with steel chains; and it would take a more eloquent pen
than mine to tell what the heart feels when the thundering
iron horse, as rapid and daring as the eagle, carries us up to
the very top of the Rocky Mountains, nearly 9,000 feet above
the sea. How pure is the air we breathe, how beautiful are
the blue skies, how everything takes new, strange, gigantic
forms at that elevation! It is when soaring from the top of
one of those giant mountains to the top of a still more gigantic
one that man feels and realizes that he is created in the image
of God — that the Almighty has breathed upon him the breath
303
304 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of an intelligence before which mountains and seas, winds
and storms, light and lightning, the whole earth, have to
humble and submit themselves as to their legitimate king.
Ah! why is it that that mighty king so often forgets that he
has himself an Almighty, Eternal King and Master to love
and serve?
No M^ords will ever give an idea of the magnificent spectacle
of the mountains, whose tops are constantly covered with ice
and snow, when they present their brow to the sun. The per-
fect peace and calm which surround them, the millions of
glittering diamonds which cover their white robes, give more
the idea of an angel of heaven, adoring his Creator and ex-
tending his wings over the earth to bless and protect it, than
a cold and lifeless mountain. No: this cannot be a heap of
brute stones. What magnificence is in that white satin man-
tle! What a grand, sublime, mighty being is there before me
at the horizon! How reverently its noble brow looks to
heaven above the highest clouds! Is not this one of the
Seraphims whose twofold duties are to protect the earth and
sing the eternal Alleluia? Do you not hear his voice: "Come
and see the works of God. Who is like our God? Let the
nations praise Him. By His strength He setteth the moun-
tains, being girt with power"?
But suddenly dark clouds rise behind the mountain; and,
quicker than I can say it, the magnificent vision has disap-
peared, to be replaced by the most terrific one which the eyes
can see. The earth trembles under our feet; our ears are
deafened by peals of thunder such as we never heard; our
eyes are dazzled and blinded by such lightnings as we never
saw. It seems that the doors of hell are just opened, and all
its armies hurled against the seraph whose silver wings were
spread over the world. For more than half an hour we are
the witness of a battle without mercy of all the elements
against the mountain. Surely its flanks will be torn and
blackened under the blows of the infernal artillery; the
white snow will drift away, scatter and disappear before the
On My Way to Australia 305
hurricane; the mountain will melt under the hail of brim-
stone and those torrents of fire which flow from the clouds,
With a breathless attention, throut^h the closed windows of
the cars, we contemplate that sublime and terrible conflict.
But suddenly the noble mountain shows, again, its gigantic
head above the dark clouds. It has conquered. The storm=
clouds are torn and broken into fragments; they roll at the
feet of their conqueror, to disappear in the plain below. The
white robe looks whiter than ever, and the rays of the sun
come as messengers of God to place on the conqueror's head
a diadem of gold, silver and precious pearls. And if your
soul has to pass through great tribulations — if you see dark
clouds at your horizon— even if you find yourself struck by
the hurricane, my Christian friend, you will surely hear a
sweet voice whispering into your ear, " Fear not, I am with
thee. In the world ye shall have tribulations; but I have
overcome the world. Abide in Me, and I will abide in you
to be your strength and your joy and your life eternal."
I wish I had time and ability enough to describe the
wonderful walls, the high, strong towers, the marvelous castles
and the impregnable citadels — the works of the hands of
God — whose ruins are scattered all over those wonderful
Rocky Mountains. I would also like to say a word about that
marvel of marvels, " The Devil's Slide," through which surely
his Satanic majesty alone can pass without losing a liberal
portion of his apparel; and the "Hell Gates," and Col-
fax Mountains, which no traveler can see without losing his
breath. But I must hurry on, pass around Salt Lake, cross
the Mormon cities and villages — that dark spot of American
civilization — without saying a word, in order to take a
moment of rest at San Francisco, so well called the " Golden
City."
But here, again, I am at a loss what to say. Shall I speak
of its magnificent banks, some of them built of Chinese gran-
ite, imported from the "Flowery Land"? Shall I describe
the marvels of the " Safe Deposite Block," with its 4,600 steel
3o6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
safes, built at the cost of more than two millions? Shall I
expose to the profane eyes of my readers the numberless gold
and silver vases, the gold and silver bars, the untold treas-
ures, concealed behind the wall of that steel palace? Shall I
lead you, by the hand, through the numberless chambers of
that multitude of princely mansions, called hotels, one of
which, "The Palace Hotel," is almost a whole city by
itself ?
Those giant works of a giant people must be seen to be
well understood. I will not, either, speak of the material
prosperity, or rather, the untold miseries, which the incalcu-
lable treasures of gold and silver, dug out from the mines of
this marvelous country, have produced. But I will not con-
ceal my disappointment and sadness, when, lifting up the
deceitful gold curtain which the hand of man had spread over
everything here, I tried to find how many of my fellow^men
were really happy behind the shadow of those marble and
gilded walls.
Ah ! do not come to San Francisco if you want to see cheer-
ful faces and hear hearty laughs. You will, indeed, be more
lucky than I am, if you can find many in those multitudes
you meet in the streets, on the public squares, or in the
hotels, who look cheerful and happy. The deep furrows of
anxiety are traced on every brow; the sure indications of
trouble, if not of despair, are painted in almost every eye;
and the tortures of a broken heart have sealed and discoloured
almost every lip. Hour after hour I stood at the corner of
the most thronged streets, or the most frequented public
squares, to study that page of this wonderful people's
history; and I could hardly refrain from tears, when, alone
in my closet, in the presence of God, I recalled in my mind
the infallible marks of human misery and deep despair I had
seen on the faces of those beings whom God had created to
be happy, and for whom Christ died that they might forever
live with Him. Oh! how few of those multitudes I met
ever listened to the dear Saviour's voice: " Come unto Me, all
On My Way to Australia 307
ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Nowhere,
as here, have I seen, as written with letters of tears and blood
on so many men's brows: "The love of riches is the source
of every evil." There is probably not a single spot in this
world where so many have suddenly passed from a state of
comparative poverty to the height of fortune; and, in conse-
quence, there is not a spot where all are so anxiously bent on
the fortune's wheel with the hope of soon reaching its top.
But, alas! how many, instead of rising to the summit of for-
tune, roll down, every day, to the bottomless abyss of the
most hopeless misery. And among the few lucky ones, who
have so suddenly become millionaires, how many, every day,
see their treasures melt, fade away, and disappear almost as
suddenly as they came.
When, in 1852, it became evident that my plan of forming
a colony of French Canadian Catholics on the fertile plains
of Illinois was to be a success, D'Arcy McGree, then editor of
the " Freeman's Journal," the official paper of the R. C.
Bishop of New York, wrote me to know my views; and he
immediately determined to put himself at the head of a simi-
lar enterprise in favour of the Irish Roman Catholics. He
published several able articles to show that the Irish people,
with few exceptions, were demoralized, degraded and kept
poor around their groggeries, and how they would thrive and
become respectable and rich, if they could be induced to ex-
change their city grogshops and low saloons for the fertile
lands of the West. Through his influence a large assembly,
principally composed of priests, to which I was invited, met
at Buffalo in the spring of 1858. But what was his disap-
pointment, when he saw that the greater part of those priests
were sent by the Bishops of the United States to oppose and
defeat his plans. He vainly spoke with the most burning
eloquence for the support of his pet scheme. The majority
coldly answered him: " We are determined, like you, to take
possession of the United States and rule them; but we can-
not do that except by acting secretly, and making use of the
3o8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
utmost wisdom. If our plans are known they will surely be
defeated. What does a skilful general do when he wants to
conc^uer a country? Does he scatter his soldiers over the
farm lands and spend their time and energies in plowing the
field and sowing the grain? No; he keeps them well united
around his banners, and marches at their head to the con-
quest of their strongholds —the rich and powerful cities.
The farming countries then submit and become the price of
the victory, without moving a finger to subdue them. So it
is for us. Silently and patiently we must mass our Irish
Roman Catholics in the great cities of the United States;
remembering that the vote of our poor journeyman, even
though he be covered with rags, has as much weight in the
scale of power as the millionaire Astor, and that, if we have
two votes against his one, he will become as powerless as an
oyster. Let us, then, multiply our votes; let us call our poor
but faithful Irish Catholics from every corner of the world,
and gather them in the very hearts of those proud citadels
which the Yankees are so rapidly building under the names
of Washington, New York. Chicago, Buffalo, Albany, Troy,
etc. Under the shadow of these great cities, the Americans
consider themselves as a giant and unconquerable race. They
look upon the Irish Roman Catholics with the utmost con-
tempt, as only fit to dig their canals, sweep their streets, and
work in their kitchens. Let no one awake those sleeping lions
to=day; let us pray God that they may sleep and dream their
sweet dreams a few years more. How sad will be their
awakening, when, with our out=numbering votes, we will turn
them all, forever, from every position of honour, power and
profit. What will those hypocritical sons and daughters of
the fanatical Pilgrim Fathers say, when not a single judge, not
a single teacher, not even a single policeman, will be elected, if
he is not a devoted Irish Catholic? What will those so callecl
giants think and say of their matchless shrewdness and abil-
ity, when not a single senator or member of Congress will be
chosen if he is not submitted to our Holy Father the Pope?
On My Way to Australia 309
What a sad figure those Protestant Yankees will cut, when we
will not only elect the President, but fill and command the
armies, man the navy, and keep in our hands the keys of the
public treasuries! It will then be time for our faithful Irish
people to give up their grogshops in order to become the
judges and governors of the land. Then our poor and hum-
ble mechanics will leave their damp ditches and canals, to
rule the cities in all their departments — from the stately man-
sions of mayor to the more humble, though not less noble
position of schoolteacher.
"Then, yes, then we will rule the United States, and lay
them at the feet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, that he may
put an end to their godless system of education and sweep
away those impious laws of liberty of conscience which are
an insult to God and man."
Poor D'Arcy McGee was left almost alone when the votes
were given. From that time the Catholic priests, with the most
admirable ability, have gathered their Irish legions into the
great cities of the United States, and the Americans must be
very blind indeed if they do not see that the day is very near
when the Jesuits will rule their cities, from the magnificent
White House of Washington to the humblest civil and mili-
tary department of this vast Republic.
They are already the masters of New York, Baltimore, Chi-
cago, St. Paul, Milwaukee, St. Louis, New Orleans, Cincin-
nati, San Francisco.
Yes, San Francisco, the rich, the beautiful, the great Queen
of the West, is in the hands of the Jesuits!
From the very first days of the discovery of the gold mines
of California the Jesuits got the hope of becoming masters of
those inexhaustible treasuries, and they laid their plans with
the most admirable ability to succeed.
They saw, at first, that the immense majority of the lucky
miners, of every creed and nation, were going back home as
soon as they had enough to secure an honourable comfort to
their families. It became evident that, of those multitudes
3IO Forty Years in the Church of Christ
which the thirst of gold had brought from every country of
Europe and America and even Asia, not one in fifty would
fix his home in San Francisco and become her citizen. The
Jesuits saw at a glance, then, that if they could persuade the
Irish Catholics to remain and settle, they would soon be the
masters and the rulers of that gold city whose future was so
bright and so great. And that scheme, worked day and night
with the utmost perseverance and wisdom, has been crowned
with perfect success.
When, with few exceptions, the lucky Frenchman, who had
become wealthy, was going back to his " Belle France," with
a cheerful heart, and when the intelligent German, the indus-
trious Scotchman, the shrewd New York and New England
diggers, or the honest Canadian, suddenly made rich, were
gladly bidding an eternal farewell to San Francisco to go and
live happily in the dear old home, the Irish Catholics were
taught to consider San Francisco as their promised land.
The consequence is that where you find only a few Ameri-
can, German, Scotch, or English millionaires in San Francisco,
you find more than fifty Irish Catholic millionaires in that city.
The richest bank of San Francisco, Nevada Bank, is in their
hands, and so are all the street railways. The principal of-
fices of the city are filled with Irish Roman Catholics; al-
most all of the police is composed of the same class, as well
as the volunteer military associations. Their compact unity
in the hands of the Jesuits, with their enormous wealth, makes
them almost the supreme masters of the mines of California
and Nevada.
When one knows the absolute and abject submission of the
Irish Roman Catholics, rich or poor, to their priest — how the
mind, the soul, the will, the conscience, are firmly and ir-
revocably tied to the feet of their priests — he can easily under-
stand that the Jesuits of California form one of the richest
and most powerful corporations the world has ever seen.
It is known by every one there that those fifty Irish Cath-
olic millionaires, with their myriads of employees, are,
On My Way to Australia 311
through their wives, and by themselves, continually at the
feet of the Jesuits, who, here, more than in any other place,
really swim in a golden sea.
Nobody, if he is not a Koman Catholic, or one of those so-
called Protestants who give their daughters and their sons to
the nuns and the Jesuits to be educated, has much hope
of having a lucrative or honourable position in San Fran-
cisco.
Entirely given to quench their thirst for gold, the Ameri-
cans of San Fransisco, with few exceptions, do not pay any at-
tention to the dark cloud which is rising at the horizon of
their country. Though it is visible that that cloud is filled
with rivers of blood and tears, they let the cloud grow and
rise without even caring how they shall escape from the im-
pending hurricane.
It does not take a long residence in San Francisco to see
that the Jesuits have chosen this city for their citadel on
this continent. Their immense treasures give them a power
which may be called irresistible, in a country where gold is
everything.
It is to San Francisco that you must come to have an idea
of the number of secret and powerful organizations with
which the Church of Rome prepares herself for the impend-
ing conflict, through which she hopes to destroy the system
of education and every vestige of human rights and liberties
in the United States, as she has repeatedly and bravely
boasted in her most popular organs. I might give hundreds
of those extracts; but, to be brief, I will give only two:
"The Catholic Church numbers one4hird of the American
people, and if its membership increases in the next thirty
years as it has for the thirty past, in 1900 Rome will have a
majority, and be bound to take this country and keep it.
There is; ere long, to be a state religion in this country, and
that state religion is to be Roman Catholic.
"The Roman Catholic is to wield his vote for the purpose
of securing Catholic ascendancy in this country.
312 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" All legislatures must be governed by the will of God, un-
erringly indicated by the Pope.
" Education must by conducted by Catholic authorities;
and under education the opinions of the individual and the
utterances of the press are included. Many opinions are to
be punished by the secular arm, under the autlun-ity of the
Church, even to war and bloodshed." — Catholic World, July,
1870.
" While the state has rights, she has them only in virtue
and by permission of the superior authority; and that au-
thority can only be expressed through the Church.
"Protestantism of every form has not and never can have
any right where Catholicity has triumphed; and, therefore,
we lose the breath we expend in declaiming against bigotry
and intolerance, and in favour of religious liberty or the right
of any man to be of any religion as best pleases him." — Cath-
olic Review, July, 1870.
In order to more easily drill the Roman Catholics, and
prepare them for the impending conflict, the Jesuits have
organized them into a great number of secret societies, the
principal of which are:
Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Irish American Society.
Knights of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick's Cadets.
St. Patrick's Mutual Alliance.
Apostles of Liberty.
Benevolent Sons of the Emerald Isle.
Knights of St. Peter.
Knights of the Red Branch.
Knights of Columbkill.
Almost all these secret associations are military ones.
They have their headquarters in San Francisco, but their
rank and file are scattered all over the United States. They
number 700,000 soldiers who, under the name of U. S. A.
Volunteer Militia, are officered by the most skilled generals
On My Way to Australia 313
and officers of the Republic. For it is a fact, to which the
Protestant Americans do not sufficiently pay attention, that
the Jesuits have been shrewd enough to have a vast ma-
jority of Roman Catholic generals and officers to command
the armies and man the navy of the United States.
Who will be able to stand against a power supported by
700,000 soldiers, well drilled, armed with the best modern
arms, officered by the most skilful military men of the
country, and whose treasurers will not only have the keys of
the public treasuries of this vast Republic, but who will be,
in great part, the masters of the untold millions dug out in
the mountains of California and Nevada?
That you may know the Christian feelings of the Jesuits
of San Francisco towards Protestant England, I give you
here an extract of the address of Rev. Father Rooney on
St. Patrick's Day:
" Irish Catholics, trust your priests, as you ever have, as a
nation; and when the propitious moment comes to settle the
accounts of brutal old England, the murderer of your priests
and forefathers, the murderous despoiler of your sanctuaries,
the pilferer of your possessions and the starver of your
people, those priests will bless the swords that you use, that
it may cut more keenly; the bullet, that it may perforate
more deeply; your hands, that they may wield the weapon
more powerfully; and your nerves, that you may the more
steadily avenge your injured mother and your noble ances-
tors. Never trust an enemy that has deceived us so often as
England, and violated every treaty made with us. You may
expect nothing from her except through the cannon's roar,
the whizzing bullets, and the flashing scimitar. But let us
be sure that we are ready and well prepared for the fray."
Though the Jesuits rule supremely in San Francisco, and
though the deleterious atmosphere of Romanism, which is
felt everywhere, coupled with that thirst for gold which
rages as a plague in almost every stage of society, are uni-
versally visible, the Lord has kept there for Himself many
314 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
faithful servants, and the great Captain of our salvation
counts several intrepid soldiers of the Gospel around His
banner. The Rev. Messrs. Hemphill, Fells, Taylor, Verrue,
Stone, Guard, etc., are working with faithfulness in this
deserted Gospel field, and they are gathering very precious
fruits of their labours. Two missions have been established
for the conversion of the Chinese, which God has already
blessed by the conversion of more than one hundred souls.
Some of those converts have already gone to China to preach
the Gospel to their countrymen. Let us pray and hope
that among those converts there will be a Paul whose voice
will shake and pull down the old idols of that remarkable
people. I have also found in San Francisco and Oakland a
good number of my dear countrymen who have given up the
errors of Rome to accept the Gospel of Christ. Three of
them are near relatives of the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Canada. By the great kindness of the Rev. Mr. Verrue, I
have been able to give two addresses in French to the inter-
esting congregation of French speaking people which his
admirable zeal has gathered. Rev. Mr. Verrue himself is a
convert from Romanism, and his labours have been much
blessed here.
But if San Francisco presents a sad spectacle to the eyes
of the Christian, it is not so in Portland, the most thriving
city of Oregon, through which I had to pass on my way to
the prairies of Washington Territory. I spent there what
I can call one of the most delightful Sabbaths of my life.
After a voyage of three days from San Francisco on the
Pacific Ocean, and one day on the magnificent river Co-
lumbia, I arrived in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, the tenth
of August. It was late in the afternoon, and the Presbyte-
rian pastor, the amiable, zealous and learned Mr. Lindsay,
being absent, my heart was a little heavy and my mind
cloudy, for I knew nobody in that city. But when the
steamer was just moored to the wharf, and as I was inquiring
to know the name of the most respectable hotel, I saw a gen-
On My Way to Australia 315
tleman who was very actively engaged in looking for some
one he wanted to meet. I said to myself: " Oh, if my merci-
ful God had heard my feeble prayers, and sent that gentle-
man, whose face looks so kind, to be my guardian angel, and
take me by the hand in this strange city ! "
Just then I heard his voice addressing some one of the
crowd of passengers, saying: " Is not Father Chiniquy here?"
" Yes, sir," I answered; " here I am."
" Well, please come this way," replied with a smile, my
new, kind friend.
A moment after I was by his side, in a beautiful carriage,
drawn by two splendid horses, going to his mansion, about a
mile up town. On the way I learned that the name of this
noble hearted Christian brother was William Wadham, and
when I entered his house it was easy to see that he was one
of the most wealthy merchants of the State of Oregon. After
"he had introduced me to his wife, who is a descendant of
the Pilgrim Fathers whom God has chosen as the funda-
mental stones of this great Republic, he introduced me to
his mother=in4aw, Mrs. Skinner, who has this last ten years
lost the use of her eyes, but whose spiritual eyes see day and
night the bright lights which flow from the bleeding wounds
of the Lamb. I felt so overwhelmed by the floods of mercies
which my heavenly Father was pouring upon His unworthy
child that I asked that Christian family to kneel with me
and bless Him. But the words were half suffocated in the
tears of joy and gratitude which I felt for having been taken
into such Christian and good quarters.
The next day was a Sabbath. I accepted the privilege of
speaking of the mercies of God towards us poor perishing
sinners. But what I want to say is what I have seen of the
manner in which our Christian brother, William Wadham,
spends his Sabbaths.
After his breakfast, from eight to nine, he reads to his ven-
erable mother'in4aw some of the most interesting parts of
the Scriptures, with the most edifying commentaries, and
3i6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
they talk together about the great truths of Christianity as
I never heard any one talk. Every word they exchange to-
gether about the love of Christ is like burning coals
brought by the angels of God from the altar which is before
the throne.
At ten Mr. Wadham goes to prepare everything in the church
for the Sabbath=school and the choir; for the Sabbath-school
is his favourite work, and he is the leader of the choir. But
we must see his cheerful face and the beam of joy which illu-
minates his eyes when he is going to and fro, almost running
up and down the stairs, in order that everything may be in
good order and ready for the hour of worship. "I prefer one
hour passed in Thy house, O Lord, to a thousand passed in
the tents of sinners." During the singing at the Divine
service, you constantly hear his beautiful voice, and you feel
that his heart is in it. The public morning service is hardly
finished, when you see him rushing to the large basement,
crowded by the young people of every age and sex, for the
Sabbath=scliool. It is there that he feels at home, surrounded
by the teachers and pupils of the Sabbath = school. With
what exquisite politeness and piety he addresses that multi-
tude! With what Christian enthusiasm he leads the hymns
and mixes his voice with the voices of his hundred pupils,
old and young, to praise the Lord!
It seems as if that man had never done anything but that
in his whole life. He is, there, in his element, as the eagle
who soars on his wings to the sky.
After the Sabbath school he hurries home to take a hasty
dinner with his family. But the meal is hardly finished,
when his carriage is at the door for a new excursion.
"Have you any objection to coming with me, Father
Chiniquy?" said he in his smiling way of talking.
" Where are you going?" I asked.
" Fishing in the streets and lanes," he answered.
"Yes, please take me with you; I am a fisherman also," I
replied.
On My Way to Australia 317
And quickly the splendid horses take us to the door of the
Young Men's Christian Association.
" Please," said he, " go to the other side of the street; you
will be in the shade; the sun is too hot here. And, to obey him,
I crossed the street, not understanding what would come next.
But I had not waited there two minutes in the shade, when
I saw coming over after me twenty or thirty young gentle-
men and ladies, who surrounded him. After he had saluted
and welcomed them in his unique and amiable way, he drew
from his coat one of the Moody and Sankey hymn==books, and
started, with his powerful and melodious voice: " Rock of
Ages, cleft for me," etc., which the others sang with him
with a power and effect that I had never witnessed before.
You may imagine the magical power of such singing in
the open street of a large and thriving city, crowded with
strangers from every country, not only from America, but
from Asia and Europe. Nothing could be more amusing
and pleasing to me than to see the young and the old, the
poor and the rich, the loafer and the half=drunken man, with
the most pious ladies and gentlemen, running from every
side to hear the beautiful concert in the street. Two hymns
had not been sung before that street was literally filled with
people drawn, some from curiosity, some by the mere exam-
ple of others, some to take part in the songs and unite them-
selves with the choir.
After Mr. Wadham had sung half an hour at the head
of that selected choir, which had more than doubled dur-
ing that time, he stopped, and said: "Now, my friends, we
have sung the praises of our God, let us go upstairs and hear
what He has to say to every one of us. Oh ! do come and
spend a few moments with us in meditation and prayer."
There is no need to say that five minutes later the large
hall of the Young Men's Christian Association was filled to
its utmost capacity by the multitude whom the Lord had
brought there, from every corner of the globe, to speak to
them words of love, peace and mercy.
3i8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
And who was there again to preside over that new meeting
and lead the choir? Mr. Wndham. But this time his face
was more than ever beaming with joy, and his voice had a
power and a melody which seemed to me superhuman.
That meeting, where a dozen short and very touching ad-
dresses were given, generally by new converts, lasted one
hour, and was the most interesting one I ever attended.
Among the speakers we heard three young sailors who had
recently found their Saviour, and whose words fell on us with
a power which verj' few can forget. Oh! who could refrain
their tears of joy, when we heard one of those young British
sailors telling us that the whole crew of their magnificent
ship, with their captain, had lately found the Saviour; how
they had asked Him to tarry with them, and how, since. He
had been their most precious treasure, their strength and
their joy. I cannot sufficiently express to you my joy when
I saw several of our dear French Canadian converts from
Rome in that crowd of redeemed souls! One of those French
Canadian converts, an old traveler of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany, a well=educated man, had been, during several years of
his life, the most infamous and public scandal of Portland
— a drunkard, a blasphemer, an atheist. He was looked upon
as an incarnate demon, the terror of the Christians, the pillar
and strong fortress of all the wicked doers of the country.
But one day some Christian ladies said to each other:
" Should we not do something for the conversion of this sin-
ner? or shall we let him continue to spread the pest of his
impiety and scandal without an efiPort to save him? Let us
go and pay him a visit."
A few hours later, half a dozen of the most respectable
ladies of the city knocked at his door.
" Walk in, ladies, walk in," said the notorious man, " what
is it you wish, I am at your service?'
" We come to see you, and pray with you, my dear sir,"
answered one of the visiting angels.
"Pray with me! Pray with me! Ah! ah! ah! You are
On My Way to Australia 319
mistaken, my good ladies. Here we don't pray, but we
drink and curse and lead a jovial life; please go and pray
with my neighbour."
" But we will pray here, and sing the praises of the Lord
with you, my friend," sweetly answered one of the daughters
of Christ. "You are too much of a gentleman to insult
ladies in your own house, and turn them out."
And the ladies, on their knees, with their faces and hands
raised to God, and burning tears flowing down their cheeks,
made such prayers as Christian ladies only can send to the
Mercy Seat.
The desperate sinner tried at first to make some jokes with
some of his companions of debauch. He turned the ladies
into ridicule, and laughed at them, in drinking to their
their health.
But nothing could stop the angels of mercy, who were on
their knees, from sending the arrows of burning Christian love
to the heart of the guilty man through their ardent suppli-
cations to the seat of mercy. Little by little, the crowd of
drinkers left, one after another, and our prodigal son remained
alone in the midst of that choir of seraphims who had taken
possession of his house.
When alone with these ladies, whose prayers and sublime
hymns were filling his rooms, he tried in vain to shut his
ears, in order not to hear: but his ears were opened, and so
widely that floods of new light were flowing through them
on the hardened heart and the guilty soul.
" Is it possible," said he to himself, "that there is a God;
that He has seen all my crimes and that He will sooner or
later call me to account for them? But is it possible, also,
that that God sends to me these praying ladies to call me to
repent, and will forgive me?"
With these thoughts in his mind, he leaves the ladies and
rushes to another room. He shuts the door, and, abso-
lutely beside himself, he falls on his knees, and, not daring
to raise his eyes to God, but prostrating his face to the floor,
320 P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
he cries: "Oh! my God! my God! If Thou art here to hear
my cries, have mercy upon me. If Thou canst forgive such a
sinner, forgive me. If Thou canst save me. oh do save me.
I come to Thee."
He had no sooner finished talking these few words, than
his heart burst. Torrents of tears rolled on his cheeks. A
new name had been written in the book of life, and the angels
of God were once more rejoicing in heaven over the conver-
sion of a sinner.
But let us come back to our dear Christian brother
Wadhfim and follow him the rest of his Sabbath day.
The meeting in the Y, M. C. A. rooms ended at 4 p. m.
Then, turning himself towards me, he said again, with a
smile, " Would you be so kind as to accompany me in my
visits to our poor, dear sick people?" "With pleasure," I
answered.
And on we went through the city, drawn, again, by the
splendid horses, in his beautiful carriage.
By the singular providence of God, the first poor sick
man whom we visited was from Montreal, a very dear friend
of mine, an Orangeman, who had been wounded when fighting
hard one evening to prevent the Roman Catholics from killing
me. He was then lying on a bed of suffering; but that bed,
with the rest of the house, was a model of neatness. You may
imagine his joy and mine, when we met together, there, so far
from Canada. On his right hand was his Bible and at his
left the Weekly New York Witness, published by a venerable
Christian.
After spending an hour in that way, exhorting the
sick and dying to repentance, and praying with them, we had
to come home to take our tea at about six. But this was
hardly finished, when my Christian host said, with one of his
unique smiles, "I hope you M'ill not rebuke me if I ask you
to accompany me to another meeting, where many like to
prepare themselves for the evening service by praying and
singing. As you will give us the evening address at 7:30,
On My Way to Australia 321
you will be on the spot and join with us in these preparatory
exercises."
I went again with him to this last gathering of Christian
men and women, where, for a whole hour, I saw and
heard things that filled my heart with joy. Then I gave
my address to one of the most crowded and intelligent au-
diences before which it has been my privilege to speak of the
mercies of God. During the evening service it was still the
magnificent voice of our devoted Christian brother which led
the choir. It was nearly ten at night when we were back
home. I was in fear lest he should look broken down and
exhausted after such a day of work. But he never looked so
happy and cheerful as at the end of such superhuman labour.
He asked me to help him to thank God for His mercies
towards us during that day.
Oh! when will the day come when, in every city of the
United States and Canada, the rich and the wealthy will put
themselves at the service of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ as completely as that Mr. Wadham.
In 1858, not long after the greatest part of my colony of
Illinois had given up the errors of Popery, I heard that one
of our most respected families was to leave Kankakee for the
coasts of the Pacific, in the state of Oregon. I did all that I
could to dissuade them, but in vain. In those days there were
no railways to cross the plains; there was no other way but
to travel nearly 3,000 miles; a journey which generally occu-
pied six months, I put before the eyes of my friend (his
name was Joseph Goyette) the dangers of every kind for
himself, his wife and young children, not only from the
fatigue, but from attacks of wild Indians who were constantly
lying in wait for the emigrants, to plunder and kill them. I
showed him that he was not only exposing his life, but that
he was ruining himself by that long and costly journey. He
listened to my observations with a respectful and breathless
attention, and answered me: "Mr. Chiniquy, you are right
when you say that I expose my life and the very existence of
322 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
my family; you are also correct when you say that the ex-
pense of crossing that immense territory will ruin mo; but
God knows the motives which prompt me to leave this place
and go so far away from you, and I hope He will jirotect
me. I will tell you those motives: so long that you were
faithful to your oaths, and a good priest of Rome, you
know I was among your most devoted friends, and noth-
ing was more pleasing to me than your presence in my
house. I liked your company, and I was among the most
punctual, with my family, to attend your church; but now
you are an apostate. I know very well that it is your inten-
tion to make us all Protestants. My family is already shaken.
I feel myself unable to answer your sophisms and resist your
efforts. I see only one way of escape from your perverse influ-
ence and example. It is to put such a distance between you and
me that I shall not hear any more of you. When there will
be the whole continent between us, I shall have nothing to
fear from your proselytizing efforts. If I lose my fortune, I
shall save my faith. If I have to die on the plains of the
West, God, who knows why I go there, will give me and my
family a better life."
Though my heart was broken at the deplorable illusions of
that dear friend, I could not but admire his noble sentiments.
I left him but day and night I prayed God for him and his
family. It seemed that they had become even dearer to me
after that conversation. Two or three days before his leaving
I paid him a last visit I brought with me a Bible (the
Roman Catholic edition, of Sacy), and presented it to him,
saying: "My dear Goyette, please accept from me this Bible
as a last token of our long friendship. It is a Roman Catholic
Bible; you are allowed to read it by your Church." Looking
at me, with visible marks of indignation, he answered: " It is
because you have too much read that dangerous book that
you are lost to=day. I will never read it; you may keep it."
These words struck me as if they had been a two-edged
sword. I fell on my knees at the feet of my unfortunate
On My Way to Australia 323
friend, and with tears trickling down my cheeks, I said:
" My dear Goyette, for God's sake, do not refuse such a gift.
It is the very testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not re-
ject it." By the great mercy of God, my friend, with a trem-
bling hand, accepted the gift, and in pressing our hands for the
last time, he mingled his tears with mine. One or two days
later, he left Kankakee for Oregon; and for many years I
heard nothing of him, except that on the way he was at-
tacked by Indians, and that his horses and waggons, with his
furniture, had been stolen by the merciless savages. But
though I heard no news from him, I never passed a day with^
out sending my humble but ardent supplications to the
Mercy Seat for that so interesting family.
How can I tell you my joy, when twelve years later, I re-
ceived a letter from Mrs. Goyette saying: " Help us to bless
the Lord for His great mercies towards my husband and my
family. We have read the precious Bible you gave us before
we left Kankakee, and through that reading, the saving light
as it is in Jesus has come to us. We have detected the
abominable errors of the Church of Rome, and we have given
them up. It is no more to the feet of the priests or the idols
of the Pope that we shall go to be saved, but it is to the feet
of Jesus. Not only my family have given up the errors of
Popery, through that Bible, but a great number of French
Canadians who are settled around us are shaken. They say
that if you would come and visit uc they would also accept
the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only rule and guide of their
lives. Can you not come yourself, or send us a missionary?
for we are here like sheep without a shepherd."
I have no words to tell you of my joy at the reception of
such glorious news. In my answer I promised a visit, if in
my power; either to go and visit them myself or send them
one of "our missionaries; but insurmountable obstacles had
constantly made the accomplishment of my desire impos-
sible.
Year after year I had to postpone my so desired visit, till
324 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the doctor told me that the best, if not the only, way of reno-
vating the strength of my exhausted lungs was to make a long
voyage on the Pacific Ocean. One of the principal reasons
which determined to turn my steps towards the Pacific Ocean
was that it might give me a chance to visit that family, with
the numerous neophytes they were preparing to follow Christ.
When I was in San Francisco I learned that I had only to
travel north 800 miles to reach the settlement of the Goyette
family, and that five or six days navigation, on one of the
splendid steamers of the Pacific, would land me near the place
where they had gone with the hope that they would never
hear any more of the apostate Chiniquy, and that they would
be forever out of the reach of his pernicious influence. No!
you will never have any idea of their joy and mine, when I
entered their happy home and knelt with them to thank and
bless God for the great things He had done in their midst.
I spent thirteen days among those dear countrymen, going,
day after day, from house to house, to carry the good tidings of
salvation; and I do not exaggerate, when I tell you that these
days must be put among the happiest of my life. As the roads
were very bad in those new regions, I had to walk the greater
part of the time. But to walk through those forests of giant
pine-trees, measuring more than twenty=five feet in diame-
ter, and whose gum filled the air with such a perfume that
one stops at every minute to enjoy and express his admira-
tion, is the most pleasant one can imagine. Several times,
the road bringing me along the shores of the Cowlitz river, I
had only to throw my line for a moment into the water to
catch some excellent trout, which were a welcome offering to
the families I was visiting. Had I not all the manners of
the true apostle of old, when at the setting sun, I was knock-
ing at the door of some of those dear countrymen, bearing a
Bible in my right hand, and a dozen fishes in my left?
What delicious hours— I should better say nights — I spent in
explaining the Scriptures and showing the mercies of God
who has so much loved us that He has sent His eternal Son,
On My Way to Australia 325
Jesus, to save us by dying on Calvary. How can I tell you
the breathless attention, the unspeakable joy, of those families
in listening to the simple, but so sublime, teachings of the
Gospel. And when between two and three o'clock, after mid-
night, they were asking me, " What must we do to be saved?
We reject forever the errors of Rome, and will accept Jesus
as a gift. In that great gift alone we put our trust and sal-
vation. Let Jesus, the great gift of God, make us pure with
His blood and eternally happy with His Word." Yes! when
it became evident to me, not only by their burning words of
faith, but by their tears of joy, that salvation had entered into
that house just as formerly it did into the house of Zaccheus,
and that their conversion was as prompt, as sincere, will
you be surprised if I tell you that I was beside myself with
joy?
CHAPTER XXX
On Board Steamer City of Sydney. Honolulu
I left San Francisco for Australia on the second day of
September, on the magnificent steamer, City of Sydney.
That ship is one of the giants of the sea by her size and
strength, measuring 334 feet, with engines of 3,000 horse
power. She was commanded by Captain Dearborn, one of the
most ijolished gentlemen and brave sailors who ever manned
a ship. We were about three hundred fifty passengers
on board, one hundred fifty of them on the firstclass list.
I have never seen anything more solemn and sad than the
few moments which preceded our departure. When the first
signal was given to those who had followed their friends or
relatives to leave and clear the deck, an indescribable scene
of desolation took place which would have melted the hardest
heart. There were not less than one thousand people on
board then, in the midst of whom I was an absolute stranger.
As I was perfectly alone, and free to hear and see everything,
I chose a commanding place from which, as much as possible,
nothing could escape my eyes and my ears. Who can depict
the sudden rush of that crowd into the arms of each other,
when the whistle had given the orders to leave? Who can
tell the tears and sobs, the convulsive embraces and the deso-
lating separations of that hour?
Here, a tall lady, surrounded by half a dozen children, was
bathing with tears the face of her husband as if she had no
hope to see him again. There, sisters and brothers were press-
ing each other to their bosoms, unable to speak except with
their sobs and their cries. A little further on, a young
married lady had her face almost buried on the breast of her
desolated husband. She could not utter a single word; but
326
On My Way to Australia 327
the rivers of tears which were trickling down her cheeks
told me more eloquently than any words that she would have
preferred death to such a long separation. Very near to me
a beautiful little girl about eight or nine years old was hang-
ing convulsively to the neck of her pale and sickly mother,
crying: "Dear mother! Dear mother! Oh, do not leave me
alone here! I will be dead when you come back! Take me
with you, dear mamma! I cannot let you go alone! I will
never see you any more! What have I done that you forsake
me to-day? You have always been so kind to me!" And the
tears of the poor mother were mixed with the tears of her
darling child when she was pressing her, evidently for the
last time, on her heart. An elder brother, himself bathed in
tears, had to take by force his little sister out of his fainting
mother's grasiD. Dear little girl! Unfortunate young man!
You may weep and cry, it is more than probable that you will
never see, any more, your loving mother on this side of the
grave; for merciless death has already put on her face the
signs of an incurable consumption. Old and young were
parting from friends dearer to them than life. No! Never a
more touching spectacle can be put before the eyes of a man;
and when that man himself has to leave, far away, behind, his
own beloved children, his home, his friends, his country,
that he fears lest, perhaps, he will never see them again, you
may believe me, a very dark cloud comes over that man's
soul. Happy is he, then, if, putting his trust in God his
Father, he throws himself into His arms, and goes to shed
his silent tears at the feet of the One who has said to the dis-
tressed children of Adam, "Come unto Me, all ye who are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
The distance we had to run from San Francisco to Aus-
tralia was more than seven thousand miles, over a sea where
myriads of men have already found a watery grave through
shoals, rocks, waves and storms, by which thousands of noble
ships have been wrecked. In vain the traveler who starts on
such a voyage arms himself with a strong courage. In vain
328 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
he hopes for the best. A sudden, a terrible vision of wrecks,
storms and horrible deaths flashes through his mind in that
touching hour.
Slowly the giant steamer left her moorings, and with maj-
esty she crossed the waters, which bathes the feet of the
proud Queen of the Pacific, to turn her bow towards the
ocean. In less than half an hour we had passed the Golden
Gates of the magnificent port of San Francisco. It was there
that, three weeks before, when going to the Cowlitz prairies
of Washington Territory, on the steamer Idaho, I was the
witness of one of the most sublime and heroic deeds. The
sixth of August, we were just entering the Pacific Ocean, when
every one on board was struck, as by a thunder^bolt, by the
cry: " A man overboard! " And, indeed, there, in the midst of
the furious waves, we saw the distressing spectacle of a man
struggling to save his life, and calling for help. The rapid
steamer was going at full speed, and in a few minutes she had
made a serious distance between us and that unfortunate man.
The order was immediately given by the captain to stop the
engines and launch the life=boat to the sea. But before this
could be done, what was our surprise and admiration to see a
young man, apparently feeble and powerless, throw down
his overcoat, and jump from the upper deck into the foam
ing sea to save his perishing fellow=man. Oh! what a
spectacle of unsurpassed grandeur and sublimity to see him
fighting the furious waves, and swimming with superhuman
efPorts after the perishing one. The wind was very stormy
and those who have passed the Golden Gates know how
terrible and irresistible are the waves of the Pacific on that
very spot. Again and again we were terror-struck as we
saw, from the deck, those furious waves thundering and roll-
ing like mountains over the young hero. Sometimes he
disappeared from sight, and we thought he was drowned and
forever buried under the roaring billows. It was not
surprising to see tears coming down the cheeks of the hardest
men, nor to hear the heartfelt cries that came from all-
On My Way to Australia 329
both men and women. But suddenly, the hero's head was
seen again over the furious waves; he was swimming
with all his might to save the drowning stranger. He,
really, like a giant, when raising his noble head above the
white crests of the furious waves, was fearlessly struggling
against the bottomless and raging Pacific Ocean to wrench a
victim from its fury. But how our sentiment and admira-
tion increased when we learned that that young man was
newly married in England and immensely rich. He had then
forgotten his fortune, his wife, his friends, his country; he
had forgotten himself to save a stranger. But that stranger
was a fellow^man — a brother — to him.
In vain we cried to him that the unfortunate man whom
he was trying to save had sunk down and disappeared for-
ever. The noise of the wind and the waves prevented him
from hearing anything. He continued to struggle for half
an hour till exhausted and out of breath, nearly perishing
himself, he was rescued by the life-boat and brought on
board. The name of that young English man was Thumburg
Cropper.
So long as noble England will train her sons to such heroic
deeds, she will be worthy to march at the head of the civilized
world, and God will make her glorious flag respected and
feared on every land and sea.
Honolulu, where we landed on the ninth, and stopped ten
hours, means, " The Paradise of the Pacific," and it deserves
its name. After seven days of seeing nothing but the blue
sea and the skies, the traveler feels inexpressible sentiments
of pleasure in going around the grand and majestic promontory
of Diamond Head, and passing at the foot of the volcanic
mountains, which border the ocean, to reach the "Earthly
Paradise," which the mighty and merciful God has made
there in the very midst of the ocean. Our steamer had to
pass very near the coral reef, against which the ocean breaks
her mighty waves with a thundering noise from one end of the
year to the other, before we entered the narrow passage which
330 Forty Years in the Church of* Christ
leads us into the port. I confess, here, my perfect inability
to do justice to the subject on which I have to write. One
of the first thinjjjs which struck us was a multitude of objects,
which we took at first for the heads of big fishes swimming
around the shiiD. They moved with such rapidity, plunging
and coming to the surface with such amazing ease, that it
took some time before I could persuade myself that those
were not fishes, but young boys from twelve to eighteen years
old. More than fifty twenty=five cent pieces were thrown by
ladies and gentlemen from the deck into the deep waters, and
not a single one of them was lost. They had hardly touched
the surface of the sea when, as quick as lightning, every
swimmer plunged and disappeared, making the waters boil
over them as if a thousand big stones had been thrown into
them. But, within one minute, we were amazed by the sight
of the swimmers coming up to the surface with the twenty=
five cent pieces between their teeth. At last I took two ten=
cent pieces, and threw them over their heads as far as I could,
thinking that the smallness of those pieces of money would
make it impossible to see and grasp them below the big waves.
But in less than half a minute two of the swimmers were
laughing on the surface with my ten-cent pieces between their
white teeth.
" You told me," I said to a gentleman of Honolulu who was
among the passengers, "that there are at least 15,000 people
in your city; but where are the houses to lodge so many peo-
ple? With the exception of the steeples of two churches we
see almost nothing but trees." He answered me with a smile.
" It is just so. Our houses are invisible. They are so well
covered with flowers, and surrounded by shades trees and
fruit, that you cannot see them. But come on shore and you
will find them." And it was so; those houses were like the
humming=bird's nests, concealed behind a real forest of passion
flowers, roses, orange, banana and cocoanut trees; algoraba,
hibiscus, breadfruit, mango, unirola trees, and other trees
and flowers the names of wliich are uidinown to me. Fair
On My Way to Australia 33 1
city of the most happy homes! Bright and fragrant blossoms
of every clime unite to add charm to this gem of the Pacific.
Every one you meet in that city has a smile on his lips,
and kind words on his tongue, and a friendly wish in his
heart for you. I never saw such cheerful faces, never heard
such joyous laughter, never felt my hand pressed with such
warm-hearted feeling as in Honolulu. It seems there is a
smile on every flower you touch, on every fruit you taste, and
in every tree you see. Nay; you see or feel a smile in every
breath of air you breathe in Honolulu. The atmosphere is very
pure; the air from the sea and the mountains is very fragrant
and perfumed. When one is in Honolulu with its heaps of
oranges, bananas, watermelons, muskmelons, strawberries,
apples, plums, pineapples and cocoanuts, with its air per-
fumed by flowers of every hue and color — rose, orange, car-
mine, and primroses blue as the sea, or white as snow, —
he is tempted to say with Peter: "Lord, it is good for us
to be here; let us build here a tabernacle."
It is said that these islands were discovered by Captain
Cook on the 19th of January, 1778, but it is well proved that
the intrepid Spanish sailors, Quiros and Manita, had visited
them in 1696. Nevertheless, it is well authenticated that the
celebrated Captain Cook was killed on one of these islands,
called Hawaii, on the 14th of February, 1779, a few days
after having consented to be worshiped as a god by the
heathen inhabitants in one of their temples. But if these
islands are remarkable for their incomparable beauty, salu-
brity of climate, the incredible fertility of their soil, the
almost infinite variety of their fruits, and the unsurpassed
grandeur and magnificence of their sceneries, and the terrible
and almost daily eruptions of volcanoes of their mountains,
they are still more remarkable for the marvelous evangelical
work which has made them Christian, to day, when they were
all plunged into the darkest night of idolatry only seventy
years ago. The history of the conversion of that nation is
one of the most admirable pages of the history of the Church
332 Korty Years in the Church of Christ
of Christ. It has been my privilege to be the guest of one
of the apostles of that nation, the venerable Mr. S. C. Damon,
and I have heard from the very lips of that apostle of the
islands the following thrilling facts. I am sorry that I can-
not enter into the details of that marvelous transformation.
I must content myself to give a few extracts of the memoirs
of one of the gospel ministers whom God had chosen for the
instruments of His mercies towards that nation.
The islanders cast off their idolatry in 1819, but it was not
till 1835 that Mr. and Mrs. Coan arrived in Hilo, where Mr.
and Mrs. Lyman had been working day and night for some
time, and had produced a marked change in the social and
religious condition of the people. Mr. Coan was a fervid
speaker and a strong man morally and physically. There
were 15,000 natives, then, in the district of Hilo, and its
extremities were one hundred miles apart. As there were
no horses, the whole distance had to be traveled on foot or in
canoes, which could not be done without perils of every kind
to limbs and life. He had sometimes to climb with his hands
and feet, or to be let down by ropes from tree to tree and from
crag to crag in the mountainous district. Many times he
swam across the rivers with a rope to prevent him from being
carried away. His smaller weekly number of sermons was
six or seven, and the larger from twenty = five to forty. Before
the end of the year Mr. and Mrs. Coan had made the circuit
of Hawaii, a foot and canoe trip of 300 miles, in which he
nearly suffered canoe wreck twice. In all, he had admitted
into the Christian Church, by baptism, 12,000, besides 4,000
infants.
But let us hear him speaking, himself, of the first com-
munion he administered to his dear converts: " The old and
decrepit, the lame, the blind, the maimed, the paralytic, and
those afflicted with diverse diseases and torments, those with
eyes, noses, lips and limbs consumed, with features distorted
and figures deformed and loathsome, came hobbling upon
their staves, or led and borne by others, to the table of the
On My Way to Australia ^^3
Lord. Among the strong, you might have seen the hoary
priest of idolatry, with hands but recently washed from the
blood of human victims, together with thieves, adulterers,
highway robbers, murderers and mothers whose hands reeked
with the blood of their own children. It seemed like one of
the crowds the Saviour gathered, and on which He pronounced
the words of healing."
Now, let me give the history of the conversion of one of
the most celebrated and blood-thirsty priests of the idols, in
the simple but so interesting language of Mr. Coan: "That
priest was six feet five inches in height, and his sister, who
was co=ordinate with him in authority, had a scarcely inferior
altitude. His chief business was to keep Pele appeased —
Pele being the goddess of the Volcanoes, the most merciless
and revengeful goddess of the world. He lived on the shore,
but went often to the top of the volcano Kilanea with sacri-
fices. If a human victim were needed, he had only to point
to a native, and the unfortunate wretch was at once strangled.
He was not only the embodiment of heathen piety, but of
heathen crimes; robbery was his pastime. His temper was
so fierce and so marked that no native dared to tread in his
shadow; for treading on his shadow was immediate death to
the guilty one. More than once he had killed a man for the
sake of food and clothes not worth fifty cents. He was a
thoroughly wicked savage. Curiosity attracted him into one
of our Christian meetings, and the giant fell under the resist-
less, mysterious influence which was metamorphosing thou-
sands of Hawaiians. ' I have been deceived,' he said, ' and I
have deceived others; I have lived in darkness, and did not
know the true God. I worshiped what was not God. I re-
nounce it all. The true God has come. He speaks. I bow
down to Him. I wish to be His son.'
"The'priestess, his sister, came soon afterwards, and they
remained here several months, for their instruction. They
were then about seventy years old, but they imbibed the
spirit of the New Testament so thoroughly that they became
334 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
as <?entle. loving and quiet as little children. After a long
probationary period, they were baptized, and after several
years of pious and lovely living, they passed gently and lov-
ingly away.
" In 1867, the old church at Hilo was divided into seven
congregations, six of them with native pastors. To meet the
wants of the widely scattered people, fifteen churches have
been built, holding from 500 to 1000 people. The present
Hilo church, a very pretty wooden one, has cost about
$14,000. All these have been erected mainly by native
money and labour."
Now, let me give you a most touching fact which was told
by the Rev. Mr. Lyman, and published in the interesting
series of letters of Miss Isabella Bird: " In 1825, five years
after the first missionary had landed, Kapiolani, a female of
high rank, while living at Kaiwaalea, where Captain Cook
was murdered, became a Christian. Grieving for her people,
most of whom still feared to anger Pele (the merciless god-
dess of the volcano Kilanea), .she announced that it was her
intention to visit Kilanea, and dare the fearful goddess to do
her worst. Her husband and many others tried to dissuade
her, but she was resolute, and taking with her a large retinue,
she made the journey of one hundred miles, mostly on foot,
over the rugged lava, till she arrived near the crater. There a
priestess of Pele met her, threatened her with the displeasure
of the goddess if she persisted in her hostile errand, and prophe-
sied that she and her followers would soon perish misera-
bly. Then, as now, ohelo berries grew profusely around the
terminal wall of Kilanea, and there, as everywhere, were con-
secrated to Pele; none being allowed to eat any of them, till
he had at first offered some of them to divinity. It was
usual, on arriving at the crater, to break a branch covered
with the berries, and turning the face to the pit of fire, to
throw half the branch over the precipice, saying: " Pele,
here are your aheolos; I ofiPer some to you, some I also eat."
After this, only the natives had permission to eat that fruit.
On My Way to Australia 23S
Kapiolani gathered and ate the berries without this formula,
after which she and her company of eighty persons des-
cended to the black edge of the volcano, called: ' Hail, man,
man! ' There in full view of the fiery pit, she thus addressed
her followers: 'Jehovah is my God. Rekindled those fires.
I fear not Pele. If I perish by the anger of Pele, then
you may fear the anger of Pele; but if I trust in Jehovah,
and He should save me from the wrath of Pele, when I
break and despise her tabus (laws), then you must fear and
serve the Lord Jehovah. All the gods of Hawaii are vain.
Great is Jehovah's goodness in sending teachers to turn us
from these vanities to the living God and the way of right-
eousness!'
" Then they sang a hymn and you can fancy the strange
procession winding its way backward over the cracked, hot
lava sea, the robust belief of the princess hardly sustaining
the limping faith of her followers, whose fears were not laid
to rest until they reached the crater rim, without any signs of
the pursuit of the avenging deity."
Is not this more sublime than Elijah's appeal on the soft,
green slopes of Carmel?
Not only have these islanders become Christians, but they
have become the instruments of the mercies of God towards
the heathen of the numberless Polynesian islands. Many of
them have become ministers of the Gospel, and have gone
through many perils to preach Christ to the people of, at
least, fifty islands, with the most admirable success.
Though my stay in Honolulu was very short, I consider
it a great privilege to have been allowed, by the good provi-
dence of God, to make the acquaintance of several of those
modern apostles whose labours have been so abundantly
blessed.
There is a college in Honolulu where many natives have
been trained to the holy ministry, and who have become as
remarkable by their eloquence and talents as by their sincere
piety.
CHAPTER XXXI
On My Way to Australia. Sights on the Pacific
Everywhere, and in whatever circumstances of life one is
providentially placed, he is sure to find in the Psalms of
David the most practical and sublime thoughts and advice
suited to his position. But it is when one " goes down to
the sea "and does "business in great waters," that I invite
him to take with him his Book of Psalms. He will surely
find in them not only a faithful adviser, but a most elegant
and interesting companion and friend.
Before this long voyage on the ocean, I had many times
read with benefit and pleasure the inimitable and Divine
songs of the royal prophet; but I had never understood their
profound philosophy and their superhuman beauties as
during those few weeks on the Pacific. It is evident that
David had extensively traveled on the sea; that he had often
admired its wonders, contemplated its grandeurs, and felt its
dangers. His soul had surely been thrilled by the roaring
waves, and he had heard the noise of their thundering bil-
lows, when he wrote: "The voice of the Lord is upon the
waters; the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many
waters; the Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth
forever."
Though our great and merciful God is everywhere, and the
Christian meets and sees Him in all His works on earth,
there is no place like the sea where He speaks to us of His
infinite greatness, majesty, wisdom, power and mercy. Oh!
who will ever be able to tell the magnificence of the setting
or rising sun on the vast ocean? How many poems have I
not read on that subject? But how far they all are from the
mark! How pale are their colours, when put side by side
S36
On My Way to Australia 337
with the glorious rays of light which, in torrents, overwhelm
everything, when the sun comes out of its mysterious night
chambers!
When alone on deck, almost every morning, at the rising
sun, I contemplated the glories and the magnij&cence of
that spectacle, how many times I have tried to find ex-
pressions sufficiently noble to tell my friends the splendours,
the grandeur, the ravishing magnificence of that spectacle.
But, then, how I felt myself confounded, utterly confounded,
by my impotence of speaking worthily of what my eyes saw,
my heart and my soul felt, in the presence of the untold and
unutterable beauties which the merciful hand of my mighty
God was spreading before me. It was only in the Psalms
that I could find words in which I wanted to tell my impres-
sions, my admirations and my joys at being allowed to see,
with my own eyes, such wonderful things: "The heavens
declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His
handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out
through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a
giant to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the
heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is per-
fect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple. Let the words of my mouth, and
the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O
Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
How many times these so simple and sublime words fell on
my soul as a dew from heaven to gladden and raise it from
these low 'and earthly regions to the foot of that throne of
glory and mercy on which our great and eternal God reigns,
and from which His mercy, light and life are manifested
everywhere, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His
338 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
poodness, and for His mercies to the cliildren of men! And
let them sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and declare
His works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea in
ships, that do business in great waters; these see the
works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep." Does not
the prophet plainly say, here, that when a man wants to un-
derstand the works of the Lord, it is among the wonders of
the deep that he must come to study them? It is true that
the Christian does not take a step on earth without meeting
witnesses which speak to him of the power,j wisdom, love and
mercy of his God. But on the sea, those witnesses take
larger proportions. They pass before ourieyes as giants, by
their number and their size. Their voices roar and thunder,
as becometh the embassadors of the great and mighty God,
whose throne is in the heaven and whose hands have dug the
bottomless basin of the ocean.
How many times, before the rising sun had yet come out
from the deep on his chariot of light and fire, did I remain
mute with admiration at the sight of hundreds of whales
playing about our ship! How majestic the motion of those
gigantic citizens of the ocean! With what inconceivable
agility they glide above the waves! Does not the great Paci-
fic Ocean seem to be proud to bear in its bosom those mighty
creatures of the deep? How quickly it opens its doors to let
them come out to the surface, that they may speak to us of
the great God who created them ! And when the first rays
of the sun meet those mighty giants, how suddenly they are
covered with a mantle of silver and gold! How they glitter
with diadems of most precious pearls and radiant emeralds!
Do they not even change the breath of their nostrils into as
many rainbows, which seem crowns of glory and honour put
on the foreheads of those unrivalled monsters of the deep?
And when they majestically raise their heads above the roar-
ing waves toward heaven, crowned with those rainbows, and
covered with the brilliant mantle of gold and silver, pearls
and rubies, sapphires and emeralds which the rays of the sun
On My Way to Australia 339
have just laid upon them, do they not look like angels of the
deep, which come to unite themselves to the exiled sons of
Adam, to adore and praise the eternal God, before whom all
the creatures, all the worlds, must prostrate themselves in
ceaseless adoration? I then called the prophets of old to
htlp me to express the feelings of admiration and joy by
which I was overwhelmed. Job was the first to fill my soul
with the music of his Divine poetry.
"Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook, or his
tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put
an hook into his nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
Will he make many supplications unto thee? Will he make a
covenant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a servant for-
ever? Who can open the face of his garment, or who can
come to him with his double bridle? His scales are his pride,
shut up together as a close seal. By his neesings a light
doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap
out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething
pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth
out of his mouth. In his neck remaineth strength, and sor-
row is turned into joy before him. His heart is as firm as a
stone. When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid.
The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold. He
esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood! The ar-
row cannot make him flee; sling-stones are turned with him
into stubble. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot. He
maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep
to be hoary. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird,
or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the com-
panions make a banquet of him, shall they part him
among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed
irons, or his head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon
him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the
hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the
sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up; who
340 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
then is able to stand before me? Upon earth there is not
like him who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high
things; he is a king above all the children of pride."
With what power and solemnity the voice of Job, passing
through forty centuries, came to me on this deck to say that
those leviathans of the deep were sent there to me as the am-
bassadors of my God, to make my ears ring with the solemn
questions which constantly till the echoes of heaven and earth,
" Who is able to stand before me? " Oh! blessed is the man
who does not shut his ears to those words which God ad-
dressed us from the south and the north, from the west and
the east, which on the ocean come from the flash of light-
ning, the clap of thunder, the howling of the waves, the moan-
ing of the hurricane, the blowing of the whales! "Who is
able to stand before Me? " But believe me, when those voices
of the prophet come to us, rolling on the big waves of the bound-
less ocean, they have a power which no human words can ex-
press. And when all the chords of my soul were still vibrating
under the voice of Job, how can I tell you what I felt, when,
alone, in a retired corner of the deck of our noble ship, having
the infinite heaven above my head, the infinite ocean be-
fore my eyes, at my right hand and my left, the infinite be-
fore and behind me, I listened to the celestial poetry of
David: "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God,
Thou art great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Who covereth Thyself with light as with a garment; who
stretchest out the heavens like a curtain. Who layetli the
beams of His chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds
His chariots; who walketh upon the wings of the wind. Who
maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire.
Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be
removed forever. Thou coverest it with the deep as with a
garment; the waters stood above the mountain. At Thy re-
buke they fled; at the voice of Thy thunder they hasted
away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the
valleys into the plains Thou hast formed for them. Thou
On My Way to Australia 341
hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn
not again to cover the earth. The young lions roar over their
prey, and seek their meat from God, The sun ariseth, they
gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the
evening. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works. In wisdom
hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy riches.
So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping
innumerable, both great and small beasts. These wait all
ui3on Thee, that Thou gavest them they gather: Thou open-
est Thy hand; they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy
face, they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath, they
die, and they return to their dust. Thou sendest Thy Spirit,
they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.
The glory of the Lord shall endure forever: the Lord shall
rejoice in His works. He looketh on the earth and it trem-
bleth. He toucheth the hills and they smoke. I will sing
unto the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God
while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be
sweet; I will be glad in the Lord. Bless thou the Lord, O
my soul. Praise ye the Lord." I would have to write a
whole volume on my impressions and feelings at the marvel-
ous things which the hand of the Lord has scattered every-
where on the broad ocean, that the traveler may not forget
Him, and that he may praise Him day and night. But it is
when we study those marvels with the lights of the Divine
songs of David in our hands that they appear to us in all
their grandeur and ravishing beauties. Who, when crossing
the ocean, in the darkest hours of the night, has not remained
mute with admiration at the marvelous bright and innumera-
ble sparkles of light which follow the track of the ship
around her sides, and crown her bow as with a garland and a
crown of stars? We are told by the learned and scientific
men of this day that these lights are nothing else but myr-
iads of small animals covered with a robe of phosphorus. But
are not all these infinitely small beings, whose robe is fire
342 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
and light, as many witnesses who cried to me not to forget
that my God also is light and life; that it is only through
Him and in Him that I can breathe, move, and live. Those
animals are so small that the eye of man cannot see them.
But, though infinitely small, do they not spread, all around,
such a beautiful light that the darkest night is changed into
the brightest day. Why should not every Christian try to
shed light all around him as these admiraljle animalcule.
Are not these marvelous beings there to repeat to us the sol-
emn words of the Son of God: "Let your light so shine be-
fore men that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. Ye are the light of the
world, etc." ? But if from these marvelous little beings,
which God has evidently j)ut there on every inch of that
great ocean that we may got forget Him, we turn our eyes
towards the innumerable islands with which the Pacific
Ocean is studded, how can we express our sentiments of awe,
when we see that many of those islands, at a period more or
less remote, were submarine volcanoes which vomited tor-
rents of lava and threw toward the sky, day and night, whole
mountains of molten iron, stones, sulphur, etc. The fact is
that this Pacific Ocean was once nothing but a seething
caldron, or rather, steaming furnace, where all the ele-
ments which compose the earth were mixed, boiled, burnt,
and melted together with a fire whose power cannot be ex-
pressed with human words. Yes; from this very ocean flames
have come out whose blasts were irresistible; fires burnt and
raged in an inconceivable manner, clouds of darkening smoke
covered the whole world, earthquakes shook the earth to its
foundations. Whole continents were created, innumerable
islands were formed by the burning stones, melted iron, lead,
gold, silver, lava, which were vomited from the craters of the
numerous volcanoes whose proud heads seem again to threaten
the world. Not only many of the islands of the Pacific are
evidently of volcanic formation, but we know that several
islands have entirely disappeared with their unfortunate
On My Way to Australia 343
inhabitants. Some years ago, two or more well-known
islands, between New Zealand and Tahiti, suddenly sank down
with the thousands of men, women and children who inhab-
ited them. No vestige, except the top of a few naked rocks,
have remained to indicate where those volcanic islands were
situated. When the traveler sees, as I do, now, from the deck
of this ship, those marvels with his own eyes; when he knows
he is just crossing those fiery regions, his ears are ringing
with the prophetic words of Peter, " Whereby the world that
then was, being overflowed by water, perished: but the
heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that
are therein shall be burned up."
The appearance of the greatest part of those volcanic is-
lands is really formidable, with their black peaks shooting
up over the dark clouds, with their large craters still red-
dened with the torrents of burning lava, which not only
filled the basins of the ocean at a depth of 3,000 or 4,000 feet,
but raised mountains of more than 14,000 feet in height over
the seething waters. Sometimes our ship had to pass very
near those huge remains of days of inexpressible horror.
The roaring waves were beating them as if they wanted to
roll them down into the deep; but it was in vain. Those
rocks of melted granite, iron and sulphur dared with an
apparent contempt the rage of the winds and the waves.
They looked like witnesses posted there by the hand of our
Almighty God to make the traveler remember His infinite
power. The deafening voice of the roaring ocean, breaking
on the immovable base of those desolated rocks, was repeat-
ing to my soul the words of the royal prophet: "Then the
earth shook and trembled, the foundations moved and were
shaken, because my God was wroth. There went up a smoke
344 Forty Years In the Church of Christ
out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth; fires were
kindled by it. He bowed also the heavens and came down, and
darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub,
and did fly; yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness His secret places; His pavilion round
about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest
gave His voice; hailstones and coals of fire; yea, He sent out
His arrows and scattered them; He shot lightning and dis-
comfited them. Then the channels of water were seen, and
the foundations of the worlds were discovered, at Thy rebuke,
0 Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils. He sent
from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters."
1 had been told that the many days passed on the ocean
would be tedious and lonesome ones; but this was a mistake.
There is not a day, I dare say, nor an hour, when our merci-
ful God does not present new wonders to admire His power,
bless His mercy and adore His majesty. What can be more
singular and interesting, for example, than those thousands
of porpoises which so often come alongside the ship, as to
run a race with her! That fish, which is much larger than a
kingfish, seems to be proud of its elegant form, its bright
and rich robe, and its incredible agility. He comes as near
as possible to the ship, that we may see and admire him.
Though we were often going at the rate of twelve knots an
hour, those fishes were swimming much faster. With what
sentiments of admiration we were following their swift and
elegant motions, particularly when, reaching the top of the
foaming billows, they leaped out of their liquid element, to
plunge five or six yards below into the bottom dug by the
receding waves before them! Who gave to this singular fish
the instinct of coming alongside the ships which cross this
boundless ocean, and so often refresh us poor prisoners of the
deep with one of the most amusing and wonderful spectacles
which can be seen? Is it not the mighty and merciful hand
of God which has given them those singular habits, with the
On My Way to Australia 345
evident view of breaking the monotony of the long hours
spent in crossing those boundless oceans? Had we not, then,
good reasons to say with David: " Your hearts shall live that
seek God; for the Lord lieareth the afflicted, and despiseth
not His prisoners. Let the heavens and earth praise Him, let
the seas and everything that moveth therein. He shall have
dominion from sea to sea. Thy way is in the sea, and Thy
path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of
the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength; Thou
breakest the heads of the leviathan in pieces, and gavest
him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. If
I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy
right hand shall hold me. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye
dragons from all deeps. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is
Thy name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the
heavens! When I consider Thy heavens, the works of Thy
fingers, the moon and stars which Thou hast ordained, what
is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man
that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little
lower than Thy angels, and hast crowned him with glory and
honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works
of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet. The
fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the sea."
CJiAPTER XXXII
On My "Way to Australia The Dangers of the Deep
By the great mercy of God, we entered the port of Sydney,
one of the finest seaports in the whole world.
Our voyage had been one of the shortest on record, and it
would have been one of the most pleasant ever made if, when
three hundred miles from the shore, we had not been assailed
by a hurricane, which very nearly sent us to wait the great
Judgment day in a watery grave.
Till then, we had always had fine weather and fair winds.
Even when crossing the tropics, and when over the equator,
we had not met anything but the most pleasant weather and
fair winds. We had not even had a single day of that ex-
treme heat which is so dreaded by the traveler.
A strong, fresh breeze from the east had constantly blown
over us, filled our sails, and given us a spring atmosphere.
But when we reached the south latitude, between the 34th
and 85th degrees, the skies began to be covered with dark
and threatening clouds. Lightnings such as I had never
seen, and claps of thunder such as I had never heard, accom-
panied with such torrents of rain as fall only in these parts
of the globe, told us that our bright and sunny days were at
an end, and that we had to prepare ourselves for a change of
scenery, thoughts and aspirations. It was evident that we
were just encountering the equinox gale so much feared even
by the most expert and tried mariners.
On the 28th, at about 3 p. m., our noble ship began to
groan under the blows of the furious waves, in a way that
would strike with terror the bravest hearts. She began to go
up to the top of the waves, and to plunge into the profound
316
On My Way to Australia 347
abyss dug before her by the receding seas, in the most fear-
ful manner.
It soon became absolutely impossible for anyone to
stand on his feet without being hurled, with the most tre-
mendous violence, if he were not well tied with a rope, or if
he had not his hands grasping some well^fastened object.
Though, in my two voyages to Europe, I had seen pretty
big waves, nothing could be compared with the mountainous,
tumbling billows which rolled over us with such terrific
noise and such irresistible power on this neversto=be=forgotten
day. But the more furiously the hurricane roars above and
around, the more sublime is the grand spectacle before our
eyes. Every aperture and door on the windward were, at
first, firmly shut to prevent the waves from entering and
filling the ship. Only one door, on the leeward, remained
open for some time, at my earnest request, that I might see
and admire to my full heart's content, the unspeakable gran-
deur and terrible beauties of the most fearful storm I had
ever seen.
During the last fierce conflict which took place in our
Canada Presbyterian Church about instrumental music, one
of the opponents said that God Almighty had evidently
formed the human throat as the only instrument of music to
proclaim His majesty. His power and His mercies. No doubt
that good brother would have changed his mind had he been
near me, there, on that steamer. For, every part of the noble
ship had a voice; every rope and string had a voice; every
wave had a voice; every clap of thunder had a voice to speak
to us of the power and majesty of God as no human throat
ever spoke. Yes; when the united sounds of the roaring hur-
ricane, the thundering waves, the moaning billows, the whis-
tling ropes, the cracking ribs of the ship, the breaking of the
chairs and tables of the dining saloon, hurled on every side,
mixed with the constant claps of thunder, struck the chords
of our soul, the irresistible and infinite power of God was re-
vealed to us as it could not be revealed by any man's throat.
348 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
In fact, were not, then, the very angels of God striking the
strings of convulsed nature to sing with David: ' W-ho is so
great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doeth won-
ders; Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people.
The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee; they
were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds
poured waters, the skies sent out a sound; Thine arrows also
went abroad. The voice of Thy thunder was in the heavens;
the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and
shook. Thy way is on the sea, and Thy path on the great
waters; and Thy footsteps are not known."
I never felt as then how we are disposed to form different
judgments about the same thing according to the different
emotions or passions of the moment. That noble steamer
which had appeared so large with her 384 feet length, and so
strong with the iron and steel material with which she is en-
tirely built — that steamer, which looked so like a giant of the
seas when we went aboard of her in the calm basin of San
Francisco, looked as a powerless bundle of straw when tossed
about and attacked from every side by the furious waves of
the raging Pacific Ocean.
It soon became evident to the most as well as to the least
expert that we were in imminent danger of perishing. At
any moment we expected that some part of the engine would
give way, or that the axle of the screw would break, or that
the fires would be put out by the torrents of water which
every wave was throwing into the doomed ship. At about
4 P. M. one of those waves had struck me in the breast and
hurled and rolled me more than thirty feet from the leeward
towards the windward side, without more ceremony than if I
had been a straw. After this I crawled to my room to
change my clothing, but it was to find it flooded with water,
and to see my floating trunks tossed about me as if they
were in the midst of a deep and rapid river.
Unable to continue our course without an evident danger
of foundering, the captain ordered the course of the ship
On My Way to Australia 349
changed, and put her bow instead of her side to the hurri-
cane. In that position, the mountains cf water, hurled upon
us with such tremendous power, might roK over the ship
without upsetting her entirely. We had the hope that, at
the setting sun, the hurricane might subside a little, as is
sometimes the case; but we were to be disappointed. The
terrible storm, instead of subsiding, increased its fury at the
approach of the night, and the foaming mountains of the
furious ocean struck more and more mercilessly the bow,
and often even the sides of the ship. The frightful flashes
of lightning seemed more and more to wrap us as in a sheet
of fire; the continuous peals of thunder, with the rolling bil-
lows beating constantly against us, as bomb shells, caused our
model steamer to reel, tremble and shake at every shock, as
if the angel of death had struck her with the avenging sword.
To add to the terrors of our situation, at the setting sun we
saw that the captain had ordered the crew to have the life
boats ready at a moment's notice to be launched to the sea,
as the last resource when the steamer would sink. I
hope that not a single one of our friends who will read these
lines will ever personally experience the horrors of that hour,
when the terrible night spread her mantle over us all. Oh!
what sublime pages I would write, if I could describe,
in their plain grandeur and solemnity, the episodes of the
six hours which passed over us from the beginning of the
night till three o'clock next morning, when we heard the
Good Master's voice telling us, " Fear not, I am with you."
Human language is inadequate and powerless to tell of those
terrible, but at the same time superhumanly grand and sub-
lime things. In those solemn hours, how the silent prayers
which escape from the recesses of the heart and the soul are
fervent, humble, pressing! How the merciful Saviour's
voice comes as celestial music to the redeemed sinner's soul:
" I go to My Father to prepare you a place. When it is
ready, I will come and take you with me, and where I am
there shall you be also."
350 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
From the very first day of the voyage, I had made it one of
my most important duties to find out among the multitude of
travelers those whom the Saviour of the world had selected
for His own, and, by the great mercy of God, I had found
them. They were not very numerous, but how sublime and
simple, "how ardent and sincere was their faith and their
love for the Lamb who had been slain for them, and in the
blood of whom they had washed their robes! How many
times they had drawn my tears of joy, when, gathered to-
gether every day, at 3 p. M., they had raised their supplica-
ting hands to the throne of mercy! As soon as the danger
had become imminent, the greater part of the fervent Chris-
tians gathered with me in a corner of the si^lendid upper
saloon, and, shall I tell it? Yes. When I found myself in
the midst of those praying brethren and sisters, almost every
idea of danger went out from my mind. But at about two
o'clock, after midnight, the hurricane seemed again to increase
its fury; the claps of thunder became more terrible, and the
raging billows seemed to make a supreme effort to dash into
pieces the iron sides of our vessel then half filled with
water. A wave now struck with such tremendous force that
it seemed to me, and to everyone, that the steamer was
broken into two pieces. The small window before me having
been smashed, allowed me to see the most terrible and
magnificent spectacle which can be given to man to contem-
plate. Literally the sea did not look any longer like a sheet
of water, but an ocean of fire. Every wave, every billow
looked like the pines of the forest when the devouring element
is burning their noble heads during the night. Before those
fires the darkness of night had almost entirely disappeared.
The heavens above seemed also to be an ocean of fire, by the
constant flashes of lightning. The phosphorous lights of
the sea, brought to the surface and beaten by the hurricane,
seemed to have transformed the Pacific Ocean into a seething
caldron of burning elements, on which our half-wrecked
ship was hopelessly struggling for life.
On My Way to Australia 351
After I had had a glimpse of that marvelous and awful
vision, I turned towards those of my praying friends who
were nearer to me, and I said: " It is a miracle that we are
not already perished; our merciful God wants to try our faith;
but He wants also to save us. Oh! let us go to Him and
pray as the apostles went to Him and prayed, when they
awoke Christ at the very moment they were perishing."
And I heard, then, prayers such as I had never heard. For
a whole hour cries of faith and love, cries of hope and joy,
went from this little band of children of Grod to the Mercy
Seat, such as the spirit of life and light alone can give. Yes;
there was a struggle that night, on that little corner of the rag-
ing Pacific Ocean, in which love and mercy were again to
win the day against the justice and wrath of God.
A few minutes after three, a young and very dear sister,
the widow of an English ofiicer, said to me: "Do you not
feel that the storm is not so strong, and the ship is not so
terribly tossed about as one hour ago?" "Evidently," I
answered, " the Lord has heard the voice and the humble
supplications of His poor, perishing servants. Let us bless
Him."
And, falling on our knees, we together sent from our hearts
and lips to the throne of mercy the sublime hymn of David.
" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits;
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy
diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; who
satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is re-
newed like the eagle's. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. The Lord is merci-
ful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy; Who
will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy to them that fear Him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our
352 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth
our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. As for man,
his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place
thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and
His righteousness unto children's children, to such as keep
His covenant, and to those that remember His command-
ments to do them. The Lord hath prepared His throne in
the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the
Lord, ye His angels that excel in strength, that do His com-
mandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. Bless ye
the Lord all ye His hosts, ye ministers that do His pleasure.
Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion!
Bless the Lord, O my soul! "
It was then nearly four in the morning. The threatening
voice of the thunder was silenced, and the hurricane had
visibly lost more than half its strength. We were all chilly
and exhausted. We left each other, to take some rest.
At seven, I was awakened by the warming rays of the bright
sun shining upon me through the broken window of my room.
I was soon on the deck to gaze again on that treacherous
Pacific Ocean, which seemed so well disposed a few hours
before to bring me below its bitter and angry waves. Though
the roaring billows were still very high, it was evident that
the One who commands the storms, and they are still, had
passed by us, and heard our humble but ardent suppli-
cations.
I joined my voice with the voice of all His creatures, the
wind and the sea, the sun and the light, the earth and heavens,
to praise and bless Him; and I went to the captain to know
if our noble ship had sustained any serious damage. '* Not
much," he said, "she has admirably fought the terrible
battle. But so sudden a cessation of that hurricane is one of
the most extraordinary things I have seen in my life. Those
On My Way to Australia 353
equinoctial storms generally last three days, and they very
often keep us a whole week suspended by a thread between
life and death." "Ah," I answered, "you were not aware
that you had on board some of the children of those fisher-
men who caused Christ to stop the storm on the Sea of
Galilee?" "I wish," he answered with a smile, "that I
would have always on board some of those Galileean fisher-
men's children."
With the fair wind and big waves to push us towards the
long wished for shores of Sydney, we arrived in the even
ing about eight o'clock.
As soon as the anchor was let down, as the sanitary laws
of the country prevented us from landing immediately, I went
among the passengers to request them to come and pass
that last Sabbath evening in hearing what our friend David
had to tell us about the storm of the previous night, and they
gladly gathered to listen to the sublime words of the royal
prophet, which I read and commented upon: "Oh! that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonder-
ful works to the children of men; And let them sacrifice the
sacrifice of thanksgiving, and declare His works with re-
joicings. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do
business in great waters. These see the works of the Lord,
and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth the stormy
wind, which lifteth the waves thereof. They mount to the
heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted,
because of troubles. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a
drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto
the Lord in their troubles, and He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves
thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet,
so He bringeth them unto the desired haven. Oh that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonder-
ful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also
in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the
assembly of the elders."
354 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Nol I have never seen anything like the profound and
deep impression of those words of the Divine Book when
they fell on my companions, who had, with me, just come out
from that watery grave dug under our feet by that terrible
hurricane. Both Jews and Christians, Romanists and Prot-
estants, atheists and infidels, as well as fervent disciples of
the Gospel, vied with each other in praising and thanking
God with cheerful heart, singing the most beautiful hymns
of the Moody and Sankey collection.
This last Sabbath service which we had on board was one
of the most solemn and most touching episodes of my life,
and I am sure that it will never be forgotten by those who
took part in it. We had begun at eight p. m., and it was ten
before we could put an end to it. For every one wanted to
praise the great and merciful God who had seen their tears,
heard their prayers, silenced the storm, made the furious
waves still, and saved them. Every one felt and proclaimed
that, indeed, our God is a prayer-hearing God.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Australia
Our noble steamer laid her anchors in the calm and mag-
nificent harbour of Port Jackson, on the 29th of September,
at 7 p. M., after her narrow and almost miraculous escape from
the hurricane of the previous night. The first thing we did
was to thank God for having brought us safely into our
"desired haven"; and from eight to ten p. m., the walls of the
great saloon echoed with the sincere expressions of our grati-
tude.
At half past ten I had retired to my room and was pre-
paring myself for the night, when I was not a little puzzled
by the distant sounds of a great multitude of voices singing
the beautiful hymn,
"Ho, my comrades, see the signal waving in the sky;
Reinforcements now appearing — victory is nigh."
My windows were opened; and when these words, gliding
over the still waters of the sea, ten times reverbrated by the
surrounding heights, struck my ear, and when the perfect
stillness of the dark night was broken by the melodious verses
and tune repeated by several hundreds of powerful voices,
"Hold the fort, for I am coming:
Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to heaven —
By Thy grace we will."
my soul was thrilled with such sentiments of surprise,
admiration and joy that no words can adequately ex-
press.
855
356 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"What does that mean?" I said to myself. But the voices
came nearer and nearer. " Are we not yet seven miles from
Sydney? These voices cannot, then, come from that city.
Do they come from the near shore around us? Impossible!
for on one side is the quarantine hospital, at the feet of which
we must remain till we have our clearance, to=morrow morn-
ing, from the health officer. Surely, the few unfortunate sick
people who are behind the walls of that hosjjital cannot make
the echoes of the night resound with such powerful and melo-
dious tunes. Besides that, the other side of the shore is a
perfect wilderness — naked rocks — where no human being can
think of passing the night in singing. Evidently that mul-
titude of Christian singers are on a steamer, for I hear the
noise of her wheels slowly approaching. There, I see her
blue and red lights moving through the darkness towards
us."
The night was very dark, which made the numerous lights
of our mysterious visitor look still brighter.
Suddenly the voices stopjied, and the whistle of the strange
steamer filled the air, to call our attention. When the black
hull of the unknown steamship was about fifty feet from us
a profound and perfect silence succeeded the noise of the
whistle and the songs. Every one on our steamer had their
eyes fixed on the dark object which was silently rocking on
our leeboard, and every one whispered to his neighbour,
"What does it mean?" when a loud voice was heard, "Is
not Father Chiniquy on board?" Twenty voices answered,
" Yes, Father Chiniquy is on board."
"Tell him to come on deck; his friends of Sydney want to
see him," rejoined the first voice. " We are here on this
steamer to give him an Australian welcome."
I could hardly believe my own ears. I felt so confounded
at such an unexpected and unmerited public expression of
kindness that it seemed, at first, as if I were dreaming. But
no, it was not a dream, it was a reality. My merciful God
had prepared for His unprofitable servant one of the most de-
Australia 357
licious hours of his life. When I was just saying to myself
" Is it not a rash and foolish act on my part to have come alone
to this distant land, where I have only one friend whom I
know? Is it not a want of discretion and wisdom in me to
have accepted the invitation of that friend to come and rest from
my labours in his house? Will I not be a burden to him and
his family? Is it not ridiculous, with the burden of my
seventy years, to have crossed the whole hemisphere to come
to Australia? Will I not be the first subject of the scorn of
the whole world for such a rash action at the very end of my
life? Will not God, to punish me for this act of folly, make
such a solitude around me here in this distant land that I will
weep as I remember the fatal hour when I left* my
missionary field of Canada to recruit a bodily strength which
cannot be recruited at such an age?"
But these fears soon vanished away from my mind, when
in the presence of that great mercy of God. The less I de-
served and expected so solemn and so great a mark of
kindness on the part of my unknown friends and brethren of
Australia, the more I felt overwhelmed by it. My emotion
was so great that I might have fainted under its burden, had
not big tears of joy gusned out of my eyes and rolled down
ray cheeks, when kneeling for a moment in my cabin to say,
" O my God, may Thy name be forever blessed for Thy mer-
cies towards me, Thy unprofitable servant." I was soon on
deck to answer, "May God bless you all, noble Christians of
Sydney, for your kindness to your old unknown friend,
Chiniquy. Here I am to thank and bless you all."
" Do you not recognize the voice of your old friend, George
Sutherland?" asked one of the crowd.
"Yes, I recognize your friendly voice, dear and kind Mr.
Sutherland, and I bless you, here, again, for all you have al-
ready done for my dear missions."
" But it is not enough to hear you; we must see you," said
several voices, " Get some light around your head that we
may see your face."
358 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
These words had hardly been uttered when some of the
kind stewards of the steamer brought around me some of their
big and bright lanterns.
"Very well! very well!" cried several hundred voices.
" We are satisfied. We have heard and seen you. That is
all we wanted. To-morrow we will be on the wharf of Sydney,
where you will land, to give you another Australian welcome.
It is now eleven o'clock. You want some rest after the ter-
rible hurricane of last night. Go and take that rest. Good
night. God bless you."
" May God bless you, noble and kind=hearted friends," I re-
plied.
Three rousing cheers were given, and the national anthem,
" God save the Queen," was sung to tell us that the noble
friends whom God had given me in Australia were as loyal
to their queen as they were devoted to their God. It was the
signal for the steamer to turn her bow towards Sydney and
leave me absolutely overwhelmed with emotions of surprise,
joy and gratitude which no human words can express. But
some will ask, " Who is that Rev. Mr. Sutherland who seems
to be at the head of your friends in Australia?" As this
question, which is a very natural one, will give me an oppor-
tunity of presenting one of the most admirable and striking
evidences that our God is a prayer=hearing God, who never
deserts those who put their trust in Him, I will answer:
When, in the spring of 1858, the bishops of the United
States and Canada saw that I had definitely broken the iron
chains by which I was, like all other poor priests of Rome,
tied to their feet, they wanted to make of me such an example
of misery and desolation that no other priests would ever
dare to follow my example, Not satisfied with excommuni-
cating me publicly in all their cathedrals, in their synodical
meetings in their great cities, as well as in the humblest
churches of their most insignificant villages, they spread
everywhere the most horrible calumnies against my honour
and my character. During a whole year a real deluge of de-
Australia 359
nunciation — calumnies of the vilest kinds — were poured on my
devoted head from all the pulpits and through all the weekly
and daily journals of the Roman Catholic clergy of America.
But, not satisfied with these things, they engaged men to
drag me before the civil and criminal courts and summoned
false witnesses, who accused me of crimes for which I would
have been, if not hung, at least sentenced to the penitentiary
for life, had they been proved. Though perfectly innocent, I
was sure to be found guilty and to be condemned, if I had not
defended myself. I had then to engage the best lawyers to
defend my honour and to protect my life against my accusers.
Among those lawyers was Abraham Lincoln, the martyred
President, who fell under the hands of the Jesuits, through
their tool, in 1865.
During more than a year I was left alone to fight my bat-
tles against the giant power of Rome. No hope could come to
me from my old Roman Catholic friends; they were bound in
conscience to curse and destroy me. And no help could be
expected from the Protestants, whose ears were, from morn-
ing to night, filled with calumnies spread everywhere against
my honour, and who were under the impression that I was a
disguised Jesuit, who intended to deceive them.
Though I was always, by the great mercy of God, enabled
to prove myself innocent before the civil and criminal courts,
these suits were costing me great sums of money, and my
small private resources were soon exhausted. I had even
soon to mortgage everything which was mine to pay the wit-
nesses and satisfy the lawyers. When the time came to pay
and redeem those mortgages, I was unable to do it. Then the
sheriff of Kankakee took everything in my possession, even
my bed, my chairs, my last cow, my library, of which I kept
only my dear Bible; all was sold by the sheriff at the door
of the public court of Kankakee. I was absolutely ruined
that day. I had not a pillow on which to rest my head, and
that night I had to sleep on the nak^d floor.
This was a very dark hour indeed in my experience, but I
360 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
knew for whom I was suflPering all those things, and my hope
was that the great Captain of my salvation, under the banner
of whom I was fighting, would sooner or later come to my
help, for I had put my trust in Him and Him alone.
The very next morning, when I was on my knees, crying
to God for mercy and help, a letter was handed to me from
Prince Edward Island with $500 in it " to strengthen my
hands and cheer up my heart.'' That letter was signed,
George Sutherland.
So it was that the very same noble=hearted Christian brother
whom God had chosen as the instrument of His mercies
to strengthen my hands and cheer up my fainting heart in
my first struggles against Rome, in 1859, was the very same
one whom He had sent there to cheer me up again, guide and
protect me in this distant land of Australia, in 1878.
How many times when working in England, Scotland,
Ireland, the United States and Canada I have understood that
a true friend is the greatest treasure which God can give to
man. But how I realized the value of that most precious
of treaures when it was again presented to me by the hands
of my merciful Heavenly Father, when alone at a distance
of ten thousand miles from my home, I was standing on
these distant but hospitable shores of Australia.
" O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done mar-
velous things: His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten
Him the victory. He hath remembered His mercy and His
truth toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth
hath seen the salvation of our God. Let the sea roar and the
fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. Let
tlie floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together."
(Psalm 98.)
Four months having passed since I had landed in Sydney,
by the great mercy of Gcxl, my bodily strength had been so
perfectly restored, that I had given eighty-two lectures and
preached fifty sermons since the day of my arrival.
In this strange antipode land everything seems to work
Australia 361
by contrary laws from those of the northern hemisphere.
Such a work ought to have put me down, but it was the con-
trary. There was such an elasticity in the pure air we
breathed; there was such an exuberance of life coming from
those evergreen forests and those everlasting flowers; there
was such a balm spreading from those enchanted gardens,
which were bathing in the light and the breeze of an eternal
spring, that my threescore and ten years were passing with-
out leaving any of the usual ugly traces of their passage.
The only thing that I did not absolutely enjoy was to see and
feel the thermometer marking, quite frequently, from 140 to
143 degrees in the sun and 110 in the shade. Such a heat
seems almost incredible to my readers, and I would hardly
believe it possible, had I not experienced it myself. But,
strange to say, that burning state of the atmosphere, which
would be intolerable, and which would kill people in Canada,
is perfectly bearable there.
However, it was my intention to go to some cooler part
of the new continent, and as I had received many kind invi-
tations to visit the great cities of Melbourne, Ballarat,
Geelong, Adelaide, etc., in the southern part of Victoria, I in-
tended to avail myself of that providential chance to know
something more of our terrestrial globe. Those regions are
some 800 miles nearer the eternal ices of the southern pole,
and I was told that there the southern breezes of the sea were
unsurpassed for their healthy influence on the people who
had the good luck to breathe their perfumes.
I purposed to return to New South Wales at the end of the
hot days of the Australian summer, which meant that I in-
tended to come back to Sydney at the end of April or May,
for one must not forget that there the summer months are
December, January and February. The autumn months are
March, ^ April and May. The spring months, September,
October and November. How upside down the world
appeared to the exiled son of Canada.
The short limits of a chapter will not permit me to relate
362 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
all that I saw of the visible manifestations of the mer-
cies of God towards several Roman Catholics who attended
my lectures in Sydney. I will give only one or two facts.
A well-educated Catholic lady had come, through curiosity,
to hear my second address on " Auricular Confession," though
her priest had strictly forbidden her to do so. In order not
to be known by the spies the priests had at the doors of the
hall to report the names of their disobedient children, she had
so well disguised herself that nobody could recognize her.
She listened with breathless attention from the first to the
last words, though she was uncomfortably crushed in her seat
by the multitude which was crammed around her. But in-
stead of smiling and laughing with the rest of the crowd, she
was weeping all the time; for her personal experience of the
abominations of Auricular Confession were almost word
for word the awful repetition of what she was hearing.
When she went home she fell on her knees, took a Gospel
book and read the chapters which I had cited, and which she
had taken down in her note=book. She found what I had
said was true, that it was not at the feet of a miserable, sinful
man, but only at the feet of the Lamb that sinners had to go to
find peace, life and pardon. She did not want any one to
tell her that, far from being purified and sanctified by pouring
into the ears of her confessor the sad history of her sins, she
had always come out of the confessiorial more guilty and miser-
able by the questions put to her and the answers she had to
make. After a couple of days of angui.sh, tears and prayers,
the voice of God was heard in her soul with such a power
that she determined to do what I had advised her, to look to
Christ and to Him alone for pardon and peace. With Magda-
lene, she went to the dear Saviour's feet, bathed them with the
tears of her love and repentance, and, like that model of peni-
tents, she hoard fhe sweet voice of Jesus telling her, " Thy
sins are forgiven, for thou hast loved Me much." Her joy
and happiness were unspeakable at this first experience of her
regeneration. There was only one tiling which marred her
Australia 2^3
happiness: " What will my dear Emma say when she hears
that 1 have left the Church of Rome to become a Protestant?
That dear sister is so devoted! She is so fond of her father
confessor! She is scrupulous to go to mass every morning,
and receive the communion every Sabbath and every festival
day of the blessed Virgin Mary! How angry she will be
against me ! "
Such were the fears of our interesting new convert about
her younger sister. When, five or six days later, she received
her visit as usual, she threw herself into her arms and kissed
her with the most sincere aifection. But, after a few minutes
of conversation, her young sister said to her: " My dear Mary,
allow me to ask you the cause of that unusual embarrassment
which I notice in you. Though you have received me with
your usual love and kindness, there is something strange in
your voice and manners which I cannot understand. You
look distressed and uneasy. What does that mean?"
" You are not mistaken, Emma, when, for the first time in
my life, you find that I am a little uneasy and distressed with
you. I have a secret to tell you which I fear will make you
feel bad against me. But I have prayed our merciful God to
grant you the same favour He has granted me, and I hope He
will hear your elder sister and most devoted friend's prayer.
I must tell you I am no more a Roman Catholic. I have
forever given up that Church in order to follow Christ and
Him alone."
"Is it possible?" exclaimed Emma. "And how long is
it since you have given up the religion in which we were
both reared ? "
" Since I heard the lecture of Pastor Ohiniquy last week
T found that what he said of the polluting and damning
influencef^ of Auricular Confession was so perfectly like what
I know by my own personal experience, that I am sure he was
true and honest in all that he said. I have read the Gospel
with the utmost attention this whole week. I have so ear-
nestly prayed the Author of every perfect gift to direct and
364 Forty Years in the Church oi Christ
guide me, that I feel sure to be in the true religion of Christ
when I put my trust only in His blood shed and His life
given up on Calvary to save my soul."
"May Almighty God be forever blessed," answered Emma,
with a cry of joy, and tears trickling down her cheeks. " I
was at that same lecture on Auricular Confession, and, like you,
I felt and knew by my own sad experience that Auricular Con-
fession is a school of perdition. Like you, I have given up
the Church of Kome, and I have found at the dear Saviour's
feet a joy and a peace that passeth understanding."
The two sisters fell into the arms of each other, and, bath-
ing each other's faces with the tears of unspeakable joy, they
blessed the merciful Saviour who had made them free by
His Word, and pure by His blood.
CHAPTER XXXIV
Visit to Hobert Town. Account of the Distarbances. Qosing Lecture —
Dramatic Scenes.
During my stay in Australia I spent some time in Tas-
mania, This is about three=fourtlis the size of Ireland, and
has nearly fifty islets surrounding it. It has a great variety
of surface, and much grand scenery. Its former name was
Van Diemen's Land. It has lofty mountains, one of which, Ben
Lomond, is 5,500 feet high, and several large lakes and rivers,
Hobert Town is the chief place and contains 30,000 people.
The principal square in the city is called Queen's Domain,
and there is a town hall which cost $60,000. The place is
well supplied with schools, churches and newspapers.
I arrived at Hobert Town on Saturday, June 21, 1879,
and was received by a number of clergymen, among whom
was the Kev, R. Maclaren Webster, of the Chalmers Presby-
terian Church, who had arranged for my entertainment at his
pleasant home. On the Sabbath I preached in the Chalmers
Presbyterian Church, and in the afternoon in the Melville
Wesley an Church. On the latter occasion I spoke on the
duties, responsibilities, privileges and glories of the Christian.
In my discourse I expressed a fear that some of the soldiers
composing the army of Christ, instead of being on the
aggressive, were more inclined to come to terms of peace with
the enemy at any price. I pointed to the valour and achieve-
ments of the British nation in subduing other powers; con-
tended that, whenever Great Britain had been engaged in a
conflict in which Romanism was involved, the British had
gained a victory; and referred to the overthrow of Rome, not
by carnal weapons, but by a spiritual warfare, and at the same
time disclaimed being an enemy of Roman Catholics, whose
365
366 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
honesty, earnestness and fidelity I spoke of in favourable
terms. I contended, however, that with all those qualities they
were a deluded class of religionists and that it was the duty
of Protestants to effect the opening of their spiritual sight, so
that they might be enabled to realize the blessedness of the
Christian religion. I alluded to the parable of the rich man
and Lazarus, and in its application showed that the rich man
was represented by Christians who were in the possession of
the Bread of Life, but neglected to supply the spiritual wants
of their Roman Catholic brethren, who stood in the relation
of Lazarus.
I had arranged to deliver a series of lectures to be given
during the whole week, the Town Hall having been definitely
engaged for that purpose; the first lecture to be given on
Monday evening.
The large hall on that evening was filled, and on the plat-
form were several of the leading clergymen of the city.
After the usual devotional exercises, I began my lecture.
There were several attempts to create a disturbance, and the
police present seemed to have little control, but the general
body of the audience being orderly, peace in every instance
was soon restored. However, this was only the beginning of
the disturbance and the persecutions which were to come on
the following evenings. Romanism is the same there that it
is in all other places; it demands liberty for itself, but
refuses it to those who differ from it. Its loud talk about
liberty of conscience in any proper sense is all hypocritical
and false.
On Tuesday evening I was to lecture in the same place.
A letter appeared during the day in a newspaper called the
Mercury, published by a leading Romanist whose name was
Hunter, and who had a great influence on his fellow=religion-
ists in their subsequent conduct. He expressed surprise
that I should be allowed the use of the town Hall for hold-
ing such " orgies," as he expressed it.
The hall on this evening became the arena of an extraordi-
Visit to Hobert Town 367
nary and disgraceful scene. I pass over here some of the de-
tails of that stormy meeting, where the elements of bedlam
and pandemonium seemed to be combined. It was found
that the lecture could not be given.
It was at last resolved, on the motion of Mr. Scott, sec-
onded by Mr. Napier, that all legitimate means, inclusive of
our appeal to the police, having failed to enable the meeting
to be carried on, it be dismissed. After the lapse of ten min-
utes, during which the rowdies sang "John Brown," and "We
won't go home till morning," the audience gradually dis-
persed at about half^past nine o'clock.
On Wednesday evening the rioters had mostly their own
way, so that the meeting could not go on. The particulars
of this I pass over
On Thursday preparations were made for the struggle in
connection with the meeting in the evening. Both parties
were quite active The party in favor of the law and order
sent a committee to the acting Colonial Secretary, Hon. H. L.
Crowther. The Roman Catholics sent a deputation to the
Mayor to remonstrate against my utterances in the Town
Hall. A special meeting of the City Council was held in the
afternoon to consider the situation and decide what might be
best to do. The motion that the Council be prepared to
maintain peace and order was carried. The Romanists were
not idle in the meantime. Having failed through their depu-
tation to the Mayor to secure the cancellation of my engage-
ments in the Town Hall, they resolved to hold a mass meet-
ing outside on Domain Square, the burning of Chiniquy in
effigy to be a part of the programme. To make a greater im-
pression, it was decided to summon friends from the country
around. The general intention, though not expressed, was
evidently to make a violent assault on the Town Hall. Late
at night the Bishop, who had been apparently inactive, for-
bade the meeting by a pastoral letter. He was evidently
afraid of bloodshed, and concluded to interfere as a matter
of policy.
368 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Friday came, and the authorities determined to take steps
to put down the law breakinfj;, while the action of the Roman-
ists was douljtful. The Bishop, fearing the terrible results
which would be likely to follow a collision between his peo-
ple and the authorities, went to the meeting in the Domain
at six o'clock and implored the assembly to disperse, and not
commit any breach of the peace. The result was that the
second lecture in the course was given on Friday evening
without disturbance.
There was a call by the Mayor, through the papers, for spe-
cial constables. This was largely responded to, and two hun-
dred and fifty were sworn in. The information having been
received that a most alarming riot would be likely to take
place, the government in the afternoon decided on securing
the assistance of the volunteers, and word was sent to the
officers and men that there would be a parade at the barracks
at five o'clock. The military force thus suddenly called and
prepared amounted to the number of four hundred and thirty-
nine men.
In the meantime all the influence of the Romish clergy
was used to prevent the meeting in the Domain. They
visited members of their church with great zeal to persuade
them not to attend the meeting in the evening, and to remain
in their houses. The Bishop and his clergy resolved to visit
the meeting in the evening and urge those present to retire
to their houses, and avoid serious consequences.
I give here a copy of the letter which the Bishop issued on
Friday:
"To the Catholics of Hobert Town: Seeing that your ef-
forts to prevent the City Council letting the Town Hall for
the purposes to which it has been devoted during this week
have failed, and being informed that further demonstrations
on your part in that direction will be resisted by the force of
law, leading probably to rioting and bloodshed, I most
earnestly request that you will have the good sense to abstain
Visit to Hobert Town 369
from making any further attempts to vindicate, on the pres-
ent occasion, your rights as citizens and ratepayers, and to
absent yourselves from the precincts of the Town Hall this
evening. My only object in thus appealing to you is to pre-
vent injury to persons and property, and to induce you to show
your respect for yourselves as Catholics and loyal citizens.
" Daniel Murphy,
" Bishop of Hobert Town.
" Hobert Town, June 27th, 1878."
This letter of the Bishop is very significant and suggestive.
He, of course, knew what was going on in connection with
the rioting of the Romanists, and the breaking up of the
meetings at the Town Hall. There was a direct violation of
law and order before his eyes, but he never remonstrated
against it. But when the government proposes to interfere
by armed force, he appears on the scene. His letter does not
appeal to any motives of conscience or obedience to law,
peace, and good order. He sees that the argument to protect
the rights of British subjects, to be resorted to after all argu-
ments addressed to reason and conscience, is that of armed
force. He trembles and fears results, and urges his slaves to
be quiet lest they be shot down. What a position this letter
puts him in, and what a black reflection on the system he
represents !
At a large meeting held shortly after by Protestants, there
was strong action,' called out by this letter of the Bishop
which I here record. Rev. B. Butchers, after stating at the
meeting that he had an unpleasant duty to perform, remarked
that they were, of course, aware that during the last two or
three days a pastoral had been issued by the Roman Catholic
Bishop relating to the disgraceful disturbances, and it was
laid upon him, by Pastor Chiniquy's committee, to enter a
very earnest and very solemn protest against the spirit and
sentiment of the pastoral letter. It would be altogether
against the dignity of the committee of the pastors, and alto-
370 P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
gether beneath the dignity of such an influential and repre-
sentative meeting as that, to have taken any notice of any
individual utterances of Bishop Murphy, his clergy, or any
other gentlemen in the city. But it is not beneath the dig-
nity of that, or any other assembly, to take notice of the calm,
deliberate, and official utterance of the highest ecclesiastical
dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church in the city and in
Tasmania. More especially was this the case when the senti-
ment and principle contained in that official utterance was
such as to be subversive of civil and religious liberty, and it
was on that ground that the protest he was about to read, and
which he imagined would be endorsed by that meeting, had
been drawn up.
THE PROTEST
" This meeting having heard read Bishop Murphy's letter
to his flock, desires to record its most earnest and solemn pro-
test against it, on the following grounds, viz: —
"First: Because it begins with a statement which is at
variance with truth, inasmuch as it is beyond dispute that
while an organized band of Catholics by lawless violence, on
three successive nights, prevented Pastor Chiniquy, his com-
mittee, and the citizens generally from using the hall, after it
had been let by the Town Hall conmiittee, and that also a
large and influential deputation of Roman Catholics waited
uijon the Mayor and City Council for the avowed purpose of
inducing them to break through their contract with Pastor
Chiniquy's committee, no 'efforts' whatever were made by
Roman Catholics to ' prevent the City Council from letting
the Town Hall for the purposes to which it has been devoted
during the week.'
" Secondly: Because the Bishop, in affirming that ' further
demonstrations on the part of his flock in that direction will
be resisted by force of law, leading probably to rioting and
bloodshed,' ignores entirely the notorious fact that serious
'rioting' Ipid already taken place, and that bloodshed 'had
Visit to Hobert Town 371
only been averted by the Christian forbearance of the law^^
abiding and lawful occupants of the hall, and most unjusti-
fiably throws the entire responsibility of prospective ' rioting
and bloodshed,' not on his riotous flock, but on the civil
authorities who were determined to repress such lawless
' efforts' by the ' force of law.'
"Thirdly: Because Bishop Murphy does not in his
pastoral letter express the slightest regret or indignation
on account of ' efforts ' which the Mayor of Hobert Town
officially and justly designates the ' late disorderly and unlaw-
ful proceedings at the Town Hall.'
"Fourthly: Because, in earnestly requesting his flock to
'have the good sense to abstain from making any further
attempts to vindicate their rights as citizens and ratepayers,'
Bishop Murphy, so far from condemning and reproving the
* late disorderly and unlawful proceedings,' officially justifies
and sanctions and applauds them.
"Fifthly: Because, in stating that his 'only object' in
thus appealing to his flock ' is to prevent injury to persons
and property, and to induce you to show your respect for
yourselves as Catholics and loyal citizens,' the Bishop entirely
and disloyally ignores the supreme obligations which he and
his flock are under, not only in respecting persons, property
and themselves, but also the laws of the land and their
legitimate administrators.
"Sixthly: Because, in expressly limiting his request to
the ' present occasion,' Bishop Murphy does not only not for-
bid, but directly invites similar ' disorderly and unlawful pro-
ceedings' at some future and more favourable season."
After reading the protest, M r. Butchers said if the meeting
endorsed it they would manifest it by rising to their feet.
The meeting rose almost unanimously.
The Rfev. Mr. Webster then rose and said he had the honour
to be deputed to read an address to me presented by the
committee.
The address stated that prior to leaving Hobert Town after
37- Portv Years in the Church ot Christ
the exciting and historical disturbances of the past week, the
committee were desirous of recording a very sincere, earnest
and emphatic opinion respecting my character, so far as
known to them. They did not forget that I came into their
midst sufficiently accredited by my sacrifices, sufferings and
labours, as well as by the indisputable fact of my being a
minister of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, bearing trust-
worthy credentials commending me to the confidence and
respect of Christian men, wherever the providence of God
might direct my steps. They desired further to say that so
far as they had had an opportunity of testing my facts, proofs
and arguments, they had always found them trustworthy, and
they here expressed their most decided opinion that if my
facts could be disproved, if my quotations were garbled or
false, and my arguments inconclusive, it was imperatively
incumbent upon my opponents, in the best interests of
morality, to discharge this public duty. They further desired
to testify that, during my present visit, and amidst the extra-
ordinary irritation and excitement that had prevailed, I had
uniformly both in my public and private deportment a spirit
of moderation and Christian charity toward those from whose
communion I had severed myself, such as to command their
admiration and esteem, and they desired now to take an affec-
tionate farewell of me, commending me and my noble mission
to the grace of that God who had so marvelously enlightened,
guided, protected and blessed me during my past life and
work, and who, as they fervently prayed, would continue the
same mercy to the end.
The address was signed by the committee.
On rising to reply, I said I could not sufficiently express
my gratitude and admiration for what I had seen and heard,
not only that day, but during the whole week. I had been
providentially brought into their midst, trusting to find here
true liberty and Christianity, and I had not been mistaken.
By the great mercy of God, I had found not only what I ex-
pected, but much more. I thanked my committee for the
Visit to Hobert Town 373
address they had presented to me. It had come from friends
who had stood in my defense as soldiers of liberty, and who
proved themselves as true sons of England, and worthy of her
glorious freedom, which made her so great in the world.
These friends had stood by me in a time of danger. I felt
no danger because they stood as a wall before me, protecting
me from the pistols and daggers of my enemies, who would
have had to pass over their bodies to harm me. They were
stronger than the walls of the strongest fortress, for there
was nothing so strong as a fearless heart. I had come there
to speak, not trusting in my own strength, but in Divine
help. I was but weak and faltering, but, aided by God, 1
might be the instrument of giving them light. I am a
British subject, and claim the rights and liberties of English-
men. Born under the British flag, like those before me, I
know perhaps better than you the danger which menaces that
flag. From having been for twenty-five years in the camp of
the enemy, I was able to study their plots and machinations,
and now I can raise my feeble voice in warning against the
threatening danger. What I am about to say here I have
said in England, in Scotland, in Ireland and in America, and
I thought it was my duty to come to Australia to tell you of
it too. The Australians are young in years, but from the
marvelous rapidity of their growth they are giants in strength
and development, a mighty people, but you are sleeping upon
a volcano — and you do not suspect it. There are great
dangers ahead for Great Britain and its colonies, dangers as
vast as the ocean which is around the beautiful Tasmanian
shores, as deep as the Pacific seas we have to cross to reach
each other. Yes, the danger is great and near, and yet you
do not suspect it. Having been raised in the atmosphere of
a Christian household, fed on the bread which Christ had
bought with His blood, there is a spirit of honesty, kindness
and Christianity in you which prevents you from suspecting
the danger which is at your doors. Even when I tell you the
truth, you will suppose it to be an exaggeration; for the
374 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Church of Rome is so wise and skilful in her ways, her plots
are so well laid against your liberties, your constitution and
Queen; it does all this with such inj^enuity, making it
appear like patriotism, fair play, and C^hristianity, that it is
really difficult for any one to understand the dangers. But I
have asked for help to=day from God, and I hope that guided
by His Spirit I shall be able to throw some light on that
great subject.
The dangers ahead for England and her colonies come
first from the corruption of Rome, and that corru^Dtion is
caused chiefly by the practise of Auricular Confession. I then
spoke of the practise of confession carried on in the
Episcopalian Church, even in Hobert Town, where I knew
from good authority that it was practised privately. I spoke
at length of confession as the destruction of morality, and
therefore as one of the greatest dangers that was menacing
England. It was the death of honesty, the death of purity, the
death of holiness.
There was another danger. Not only were honesty and
holiness the foundation of a Christian state, but education.
The Church of Rome was the enemy of education and light.
That Church could thrive only by the ignorance of her
people, and for that reason she made every effort to keep
the people in ignorance, to destroy intelligence. It was
true that in the Church of Rome there were houses of
education, and great sacrifices were made by the Church in
order to build and support them, and to have men and women
to teach; but the education of the Church of Rome was a de-
ception. This I established by several arguments drawn from
facts, from history and from the very nature of Romanism.
I alluded to Bishop Smith's pastoral to prove that the edu-
cation Roman Catholics receive from their superiors is con-
ducive to intolerance and treason.
"How could it be otherwise?" I said. "The Church of
Rome is led by the Jesuits, and the Jesuitical creed placed
the Pope's authority before that of the Queen."
Visit to Robert Town 375
Then on my request a part of the creed of the Jesuits was read
by the Rev. Mr. Butchers as follows: — When Pope Clement
XIV. issued a bull in 1773, abolishing the order of Jesuits,
annulling its statutes, and releasing the members from their
vows, its constitution was made public, and embraced the
following oath: — " I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty,
God. the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Blessed Michael, the Arch-
angel, the Blessed St. John Baptist, the Holy Apostles St. Peter
and St. Paul, and the saints and sacred host of heaven, do
declare from my heart, without mental reservation, that Pope
Gregory is Christ's Vicar-general, and is the only true and
only head of the Universal Church throughout the earth; and
that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to
His Holiness by Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose
heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and govern-
ments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation, and
that they may safely be destroyed; therefore, to the utmost
of my power, I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness,
rights and customs against all usurpers of the heretical, or
Protestant authority whatsoever, especially against the now
pretended authority and Church of England, and all adherents
in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the
sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do renounce and disown
any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or state
named Protestant, or to any of their inferior magistrates
or officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the Church of
England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and other Protestants,
to be damnable, and those to be damned who will not forsake
the same. I do further declare that I will help, assist, and
advise all or any of His Holiness' agents in any place where-
ever I shall be, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical
Protestant doctrine, and to destroy all their pretended power,
legal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare, notwith-
standing that I am dispensed with to assume any religion heret-
ical for the propagation of the Mother Church's interests, to
keep secret and private all her agents, counsels, as they entrust
376 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
me, and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, l^y word, writing
or circumstance wliatsoever, but to execute all which shall be
l^roposcd, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you my
ghostly father, or by any of this convent. All of which I, A. B.,
do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament, which
I am now to receive, to perform, and on my part to keep in-
violable; and do call all the heavenly and glorious hosts of
heaven to witness my real intentions to keep this my oath.
In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacra-
ment of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my
hand and seal, in the face of this holy convent."
"You have in this solemn oath of the Jesuits," I added, "a
sworn document which tells you more than my words that a
true Roman Catholic priest and layman must be a traitor in
your camp. For it is to the Pope that he must be obedient
in civil as well as religious matters. After such an oath to
the Pope, the oath of allegiance to the Queen is only dust
thrown into your eyes, as you may see by the following ex-
tract from the Dublin Tablet of July 26, 1851: — 'Neither in
England nor in Ireland will the Roman Catholic obey the
law. It is not a law. It is a lie. The law of God, that is,
the Pope's command, will be carried into effect; the Parlia-
ment's law will be spit upon and trampled under foot.
Rather than our loyalty to the Holy See should be in the
least degree tarnished, let ten thousand kings and queens
(Queen Victoria included) perish; let them be deposed from
their thrones. When the Pope and the Queen are placed in
antagonism to each other, and it is intimated that Her Maj-
esty would not accept a divided allegiance, we are compelled
to say plainly which allegiance we consider the more impor-
tant, and we would not hesitate to tell the Queen to her face,
that she must either be content with this divided allegiance,
or none at all. Let us never forget that whatever her boasted
authority may be, it is as nothing compared to that of the
Vicar of Jesus Christ.'
"I thank God that my coming here has forced Rome to take
Visit to Robert Town 377
away her mask and show her horns. How many among you,
before these last few days, were sincerely and so earnestly be-
lieving that the priests, the Bishop, and the people of Rome
were a law-abiding people; that the oaths they had made to
obey the Queen were the oaths of honest Christians, real
gentlemen and true patriots. But to=day you have read with
your eyes, and heard with your own ears, that one of the great-
est crimes which can be committed against the laws of the
Queen of England, is not a crime in the eyes of the Roman
Catholic Bishop, when it is committed to destroy liberty of
speech and conscience. The very men who have forcibly
broken the doors of your house with the avowed intention to
slaughter you and me, if we would dare to enjoy the most
sacred rights of a British subject — the right of conscience and
speech — have been publicly approved and publicly told that
it was their right to do it.
"Protestants of Hobert Town and Tasmania, what have you
to do now? Your eyes are opened; you know that by 'lib-
erty of conscience' Rome means that she has a right to cut
your throat and blow out your brains if you do not ask her
permission about the orators you want to hear and the sub-
jects you want to have discussed in your presence.
"Shall I advise you to retaliate and petition England to
withdraw the Emancipation Bill, and put again the chains of
slavery around the necks of those poor deluded men? No:
let them be free to worship their wafer==christ and to pros-
trate themselves before those gods made with their own
hands; let them continue to go to confession and listen to
the damning and polluting questions which Dens, Ligori,
D^breyne and all the theologians of Rome force the confes-
sor to put to his male and female penitents; let the Roman
Catholics be free as the birds of the air in the practise of
their religion. But after you will have told the Roman Cath-
olics, ' You are free to worship God according to your con-
science,' tell them: 'You will not rule our dear and beautiful
Tasmania. It is not the Pope, but it is our gracious Queen
37^ Korty Years in the Church of Christ
who will f^overn us. It is not the Holy Inquisition, but the
glorious British flag which will forever float to the breeze
over the sublime mountains and the magnificent valleys of
Tasmania.'
" Read your Bible and you will see that the greatest crime
a nation can commit is idolatry. See how God visits the idola-
tors in His terrible justice. What a difference between a
Christian country and an idolatrous one! how weak, poor,
wretched the latter looks when compared with the former!
How the power of an idolatrous peojjle melts like snow be-
fore the burning rays of the sun, when coming in contact
with a Christian one! But what is Roman Catholicism? Our
great and glorious Queen (may God bless and keep her many
years more at the head of Great Britain), our glorious Queen
Victoria herself answers my question by telling us that, be-
fore she put on her royal head the most glorious crown in the
world, she swore that Romanism is 'idolatry,' and our glori-
ous Queen Victoria is not a perjured queen. No: the words
which fell from her lips on the solemn hour of her corona-
tion rolled over all the mountains and plains of her vast em-
pire; they crossed the boundless oceans over which her glo-
rious flag floats without a rival to deny its untarnished glory,
or contest its irresistible power. The words of our glorious
Queen Victoria, when she swore that the mass of Rome is
' idolatry,' were repeated by all the echoes of heaven and
earth.
" Rome is not only idolatrous, but her idolatry is the most
degrading, impious and damning mode of idolatry the world
has ever seen.
"When the Persians adore the rising sun, they give their
homage to the most glorious object that is presented to our
human vision. That magnificent orb, which rises like a giant
every morning from behind the horizon, to pass over the
world and pour everywhere his floods of heat, life and light,
cannot be contemplated without feelings of awe and admira-
tion. Man must raise his eyes to see that glorious sun, he
Visit to Hobert Town 379
must take the eagle's wings to follow his giant march through-
out the myriads of worlds which surround him as a king. It
is easy to understand that poor, fallen and blind humanity
may take that glorious object for God. And when I see the
Persian priests of the sun in their magnificent temples, wait-
ing with their gold censers in hand for the appearance of
his rays, to chant their melodious hymns and sing their sub-
lime canticles to his glory, I know their error, but I under-
stand it; I was going to say that I can almost excuse it. I
feel an immense compassion for those poor deluded idolaters,
but at the same time I feel that they are raised above the
dust of this earth, and that their minds can be filled with
sentiments of gratitude and adoration. Their souls cannot
but receive some sparks of light and life from the inexhaust-
ible focus of light and life. But the poor deluded Roman
Catholics! are they not a thousand times more worthy of our
compassion when we see them abjectly prostrated before this
small 'wafer=god,' baked by a servant girl between two well
heated irons in her kitchen? It is imjiossible to see a spec-
tacle more ignominious and lamentable than a multitude of
men and women prostrating their faces to the dust to adore
a god that the rats and mice have many times dragged and
devoured in their dark recesses! Where are the rays of light
and life from this contemptible little cake? Instead of being
enlarged and elevated in the presence of that ridiculous
modern divinity, is not the human intelligence paralyzed and
struck with idiocy and death at its feet?
"There is great danger for England from that idolatry.
For it is of no use to shut your eyes to the truth. England,
which had evidently been chosen by God to put down the
idols of Rome, is everywhere not only relieving them, but
she helps with her own money to spread and support their
impious worship. She raises the colleges and universities
where the priests of Rome learn how to preach and perpetuate
their idolatrous religion.
" How God Almighty blessed England and made her great
380 Korty Years in the Church of Christ
and glorious when she cast off the yoke of Rome and demol-
ished her idolatry, and kept herself pure from her idols! But
how the same God will quickly withdraw His protecting arm
from England, and let her lose her past glory, if she pros-
trates herself again at the feet of the idols of the Pope!
" Who does not feel his heart saddened at the awful apos-
tasy of so many ministers of the Episcopal Church of Eng-
land, who have lately deserted the standard of Christ, and
passed over to the camp of the enemy? But who is not
still more saddened by the perfidy of a still greater number
of disguised Jesuits, who, under the name of Episcopal min-
isters and bishops of the Church of England, are at work to
destroy her by introducing one after the other the idolatries of
Rome into the temples of God?
" But no! our dear Great Britain will never bend again
her knees before the idols of Rome; she will never bow down
again her noble head to the feet of the great impostor who is
insulting God on the crumbling throne of the Vatican. Let
us hope and pray that all over the world the sons and daugh-
ters of England will rally with more fervour than ever around
the banners of Christ, in order to go to the conquest of the
world. Let every Protestant from the northern shores of old
England and dear Scotland, to the beautiful southern hem-
isphere which vou have chosen for your home, remember the
tears and the blood shed by their ancestors to break the hu-
miliating yoke of Popery, and conquer the glorious liberty
and privileges which have made them the first nation of the
world, . . . However, when I ask you in the name of
your heroic ancestors to remain true to the flag on which they
wrote with their blood, 'No surrender,' I adjure you to re-
member that you have a duty to perform towards the Roman
Catholics. It is to love them and to prove that love in doing
all in your power to show them the fatal errors which make
them the abject slaves of men. Show your love to the Roman
Catholics by telling them the truth, bravely, incessantly, every
time the good providence of God will allow you to do it.
Visit to Hobert Town 381
Not only pray for them constantly, but do all in your power
to partake with them the pure bread of the children of God,
the Word which gives joy and life to those who j)ossess
it, give them the waters which flow from the fountains
of eternal life, and which are so sweet to those who drink
them.
In order that my Christian readers may understand how
Roman Catholics understand liberty of conscience and of
speech, I will give them an illustration. On the second night,
as has been stated before, the lecture could not be given in
the Town Hall on account of the rioting. This is a specimen
of some of the dramatic scenes which occurred during my
visit at Hobert Town, as reported in the press of that city:
"The Town Hall was the arena of an extraordinary and dis-
graceful scene. It was given over to uproar and riot. Pas-
tor Chiniquy was silenced by brute force by an organized
mob of Roman Catholics. The storm might have been brew-
ing from the time the doors of the hall were opened. Num-
bers of rough=looking characters, armed with sticks, entered
early and formed a compact body in the back of the hall.
But there was deceitful calm. The audience was as quiet as
a Sunday congregation. The Pastor, who was advertised to
lecture on 'Rome, and Liberty of Conscience,' occupied the
platform, supported by the Revs. J. Cope, B. Butchers, J. Scott
and Webster.
"There was hushed silence till Mr. Webster rose to propose
that the chair should be taken by the Rev. J. Cope. This
was the prelude to lawless fury. At once there rose a deep,
tempestuous swell like the bursting of a thunderstorm. There
was no mistaking its tone; it was that of a roused and wrath-
ful passion. Yells, groans, loud expletives, hisses and fierce
shouts rent the air, accompanied by a deafening clatter of
sticks and boot heels, drowning every attempt at proceeding
with the object of the meeting. There was immediately a
scene of wildest confusion. The greater part of the hall was
filled with a respectable audience, partly women, who were
382 l^orty Years in the Church of Christ
terrified at these demonstrations of violence. All started to
their feet. The ladies rushed toward the platform as if to
seek safety there; the cushioned crimson seats were trampled
under muddy feet; the clergy besought order from the police,
of whom there were at first five or six, gathered round the
rioters, and tried, but in the mildest manner, to quell the dis-
turbance, but in vain. The clangour sounded louder, hoarser,
with all attempts to subdue it. Volleys of epithets were
showered upon the Pastor, to the rallying cry, 'Tally ho!
Tally ho!' which resounded from the lusty throat of a stout
and elderly Irishman. The disturbers would not be quieted.
All appeals from the platform were met with derisive cheers.
The Rev. Mr, Webster asked for fair play in vain; hoots
and loud cries were the only response. The police were
inactive. The supporters of the meeting were indignant.
'Why don't the police do their duty?' 'Send for more
police;' 'arrest them;' were the cries heard from all sides.
The Rev. B. Butchers, Mr. Russell Young, and C. D.
Haywood, went into the midst of the peace disturbers
to try and induce them to stay their clamour. They might
as well have tried to hold back the billows of the ocean. The
whooping chorus grew the louder. The blood of the disturb-
ers was hot and unappeasable. A disputation, a push, and
blows were struck; a melSe ensued; combatants and police
interlocked in confusion — a struggling, surging mass, grap-
pling and fighting among the forms in the body of the hall.
It was a critical monent; a general frdcas was imminent.
The Pastor sought shelter near the organ seat. No arrests
were made, and, by the intervention of some civilians aiding
the police, a momentary lull ensued; then an attempt was
made to go on with the meeting. The rabble drowned all
sounds in a tempest of malignant cries of, ' Turn him out,'
' Three groans for the apostate priest,' ' Three cheers for the
kicked-out priest,' and unrestrained opprobrious and coarse
abuse. From time to time the ministers begged a fair hearing.
'Truth,' they said, 'would not suffer from speech; let Pastor
Visit to Robert Town 383
Chiniquy be heard; those who disagreed with him might leave
the hall.' But the turbulent rioters would not leave. Drawing
breaths at intervals, their ferocity was not to be turned aside,
and delusive moments of quiet were followed by a still more
tumultuous outbreak of passion. In the midst of this mob,
a rumour went round that the Mayor was coming; the word
passed that he had been sent for, and it was hoped that he
would be able to restore something like order. But he did
not come; and the Rev. Mr. Webster made another effort to
carry on the meeting. He begged the people to be seated. He
said the meeting must be carried on, and he asked the police
(who had, by this time, been reinforced) to do their duty.
Shouts of defiance from the rioters greeted him. They had,
they said, paid for the hall, and it was an insult to allow the
Pastor to speak there; they would not allow him; they would
hear anyone but him. 'Then,' said Mr. Webster, 'we will
sing a hymn.' The mob then commenced singing, ' God save
the Queen' in bantering style and tune, but all was quiet when
the respectable portion of the audience began singing, 'There
is a Fountain Filled with Blood,' which was given out by
Mr. Webster. The reverend gentleman asked once more
that the Pastor should be allowed to be heard. A voice: ' If
he does not say anything offensive.' Mr. Butchers: 'Who is
to be the judge of that?' Mr. Webster said he would take care
that nothing offensive was said; there was no fear of that.
A voice: ' We were insulted last night.' Mr. Webster said he
had heard the Pastor's address, and there was not a word in
it to which exception could be taken. (Derisive cries, and
'No, no.') Mr. Webster appealed for fair play. A voice:
' Any other gentleman but Chiniquy.' Mr. McPherson (who
was on the platform) vehemently: ' Why don't the police do
their duty? they are paid for it by the public. Why don't
you take Fay in charge? ' (Fay, the jaerson alluded to, had
been a prominent disturber throughout.) Mr. Webster: 'No,
no. We don't want any one taken in charge. You are an
English audience. As such you must love fair play. Give
384 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the Pastor fair play; let us hear his address.' (Uproar.) A
voice: ' He is defamiii<i^ our religion; he is insulting us.' Mr.
Webster said he would be the very last one to listen to an in-
sult; he would be the first person to protest against it. But
he would hear every man. He would listen with great de-
light to Cardinal Newman, for example, if he were to come
there to speak. A voice: ' He does not attack your religion.'
(Cheers.) A voice: 'What is one man's food, is another
man's poison.' (Cheers and laughter.) ' We will listen to you
all night, Mr. Webster, but not to the Pastor.' " And so on,
till the meeting was dismissed, as stated before.
The other few days of my stay in Hobert Town were de-
voted to sight=seeing and to the organization of a Protestant
association whose object was the defense and fostering
of Protestantism. I visited all the points of interest about the
city with the greatest delight and admiration, and on the
Saturday afternoon of that eventful week, I left by the steamer
Tasman en route for New South Wales and Queensland.
CHAPTER XXXV
Ballarat and Horsham. Riots— Narrow Escapes. A Woman Spits in My
Face to Obey Her Father Confessor. The Muddy Ditch
Ballarat is one of the most remarkable and thriving cities
of New South Wales, situated in a very rich and beautiful
plain, where an enormous amount of gold has been found.
The population, when I was providentially called to spend
three weeks of evangelistic labour among its people, was
about 35,000.
Unfortunately the Roman Catholic population was very
strong, composed, as it is in too many places, largely of drunk-
ards, thieves and murderers. The goal was filled almost ex-
clusively with them, and they had furnished a great number
to the penitentiary.
As soon as they heard of my going to their city, they deter-
mined, as they have done in so many other places, to pre-
vent me from addressing the people, even if they had to mur-
der me.
But, by the great mercy of God, the intelligent and Chris-
tian Orangemen of the city knew all their plans, and they
were determined, at any cost, to defeat them.
My greatest difficulty, on my arrival, was to find a house to
dwell in. The rumor was spread that that house would surely
be destroyed by the slaves of the Pope.
At last, a respectable widow, who was living honourably by
keeping boarders, offered me her best room and I accepted it.
But my trunk had hardly been placed in the house, when a
multitude oi furious men surrounded it, pulled down the
doors and broke the windows.
This was done whilst I was delivering my first lecture.
My first words to my friends after the lecture were, " Have
385
386 Forty Years in the Church ot* Christ
you saved my trunks?" They answered, " Yes, sir, they are
all safe in the hands of a friend."
" Have you selected another house wliere I can be lodged
without any more trouble?" I asked.
"Not yet, sir; but this will soon be done. But come and
take some refreshments at a friend's house and then we will
see where you can spend the night and the rest of your time
among us, without any danger to your life, if not absolutely
in peace; for you see the war is begun by the priests; it will
be a war to the knife. But we are a match for them; if th^y
want blood they will have it to their hearts' content. We
cannot consent to be their slaves in our own dear city of Bal-
larat."
We had not proceeded far when furious cries were filling
the air all around us. Multitudes, armed with sticks and
stones, were issuing from every side street to surround us.
" Boys," cried a loud voice near me, " be calm and steady. If
you have to strike, see that every blow leaves its mark. Do not
begin the fight, but let them begin it at their risk and peril."
Had I not seen that spectacle many times before, it would
have been enough to fill me with terror. But I had seen that
in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Many times I
had had the opportunity of witnessing the heroic courage and
the admirable intelligence and sang=froid of the Orangemen
in presence of danger. And I knew my God was by me; I
felt that His mighty and merciful hand would protect us all.
In that very moment, on our left, a numerous band of Irish-
men, filling the air with cries of fury, rushed at us. At
their head, a tall woman, brandishing a stick, ran towards me
with the evident intention of striking me, but a terrible blow,
struck on her face with a hard stick by my nearest Orange
friend, brought her down on the pavement of stone.
It was a horrible sight to see that miserable woman, evi-
dently half drunk, with her hair s^jread in the dust and her
face awfully wounded and bleeding. She was crying like a
wild beast, " Murder! Murder!"
Ballarat and Horsham 387
At that very moment my nearest friend whispered:
" My dear Father Chiniquy, we are on the eve of a terrible
and bloody encounter. Please do not remain here. There is
too much danger for your life. Follow me through this nar-
row alley; my home is at the end of it. In the present tumult
nobody will see us going that way. You will spend the night
in a secret room where you will be absolutely safe from any
danger, so long as there is a drop of blood in my veins."
Without losing a single moment, I followed him through
that narrow and dark alley, and I found everything as my
kind, noble- hearted friend had promised me.
The next morning the city was filled with the noise of that
terrible riot. Nobody was killed, but there were many broken
noses and black eyes.
The rumor, at first, was that I had been killed, but they soon
learned that I was safe in the house of a popular and worthy
Presbyterian minister of the Gospel, the Rev. Mr. Quick.
At first, the ministers of the city had determined to ignore
me during my evangelistic work in their city, on account of
the evident and terrible dangers which would accompany me
wherever I might lodge.
But the wife of that worthy minister of Christ had told him
at breakfast, " It is a burning shame to let Father Chiniquy
expose his life in helping us to confound and fight the great-
est enemy of the Gospel. We ought to give him a shelter
under our Christian roof. Please go and ask him to come
and spend the whole time he will be in Ballarat, with us."
That noble Christian lady came nearly paying with her life
for her charity tovvards me.
That same evening, a moment after my coming back from
lecturing, she was standing by the window, when her husband
remarked that that was a dangerous place. " My dear," said
he, " so long as Father Chiniquy is our guest, do not stand
at night before the windows, for a pistol shot or a stone can
come to show your imprudence."
Strange to say, she had hardly left the window to sit in a
388 Fortv Years in the Church of Christ
Bafe place, when a volley of big stones went through that win-
dow, broke every part of it, crossed the room and smashed
into fragments a mirror at the other end of the parlour.
It would be too long and tedious to give the details of that
mission in Ballarat. Suffice it to say that it was blessed by
fifty Roman Catholics who left their Pope to follow Christ.
I must not, however, omit saying that all our meetings were
attended with more or less troubles of a dangerous character,
and that the Orangemen put a guard of twelve fearless men to
protect us every night.
But I cannot omit to mention a striking act of the priests
of Rome against us.
The day I left, I learned, when at the railway station, that
the trains were half an hour behind time.
When patiently waiting in the midst of many friends who
had accompanied me to give me their last farewell, I saw a
tall lady, splendidly dressed, advancing towards me at a double*
quick pace.
My first thought was to move a little to the left side and
let her pass, but she turned with me, and she was soon face
to face with me. I thought she was a half crazy woman who
wanted to kiss me. I felt ashamed and made a back step.
But she soon filled the distance I had put between her and
me. Quicker than I can write these lines, she was again face
to face with me.
Then, without giving me time to make a new back step, she
threw from her mouth an immense quantity of dirt and spat
it in my face.
I felt absolutely blinded, my eyes were utterly filled, and my
face was comj^letely covered with dirt.
In a moment she disappeared, running full speed.
The reader may imagine the surprise and indignation of
my numerous friends at such a public and daring insult.
Some of them went to get some fresh water and a towel to
wash and cleanse my face, while other friends, witii a police-
man, were running after the strange woman.
Ballarat and Horsham 389
Ten minutes later my face was cleansed, but my eyes were
very dim. However, I could see enough to observe the indig-
nation of the crowd.
The tall lady, trembling and pale as death, was standing by
me, in the midst of the multitude by whom I was surrounded.
My secretary told me: "Here is the miserable woman
who has just now so cruelly insulted you. What do you wish
us to do with her?"
Looking at her, I said: " Is it not your Father Confessoi
who ordered you to do that action?"
With trembling voice she answered: "Yes, sir. It was
my Father Confessor who ordered me to do that."
Then looking to the people by whom I was surrounded, I
said:
" Did our Saviour order those who spat in His face to
be punished? No. But He forgave them, so I do not wish
this woman to be punished. Let her go back home in peace."
I forgave her what she had done me.
A few minutes later I departed on the next train.
After a few days of evangelistic labour in some of the thriv-
ing towns and villages around Ballarat, the good Mr. Cameron,
of Horsham, persuaded me to go and spend a couple of days
in his interesting town about one hundred miles distant.
All along the way I had again to admire the vast and so
well cultivated fields, the splendid cattle, many thousands of
sheep, waiting for the scissors of the shearers or the cruel
knife of the butcher.
The splendid cottage of Mr. Cameron was fitted with all
that good taste and wealth could offer to make a home pleasant
and healthful. I really felt delighted when receiving the noble
hospitality of that gentleman and his accomplished lady in
that distant land. He took me at night to the church where I
was to deliver my lecture. The distance was not more than
two miles.
When on the way he told me, " We have nothing to fear,
here, this evening from the Roman Catholics. Their village
390 Forty Years in the Church ot Christ
is more than five miles distant from ours. Thej^ surely will
not travel such a long distance to trouble us, and the few who
live with us have always been peaceful.''
" You must not rely too much on those circumstances to
hope for peace this night," I answered him. "The Irish
Roman Catholics, like the wolves of the prairies, can travel
more than five miles to quench their thirst for mischief and
blood. Though naturally good, intelligent, brave, hospitable
and religious, they are turned into wild beasts by their monks
and priests, not only in Ireland, but everywhere they go. Let
us pray God to protect us this night, if your good minister
and his people have done nothing to prevent the Irish from
giving us new tokens of their cruel fanaticism. For such wild
beasts, half drunk, it would not take much time to travel five
or six miles to disturb our meeting if it is their priest's mind
to do it."
My address was not yet finished when a volley of stones broke
all the windows, struck me and many of my hearers.
Let the reader understand the horror of our situation
when I tell him that, relying on the distance of the Irish
village, not a single one had taken any weapon, not even a
cane, to comfort and protect himself. We were absolutely
in their hands and at their mercy, for they were evidently
all armed with stones, sticks, etc.
Their usual furious and beastly cries were filling the air.
"Kill him! Kill him!" was heard from all sides around
the church. Inside the church the cries of the ladies and
the supplications of many Protestants were the sad and only
music in my ears, after my address.
Mr. Cameron came to me and whispered in my ear: " Do
not go out of the church, for they are watching you, and
they will surely kill you if they find an opportunity. The
only way to escajje I see is in a secret back door, of which,
providentially, I have the key with me. They know nothing
about that door. Go through it and walk straight on till you
find a large and deep ditch, usually half filled with mud and
Ballarat and Horsham 391
water. When there, walk the best you can towards your left.
Keep your head down as much as possible, for though it
is very dark, they might see you when they will cross the
ditch in search of you. Walk nearly half a mile in that ditch,
and then you will meet me with my carriage. I will be there
in the dark, with Mrs. Cameron, waiting for you, and I hope
by the mercy of God I will take you safely to my home."
A few minutes later I was in that ditch, which I shall never
forget, though I might live a thousand years. I found it
deeper and filled with more water than I had expected. In
many places I had to crawl on my hands and knees in order
not to be seen, for I was constantly hearing voices saying:
"Where is he? Where is he?" when my would=be mur-
derers were jumping over it some times at a very short dis-
tance from me.
Though I had hardly a mile to walk, or rather crawl, I
found the way very long and exhausting. I was absolutely
out of breath when I found myself at the end of it. I surely
looked more like a frog than a man when they helped me to
my seat in the carriage.
But we were not yet at the end of our journey. How can
I tell you what our feelings were when we found that during
our absence the beautiful and richly funished cottage had
been visited by my would=be murderers? When those faith-
ful servants of the Pope had found that we were not there,
and could not kill us, they had destroyed everything they
could lay their hands on. The rich and beautiful piano was
destroyed, the fine glasses on the walls, and the chairs and sofas
were broken into fragments. They did not set fire to the
house only for fear that the light would make them known
when moving away from the spot.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Abbe Fluet's Conversion, Temptation and Final Triumphs.
The 10th of July, 1881, I received the following letter: —
" Sandwich.
"Dear Mr. Chiniquy: —
" My dear father is very sick. He has not many days to live.
He wants you to be by his side in these solemn days to help
him to prepare himself to die, as he has lived, a true Chris-
tian.
" Please grant us that favour.
"Respectfully yours,
"(Signed) Mary Williams,
" n6e Fluet."
The reader will ask me, " Who is that Fluet who wants
you by his bedside when at his last hour of life?"
My regret, when answering that question is that I have
only a short chapter to offer, when I could write such an
interesting volume on that remarkable man, the first French
Canadian Roman Catholic priest whom I have known brave
enough to throw off the heavy and ignominious yoke of the
Pope to follow Christ.
In the year 1831, when a professor of belles lettres in the
college of Nicolet, the director, Rev. I. Leprohon, used very
often to show his friendly feelings in sitting by me during the
hours of recreation, under the shadows of the giant pino trees,
which made an earthly paradise of that never4o=be forgotten
spot.
That venerable man was my benefactor. I loved him as a
father and I venerated him as a saint.
Though many times he expressed his desire that I should
become his successor as director of that college, I refused to
392
Abbe Fluet's Conversion 393
consent. The principal object of his conversations was to
initiate me into the numerous little mysteries, difficulties and
responsibilities of his position. He was often speaking of
the difficult art of knowing the characters of the men by whom
we are surrounded, in order to become a source of blessing
and usefulness to them.
This caused me one day to put him the following ques-
tion:
" As you have been the director of this college for more
than twenty years, you have had to deal with a great number
of professors; is it an indiscretion to ask you whom you con-
sider the best among the many ecclesiastics and professors who
have laboured under you while the director of the college at
Nicolet?"
He answered me: " Your question is a very delicate one,
and the answer you want is still more delicate and difficult
Give me twenty*four hours to think and I will answer you."
My curiosity was not a little stimulated by that promise.
I was longing for the moment when I would know the name
of the most worthy man who had served as professor and
teacher in that college of Nicolet which was so dear to me.
I was not a little pleased, when, the next day, I saw him
coming to me with such a smiling face that I could see I was
not to be disappointed.
After the most mature consideration, he said: "The best
professor and the most perfect ecclesiastic I have known in the
college of Nicolet is Mr. Fluet. I have never seen a man so
gifted with all the virtues which make a true Christian and a
perfect gentleman. As you were his most intimate friend,
you remember how he was constantly referring to his New
Testament on almost every subject of conversation. The
name of Jesus, so often on his lips, was the sure indication
that he was keeping himself as perfectly united to our
Saviour as a man can be. His knowledge as a theologian
and a philosopher was above everything I have seen among
my acquaintances. To those moral qualities, the good provi-
394 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
dence of God has friven him some of the lii^diest physical
(jnalities of the ))ody. He was one of the most handsome men,
and he had one of the sweetest and most melodious voices I
have ever heard."
" I then can answer your question of yesterday by assuring
you that Mr. Fluet was the most accomplished professor the
college of Nicolet ever had. I have not known any one who
gained the esteem and commanded the respect of all in our
college as Fluet did
"The day he left us to be ordained a priest and go as a
missionary to Sandwich, was a day of universal sorrow. But
we consoled ourselves of his absence by the knowledge of the
good he is doing in the vast missionary field of the west of
Canada where he is working since he left us.
"The details he gives me in all his letters of his missionary
labours very often draw my tears of admiration and gratitude
to God. It is surely an honour and blessing for the college
of Nicolet to have given such a priest to the Church."
I answered Mr. Leprohon: "You have not exaggerated the
good qualities of Mr. Fluet. As I had been his most inti-
mate friend when he was with us, the morel knew him the
more I admired him."
This conversation had done me much good. I felt happy
to see that my respected superior was sharing my views
about my friend. My last thought when going to bed at the
close of that day was to thank God for having given me such
a friend.
The next day was a stormy day, which I could never forget
should I live a thousand years. Two of our noblest pine-trees
had been shattered into fragments by the lightning and
brought down by the hurricane with a terrible noise.
It seemed impossible to get any mail in such a storm, but
in this we were to be happily disappointed; for our long
wished=for letters arrived, though six hours later than usual.
However, I was among the disappointed of that day. No
letters for me. My business was then to look at the more
Abbe Fluet's Conversion 395
lucky ones whose eyes were running from line to line of the
messages they had received. My attention was particularly
riveted on our good director, Mr. Leprohon, who, convulsively
raising his hands towards heaven, was crying, "My Grod!
My God! This is not possible. This cannot be! "
Suspecting that he had received the sad news of the death
of some dear friend or relative, I kept silent to show my re-
spect for his grief.
But after a few moments of unspeakable grief, turning
towards me, he said, " Dear Chiniquy, I have just received
the most deplorable, the most incredible news. I do not dare
to tell it to you. It is incredible. My God! This is not
possible! I cannot consent to give you such a deplorable
message. Try to find it out. But you cannot."
After a moment of silent anxiety and surprise I answered,
" You have just received the saddest, the most incredible
news which could come to you and to me, and you want me
to guess at it? Well! Well! The most incredible and the
saddest news that can come to me is that Mr. Fluet has
become an apostate, and that he has turned to be a Prot-
estant."
"How can you say that?" replied Mr. Leprohon, with an
accent of terror and unmistakable sorrow.
" Because it comes to my mind as a flash of lightning as
being the most incredible and the most desolating news I can
receive," I answered.
" This is more than strange," replied Mr. Leprohon. " You
are correct; Fluet is an apostate. He has just publicly
abandoned our holy religion. He is a Protestant."
This news spread like a thunderbolt all over Canada.
And it created unspeakable surprise and sorrow wherever it
was told.
No French Canadian Roman Catholic priest had left our
Church for more than sixty years. The humble people of the
country, as well as the highly educated ones of the city, had
almost come to the conclusion that their religion of Rome
396 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
was on such sure foundations that nothing could shake it.
Of course since my conversion, they had a good opportu-
nity to change their minds, as hundreds of priests and monks
have left the Pope to follow Christ, in America.
The following facts were also calculated to give them more
correct views.
In the spring of 1851, just twenty years later, the Bishop
of Chicago, my Lord Vandevelde, having asked me to go to
the State of Illinois in order to direct the tide of the French
speaking emigrants from France, Belgium and Canada to-
wards the magnificent plains of that state, in order to form a
new France, I went to ask the benediction of my Lord Bour-
get, Bishop of Montreal. After receiving it I told him: "My
Lord, you know that I cannot go to Illinois without passing
through Sandwich, which is on this side of the River St.
Clair, the dividing line between the United States and Canada.
Allow me to tell you that I cannot pass by Sandwich without
saluting my old friend, the Rev. Mr. Fluet, and making an
effort to help him to come back to our holy Church, of which
he has been so long one of the most devoted and respected
priests. I have invited the Rev. Mr. Brassard, curate of
Longueuil, to accompany me, for he was one of the most
devoted friends of Mr. Fluet. I hope that our united efforts,
with the help of God, will determine that stray sheep to come
back to the true fold."
" Oh!" cried Bishop Bourget, "yes, go and bring back that
stray sheep. I will do anything to help you in this holy work.
I will immediately write to all our priests and good nuns to
unite in prayer, that you may succeed. Oh! what a victory
over the enemy of our holy Church if you can persuade Mr.
Fluet to come back to us. I have known him personally and
1 had such a high opinion of his piety, his zeal and his
matchless capacity."
"Yes, my Lord," I answered, "this is all right, but you must
not forget that Mr. Fluet is married, that ho is poor and that
he has at least three or four children. It would be more than
Abbe Fluet's Conversion 397
ridiculous and unbecoming to invite him to let that woman
and those children starve by deserting them in that cowardly
way. We cannot extend to him a helping hand out of the
bottomless pit into which he has fallen without presenting
to his wife and children the means of an honest living."
" You are right, Mr. Chiniquy, you are perfectly right,'
said the Bishop. " We cannot invite Rev. Fluet to let his wife
and children starve, after his conversion. How much do you
think that we must o&ev him for the support of his family?"
" We cannot offer him less than $10,000," I answered.
" Though it is a pretty big sum to give, I will ask the ad-
vice of my secretary and my other counselors, and if they
are of the same mind with me, you shall have the money you
want. Ten thousand dollars are nothing to our holy Church
compared with the loss of a priest like Mr. Fluet."
To the honour of the counselors of the Bishop, I am happy
to say that in less than half an hour, the $10,000 were safe in
my little purse, and I was on my way to Lachine to the
steamer which was to take us to Detroit. Three days later we
were in the beautiful parlour of Mr. Baby, the judge of Sand-
wich, on the Canadian shore. A few years before, I had made
the acquaintance of that gentleman in Quebec, and I had
known from his own lips that he used to employ Mr. Fluet as
his legal advisor, and had business to transact with him almost
every day. He had said to me, " The only defect of Mr. Fluet
is that he is a Protestant. Apart from that he is a true gen-
tleman, and one of the most honest men I have ever known."
No words can give an idea of Judge Baby's surprise when
Mr. Brassard and I told him that we were the most devoted
admirers of Mr. Fluet while in the Seminary of Nicolet, and
that we had come to Sandwich to make a supreme effort to
bring him back to our holy religion.
" My impression is that you would easily succeed if he were
alone. Though a Protestant and an apostate, he is not such
an enemy of our holy Church as people think. He is the
best gardener of Sandwich and you will find in his garden
J9^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
the most beautiful flowers which can grow in Canada. And
do you know what he does with a part of those flowers? I
would not believe it had I not seen it with my own eyes.
Once and often twice a week he makes one or two splendid
bouquets with them which he asks his young daughters to put
on the altar of our Church. The greatest difficulty you will
meet is his poverty. His wife and children would surely
starve if they had not the modest income derived from his
daily work among us as notary."
I then showed him my cheque of $10,000 for the support of
Mrs. Fluet and her children in case they would all consent
to become Roman Catholics, and let her husband make his
peace with the Church he has denied.
" This $10,000 may be a great factor in your holy mission,"
said Judge Baby, " but I see a more formidable obstacle in
the character of Mrs. Fluet. She is a most honourable lady,
but her character and her will are formed of granite of the
hardest quality. She sincerely loves and respects her hus-
band, and she is one of the most dutiful and loving mothers I
have ever seen. Like a furious lioness, she will tear the hand
which will take her children from her and she will demolish
those who will try to deprive her of her husband."
I met the objections of Judge Baby by saying that I
knew the success of our mission required a true miracle of
the grace of God, but my faith was strong enough to hope
that tliat miracle would be wrought. " The first thing we
have to do," I said, "is to meet Mr. Fluet. He knows nothing
of our presence here. He would at once come here if
you had the kindness to address him a short note saying that
you want him for an important business. You have told us
that he is your notary. No doubt he is accustomed to come
and see you often about his legal business."
" That is just what I will do. Remain in the parlour wait-
ing for Mr. Fluet, who will be here in a few moments." An
hour later Mr. Fluet was knocking at the door, expecting to
meet Judge Baby.
Abbe Fluet's Conversion 399
Though he had not seen us for just twenty years, he recog-
nized us at once.
With a cry mixed with joy and surprise, he exclaimed,
" Merciful Grod! Brassard and Chiniquy here!" Half fainting
with his uncontrollable emotion, he threw himself into our
arms, without being able to utter any other words than " Bras-
sard and Chiniquy here!" Torrents of tears which ran down
his cheeks helped him to come to himself. Bathing our
hands with his tears he was crying, " Is it possible they think
of me and still love me in Canada?" " Yes, we think of you
and we still love you in Canada. You see it in our presence
here. It is in the name of your former friends, the priests and
the Bishop of Montreal, that we come to salute you and to
press you to our hearts."
After at least an hour of the most friendly conversation about
his old acquaintances in Canada, I introduced the delicate
and real subject of our mission, but in such a friendly manner
that he could not be offended.
" I understand and respect the object of your visit," he said.
" My only surprise is that you have so long delayed it. But
do not forget that I am married and that I have four children.
St. Paul says marriage is a great mystery. It makes only one
of two human beings. We must be one, not only in body,
but in mind and aspirations. I cannot tell what I can do
without consulting Mrs. Fluet. I am going back home
at 4 P. M. and I will give you my answer, rather her
answer," he added with the most amiable smile.
The $10,000 note I had shown him had not drawn from him
the expression of gratitude I expected. He had refused to
touch it, and only said when looking at it. " It is very kind and
generous on the part of the Bishop and the priests of Canada."
The hours from 10 a. m. to 4 P. M. seemed to me as long
as a century. My heart was throbbing between the hope of
success and the fear of disappointment.
At last the clock struck four and our friend was again
pressing us to his bosom.
400 Forty Years In the Church of Christ
The preliminaries of this last conversation were short, and
to my anxious question, "What news do you bring us?" he
answered :
" I never saw anything like the wrath and indignation of
my wife, when I told her the message you had brought
from Canada for us both. *Is it possible,' she said, 'that the
priests of Rome are so degraded and so blind as to believe
that their money could tempt me to break the sacred and
most blessed ties that unite me to you ? Go and tell them
that there is not gold enough in Canada, nor in the whole
world, to tempt me to trample under my feet the honoured and
blessed crowns of wife and mother which the great God that
governs this world has given me. I love you, Mr. Fluet; you
know it, but do not forget it, it is my conviction that there
are not tortures enough on earth to punish you as you deserve
if you were deserting me to go back and wallow in the mire
in which the priests of Rome are living. To split your head
with an ax with my own hands would be too mild a vengeance
for the crime you would commit in deserting me to obey the
precepts of a church which I know, as well as you, is the
masterpiece of the devil, etc'
"Please do not ask me to give you in detail all the com-
pliments she paid you for your friendly message. You now
hear enough to show you that it is absolutely impossible for
me to break the sacred ties which have made me the happy
father of children, who with me will bless the good God of
heaven during all eternity for their existence. But I hope
that this stern determination of Mrs. Fluet will not break the
blessed ties of friendship which united us together."
With these words he shook hands with us and went back
to his happy home.
" It is just as I expected," said Judge Baby. " Mr. Fluet's
family is one of the most happy and respectable at Sandwich.
He is not rich, but he has enough for the every day wants.
Though he is not an aggressive man, in that he does not preach
against our holy religion, his example does a great injury to
Abbe Fluet's Conversion 401
our Church. Our priests have made a terrible mistake by
publishing that he was a drunkard, a wicked man who was
beating his wife They know that these reports are vile cal-
umnies, for Mr. Fluet is a perfect example of sobriety, being
one of our most faithful teetotalers."
Though I failed in my efforts to persuade him to make his
peace with the Church of Rome, I kept up a course of friendly
letters with him when forming my French colony in Illinois.
The reader may imagine his joy when I wrote him all about
my conversion. He answered me with a letter bathed with
tears of joy.
CHAPTER XXXVII
The Truth Proclaimed at Montague. Narrow Escape. Brutally Struck
Whilst on the Steamer. I Forgive My Aggressor.
The 6th of August, 1886, I arrived at Montague, one of
the most interesting towns of Prince Edward Island. The
weather was splendid. Mr. McLeod who gave me hospitality
in his house, after extending to me a most hearty welcome,
said: "There is great excitement in the town on account of
your coming, but we have a good number of Orangemen here,
and with the help of God we will protect you.
At the evening meeting the fine new church was crowded
to its utmost capacity. Among the crowd were many Irish
Roman Catholics and some French Canadians. The address
was on the idolatry of the Church of Rome, which worships
a god made with a wafer. To my great joy several Romanists
came to shake hands with me at the close of my address, say-
ing: "Thank you; you have said the truth: we will no longer
worship a god made by the servants of the priests."
I blessed God for the result of that address, and my hope
was that my humble labours there would be fructified by the
God of the Gospel.
When my hostess showed me to my room at night I re-
marked that it was very near the street, and that it was too
much exposed to the stones of the rioters, if there should be
any trouble in the night. Then the good lady gave me
another room which could not be exposed to the stones from
the street. We went to bed after asking God to protect us
during the night. He had heard our prayer and granted our
humble petition.
At about twelve o'clock — the night was very dark — I was
awakened by a frightful noise. Evidently the window of
402
The Truth Proclaimed at Montague 403
the first room which the good lady had prepared for me was
smashed to pieces, and stone after stone was pouring into the
room. I kept as quiet as possible in my room that they
might not see their error. Of course no one was hurt, as
there was no one there. The reader may imagine the excite-
ment in the morning when the people came to see the broken
window and the many big stones on the floor and on the bed,
every one of which could have killed a man. I had to thank
God for having inspired me not to take that room, for I
surely would have been killed there. Many friends came
during the forenoon to congratulate me on my narrow escape,
and I joined my thanksgiving to theirs, to the God of the
Gospel who had so visibly protected me. Several friends
proposed to make legal inquiries to find out the rioters and
the would=be murderers, but I prevented them, saying that
the best thing we could do was to follow the example of our
Saviour, " Forgive and forget."
As I was to give an address that same evening in another
place, I prepared myself to take the steamer which was to
leave at noon, but when on the boat I saw that I had made a
mistake; I found that the steamer instead of leaving at noon,
was to leave only at 2 P. M. The captain and his crew were
on shore taking their dinner. I had dismissed the friends
who had accompanied me to the steamer and I remained
alone with a few passengers. I took a chair and sat on the
rear of the deck reading my Bible. I had not been there
long when I heard rapid steps approaching me. and, looking
up, I saw a giant man, with rough face, walking up to me
and uttering terrible imprecations, saying: "D apostate!
this is your last day! "
My first thought was that it was his intention to throw me
overboard. I cried to my God for help. But I was mis-
taken. Instead of trying to throw me into the water, he
raised his terrible arm and gave me a blow evidently intended
for my left temple. By the mercy of God he missed his aim;
for he would surely have killed me instantly had he struck
404 Forty Years in the Church ot Christ
the temple. His fist struck the cheek-bone, one of the strong-
est parts of the human body. I fell unconscious on the deck,
where I suppose I remained two or three minutes. When I
came back to myself I found three good ladies washing my
face with cold water and crying: " My God! my God! he has
killed him!" My mouth was filled with blood and my nose
was bleeding profusely; trying to speak I felt that one of
my teeth was broken. Quite a crowd of friends surrounded
me and helped me to stand upon my feet, expressing their
indignation at the brutal attack of which I had been the
victim.
A few minutes later another crowd arrived, having in their
midst my would=be murderer. These were Orangemen who
were working on the shore near the steamer, and who had
seen him when he struck me. Quick as lightning everyone
of them had armed himself with sticks and was running
after the faithful servant of the Pope. Having overpowered
him they forced him to march back to me in order that I
might have him punished as he deserved. One of them
said: " Here is the infamous coward who has just struck you;
we saw him from the shore, and we have brought him back
to you that you may tell us what to do with him and he be
punished as he deserves." I answered him : " My dear friends,
when our dear Saviour was struck on one cheek, did He ask
His Father or His apostles to punish and strike his enemies?
No. On the cross where He was nailed He prayed to His
Father for those who had crucified Him, saying: ' Father, for-
give them, for they know not what they do.' Well, the only
thing we have to do is to dismiss the man, and to pray our
Heavenly Father that He may help him to know the Gospel
truth, and to give up the errors of the Church of Rome which
has made him so blind and so cruel. Give me his name and
let him go." They told me that his name was Wm. S. Monds.
The empty place of the missing tooth is a daily witness of
what I have suffered for my dear Saviour's sake, and I bless
Him for it.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
A Vindication
/ am. become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me, 2 Cor. 12: 2.
Paul, being calumniated by false disciples, felt bound to
vindicate himself and to show how fully his apostolic position
was evidenced by his life and his fruitful labors.
False disciples having yet the same method of attack as
those in the time of Paul, must be fought with the same
weapons as those of the apostle.
Again and again since my conversion to Protestantism I
have read in the Roman Catholic press that no respectable
Protestant would have anything to do with me. Such slan-
ders were specially current about the year 1892, and formed a
part of a great scheme plotted by the Roman Catholic clergy
of Canada, no doubt the evident purpose of which was to
take away my honour, to kill me morally, seeing that the va-
rious attempts to take away my life had been frustrated.
It was so manifestly the case that even newspapers could
not help noticing it.
If you look in the file of the Montreal Witness for the
year 1892, you can read in an editorial of the 10th of March
the following item:
" We see by an Iowa paper that Mr. Chiniquy is lecturing
there and that he is pursued by carefully concocted slander
of the vilest kind, which would appear to have been fur-
nished by some slander bureau in Canada.
"Such attacks, when publicly made where Mr. Chiniquy
is known, are comparatively harmless, as he is well able to
shame his slanderers, and they only furnish him with a more
405
4o6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
effective text. It is a sufficient answer to such abuse that
though he has been similarly vilified ever since he left the
Church of Rome, he is still, as he has })een for over twenty
years, a minister in good standing of the Presbyterian Church
of Canada."
A Roman Catholic under the name of Kentucky Ben hav-
ing published in that same paper similar stupid slanders, I
thought I was in duty bound to write and pul)lish an answer.
As many new facts and events of my forty years in the
Church of Christ are brought out in that answer, I judge it
proper to insert it in this book.
"Editor of The Witness:
" Sir: — If your Protestant readers have had as much pleas-
ure as myself in perusing the last article of my Roman Catho-
lic friend, ' Kentucky Ben,' they will unite with me in ad-
dressing him our public thanks. For that correspondent
does not touch a single point of the subject of the controversy.
In order to enjoy the pleasure of personal abuse and slander,
he has not only given to your readers the best proof that my
arguments were unanswerable, but he has also shown what
kind of honesty and truthfulness we must expect when argu-
ing with a Roman Catholic.
"Yes! let your readers see again his first article and my
answer, with his last reply; and they will find that no at-
tempt has been made to touch a single one of my arguments.
And why so? It is simply because Roman Catholics, being
unable to meet us on the fair ground of argument, are
forced to shift the questions, and they resort to abuse, of
which they always have a rich stock. Finding himself
utterly incapable of denying or of refuting the blasphe-
mous and idolatrous teachings of his Church, which I had
copied word by word from his most approved authors, he
thought that he would forever crush me into atoms by calling
me ' apostate,' and by assuring you that ' No respectable
A Vindication 407
Protestant . . . would associate with him' (Chiniquy).
But, as he has not deigned to give any proof of my public-
degradation and rejection from the company and intercourse
with respectable Protestants, I will fill that gajj and give you
a few facts which will show that not only ' Kentucky Ben,'
but that all the Bishops and priests of Canada, with the
whole Roman Catholic press of Montreal and Quebec, are
honest when they proclaim from morning till night these last
thirty years that the apostate Chiniquy is so degraded that
' No respectable Protestant would associate with him,'
" Surely, they will be grateful to me for giving them the
unanswerable proofs of that supreme degradation, under the
burden of which I am crushed to the ground.
"First Fact: A few months after my conversion from
Romanism to the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, my people of
St. Anne, Illinois, were visited in 1859 by a terrible calamity.
They lost their crops, and they had not enough to live on
two months. The ministers and people of Washington,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Plattsburg,
Springfield, Chicago, Lafayette and many other cities, having
heard of that calamity, invited me to go and address them.
During the three months I spoke to these people, the large
churches and the immense halls were never large enough for
the multitudes who wanted to hear me. Those multitudes
not only wanted to have a little talk with the infamous
apostate Chiniquy — but they wanted to press his hand — and
when pressing his hands, they let $75,000 slip into them as a
public token of their horror and contempt for him. Those
$75,000 not only saved my dear colony of St. Anne from a
sure ruin, but they became the first irrefutable proof that
Chiniquy was so degraded that no respectable Protestant
would associate with him.
"Second Fact: The next year, 1860, was the three hundreth
anniversary of the Protestant Reformation of Scotland. An
evangelical festivity such as the world had never seen was
prepared in Edinburgh, to which the most prominent Protes-
4o8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
tant ministers and laymen were invited. The committee
appointed to make those invitations in the name of the Scotch
people were Rev. Doctors Guthrie, Cunningham and Begg.
These gentlemen wrote me a most polite invitation to go and
attend their grand meeting in Edinburgh. When I arrived
in the midst of that venerable assembly, there were such
cries of joy, such clapping of hands, such stamping of feet,
such manifestations of joy that, for a long time, it was
impossible for me or anybody else to say a word. Though
the rule had been passed that no orator should speak more
than once, I was asked and forced to speak three times.
After the assembly, four hundred of the principal ministers
pressed me to go and address their people and I spent six
months lecturing in the cities of London, Glasgow, Liverpool,
Birmingham, Bath, Manchester, Brampton, Sheffield, Oxford,
Edinburgh, Armagh, Kingstown, Queenstown, York, etc. To
show me further their supreme contempt for my person and
my work, as proclaimed by Mr. ' Kentucky Ben,' they gave
me $25,000 before I left their noble country, for my humble
labour.
" Third Fact: When I was lecturing in Glasgow, the rich-
est merchant of that city, John Henderson, invited me to
his magnificent mansion that I might take a few days of rest.
The second day he invited a great number of the ministers
of Glasgow to a soir6e, at the end of which he presented me
with a purse filled with $2,000 in gold, that Mr. * Kentucky
Ben' and the whole Roman Catholic people might under-
stand and publish tiiat 'the apostate Chiniquy was so
degraded that no respectable Protestant would associate with
him.'
" Fourth Fact : When I was lecturing in Great Britain, the
Synod of the Free Protestant Church of France, which was
held at St. Etienne, invited me, through their illustrious
president, Frederic Monod, to attend their meetings. I ac-
cepted that honour. I went to St. Etienne and addressed
that venerable Church of France twice, that I might give a
A Vindication 409
proof to Mr. 'Kentucky Ben' that no respectable Protestant
would have anything to do with the infamous apostate
Chiniquy.
"Fifth Fact: When I went back to my colony of St. Anne,
Illinois, in 1861, I was the witness of the terrible civil war
between the North and the South of the United States. As
I was the personal friend of President Abraham Lincoln, I
used to visit him every year in his grand white mansion at
Washington, and that illustrious man each time overwhelmed
me with the marks of his esteem. But the last time he gave
me such a grand proof of it that I think it is my duty here to
tell it. It was on the 8th of June, 1864, he told me:
" ' To-morrow afternoon I will receive the delegation of the
deputies of all the loyal states sent to officially announce the
desire of the country that I should remain the President four
years more. I invite you to be present with them at that in-
teresting meeting. You will see some of the most prominent
men of our Republic, and I will be happy to introduce you to
them. You will not present yourself as a delegate of the peo-
ple, but only as the guest of the President, and, that there may
be no trouble, I give you this card with a permit to enter with
the delegation. But do not leave Washington before I see
you again. I have some important matter on which I want
to know your mind.'
" And the next day that infamous apostate Chiniquy was
put the first at the right hand of the Protestant President of
the United States, and introduced by him to the most illus-
trious Protestants of that great Republic, that my friend,
' Kentucky Ben,' and all his compeers in the Church of Rome
might have the right to proclaim to their people, that the
' apostate Chiniquy is so degraded that no respectable Protes-
tant would associate with him.'
"Sixth Fad: In 1874 the whole Protestant people of Eng-
land wanted to congratulate the German Emperor and his
Prime Minister, Bismarck, for the noble rebuke they had given
to the Pope, when he (the Pope) had so insolently written to
41 o P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
the Emperor that, because he had been baptized, he ought to
consider himself a spiritual subject of the Pope.
"A grand meeting was convoked at the splendid Exeter Hall
of London, when the best Protestant orators of the time were
selected to speak and prepare the address which was to be put
into the hands of the German ambassador for his Emperor.
"Well, the committee of organization of the memorable as-
sembly requested me in a polite letter to go again to England
to address that meeting, and I went. I spoke there twice in
the presence of all England's noblest Protestant sons and
daughters,
"These providential and surely unmerited honours were
given me that the Bishops and priests of Rome might proclaim
with all their trumpets and through Mr. ' Kentucky Ben,' that
the 'apostate Chiniquy was so degraded that no respectable
Protestant would associate with him.'
"Seventh Fact: I forgot to mention that the first time I
addressed the people of London in their immense Exeter Hall,
the crowd was so great that thousands of people had been
unable to enter. That the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon had introduced
me to the people of that great metropolitan city of England,
and that the Viceroy, one of the greatest heroes of India, Sir
John Lawrence, had consented to act as the president of that
meeting. These three facts prove to a certainty that the
priests of Rome and Mr. ' Kentucky Ben ' are perfectly
honest when they assure their people that the 'apostate
Chiniquy is so degraded that no respectable Protestant would
associate with him.'
"Eighth Fact: The second time I was invited to go to
England in order to congratulate the Emperor of Germany,
in 1874, two hundred ministers requested me not to leave
their country before addressing their people on the errors and
idolatries of the Church of Rome. And I spent again six
months in lecturing on those sad subjects in one hundred
and twenty of the cities of Great Britain. The noble Prot-
estant people gave me again $28,000 as the expression of
A Vindication 41 1
their Christian sympathies, that the whole world might know
that the priests of Rome and Mr. ' Kentucky Ben ' are per-
fectly honest when they say that I was so degraded in the
eyes of the Protestants that no respectable person would have
anything to do with me.
"Ninth Fact: When I returned from that second excur-
sion to England the grand Presbyterian Church of Canada
wanted me to leave my dear mission of Illinois in order to
preach to my French^Canadian countrymen of Canada.
They rented a good, comfortable house in Montreal for me
and my family, and gave me a sum of money much above my
merit for my work. In unity and under the supervision of
that grand Presbyterian Church, I laboured from 1874 to
1878 in Canada with such an admirable success that four
thousand French=Canadians of Montreal and vicinity left the
errors and idolatries of Rome to accept the Gospel of Christ,
and they formed several congregations of converts. I stopped
that work only when, being quite exhausted, I was ordered
by my physician to go and take the bracing air of the Pacific
Ocean in 1878.
"During these four years almost all the ministers of Mon-
treal had requested me to address their people, and it was my
privilege to speak in Montreal, Toronto, Kingston, London,
Guelph, Sarnia, Windsor, Quebec, Halifax, St. Johns, N. B.,
Peterboro, Muskoka, Ottawa, Bothwell, Belleville, Brockville,
Dundas, Hamilton, and two hundred and fifty other cities
and towns.
" These facts are evidence again that the priests of Rome
and ' Kentucky Ben ' are perfectly honest when they proclaim
and publish that I was so degraded that the Protestants who
have any respect for themselves would have nothing to do
with me.
" Tenth Fact: In 1878, when preparing to go and breathe
the bracing atmosphere of the Pacific Ocean, I i^rovidentially
received a kind letter from the Rev. George Sutherland, D.
D., pastor of one of the richest and most influential congre-
412 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
gations of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He invited
me in the name of the Protestant people of that distant land
to go and visit them. There was a bank=note in that letter of
$500 to help me to pay my traveling expenses, and to help
Mr. "Kentucky Ben" and all the priests of Rome to prove
that the infamous apostate Chiniquy was so degraded that
no respectable Protestant would associate with him.
"Eleventh Fact: When the principal Protestants of Sydney
heard that the steamer which was taking me to their young,
but already so grand country, was in sight, they engaged a
steamer to come and receive me in triumph, at a distance of
twelve miles, that the honest priests of the Church of Rome,
with 'Mr Kentucky Ben,' might have a good opiaortunity to
publish that the apostate Chiniquy's moral degradation is so
well known to the whole world that 'no respectable Protes-
tant would associate with him.'
" Twelfth Fact: I spent two years in Australia, Tasmania,
and New Zealand. All that time the Protestant ministers and
people overwhelmed me with public and personal tokens of
the kindest Christian respect and feeling. I dare say they
took me in triumph from one extremity to the other of their
vast countries. Having known from the most reliable
sources that there was a plot among the Roman Catholics to
murder me, they put a guard, almost every night for more
than a year, of twelve and twenty men to protect me. Their
large churches and halls were never large enough for the
multitudes who wanted to see and hear me. Several times
they fought like lions, and several were wounded when they
wanted to repulse the blind Roman Catholics sent by the
priests to kill me. In Hobert Town, they requested the
Governor of Tasmania to use a militia force in order to pro-
tect and save my life. I gave seven hundred addresses,
lectures and sermons to those dear and noble Protestant
friends whom my God had given me in those distant lands,
and they gave me $40,000 as a token of their kind feelings
when I was in their midst; and it is in the presence of those
A Vindication 413
public facts that Mr. ' Kentucky Ben ' repeats what he hears
every day from the lips of his priests and what he reads in
their daily and weekly press: "That the apostate Chiniquy's
moral degradation is such that no respectable Protestant
would associate with him."
" Thirteenth Fact: At the June meeting of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of 1889, some members
having said that in a few days Father Chiniquy was to
celebrate his eightieth anniversary, there was such a burst
of applause as I never heard before. Rev. Dr. MacVicar, presi-
dent of the Presbyterian College of Montreal, and Rev. Dr.
Warden, secretary-treasurer, moved that the whole assembly
should give me a vote of congratulation as a public token of
their esteem. After that vote was unanimously given he
asked the General Assembly to invite me to write a new book
under the name of " Thirty Years in the Church of Christ,"
as a sequel to my last book, ' Fifty Years in the Church of
Rome, ' and this vote was passed unanimously in the midst
of the greatest enthusiasm and good feelings I ever saw.
And it is only a few days after such public facts that all the
echoes of the Church of Rome proclaim what the priests and
the Bishops and their press say with Mr. ' Kentucky Ben ':
' that the apostate Chiniquy's degradation is so complete
that no Protestant who has any self-respect would associate
with him.'
"Fourteenth Fact: When in England in 1860, great recep-
tions were given me by some of the most eminent Protestants
of Great Britain. I will mention only a few for the edifica-
tion of the Bishops and priests of Rome, who constantly
assure their people that my degradation is as complete
among the Protestants as it is among the Roman Catholics.
The first invitation was from Dr. Tait, Lord Bishop of
London, wlio was soon after named the Primate of Eng-
land and raised to the highest dignity of the Church of
England by being named Archbishop of Canterbury. That
grand reception was given me in the historical Palace of
414 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Lambeth, where I was surrounded by some of the most
prominent men of the Protestant Church, among whom was
the Right Rev. Dr. Thomas, now Bishop of Geelong,
Australia. The second recei^tion given me which I will
mention was by Lord Gainsborough, whose wife was the
first attending lady of the Queen of England. At his table
and in his magnificent salon I was surrounded by the elite of
the nobility of Great Britain. They spent the evening by
questioning me about the superstitions and idolatries of
Rome, and the hope I had of seeing the dear people of
Canada following the example of England by breaking the
heavy and ignominious yoke of the Pope; they really over-
whelmed me with the tokens of their kind and Christian
feeling. In the course of the evening, Lady Gainsborough
invited a young duchess to go round her noble guests to re-
ceive the offerings they wished to give me for the support of
my mission among my countrymen, and she brought me two
hundred and fifty gold guineas, that Mr. ' Kentucky Ben,'
and all the Bishops, cardinals and priests of Rome, with their
truthdoving press, might have go(jd reasons to publish that
the apostate Chiniquy was so degraded that no Protestant
who had any self-respect would have any thing to do with
him.
" I might speak of the other receptions given me by Lord
Roden, by Sir Arthur Kinnaird, M. P. for Edinburgh, and
many others, bat I suppose that my intelligent readers have
got proofs enough to convince them that the priests and
Bishops of Rome with Mr, ' Kentucky Ben ' are real gentle-
men and most honest, fair-play-loving men, when they tell
you that the infamous apostate Chiniquy is so degraded that
no respectable Protestants have ever consented to have inter-
course with him since he left the Holy(?) Catholic(?) and
Apostolic(?) Church of Rome.
"Fifteenth Fact: However, there is another fact which so
clearly shows that the Bishops and the priests of Rome, with
Mr. ' Kentucky Ben, ' are honest, reliable and lovers of truth
A Vindication 415
when they speak of the apostate Chiniquy, that I cannot
omit it.
" Since my God has opened my eyes to the corruption,
superstitions and idolatries of Rome, I have considered it
my duty to publish, not all — it would be too horrible — but a
part of the mysteries and iniquities which I saw when within
the walls of that modern Babylon, and I have written a good
number of pamphlets and books — among the principal of
which are: 'The Priest, the Woman and the Confessional';
and 'Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.' Well, to prove
their supreme contempt, the Protestant nations of Europe
and America have translated my books into their languages,
and they have bought a prodigious number of them. They
have been translated into the languages of Italy, France,
Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Bohemia.
" The ' Priest, the Woman and the Confessional ' is in its
fiftieth edition, though it was published for the first time in
1874; and ' Fifty Years in the Church of Rome' is at its
twentieth edition, though published in 1884. Two hundred
thousand copies of my lectures have already been sold, and more
than 100,000 copies of ' The God of Rome Eaten by a Rat ' have
been bought in England, and still more on the continent of
America. More than a million, then, of my books and pam-
phlets have been purchased by the Protestants within twenty
years, to show to the priests of Rome that they are perfectly
true, honourable and honest, when they assure you that the
apostate Chiniquy's degradation is so well known that no
Protestant who has any self=respect would have anything to
do with him.
^'Sixteenth Fact: When in the month of January, 1888, I
was lecturing in London, I received the visit of Lord Shaftes-
bury, who presented me an invitation from the committee of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, to attend their grand
meeting on the 5th of February. When a priest of Rome
very often I had read the encyclicals of the infallible Pope
of Rome, assuring me that the Bible Society was one of the
41 6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
most infernal inventions of the devil; that the men engaged
in circulating the Bible were the instruments of the devil, and
that next to the devil they were the enemies of God; and I
had to believe it then, just as Mr. 'Kentucky Ben' with all
his priests has to believe it now. Had I had any self=respect or
a spark of religion, I would have rejected with horror a mes-
sage coming from such degraded men, particularly when it
was brought to me by such a vile Protestant as Lord Shaftes-
bury. But, alas, I was then as degraded as I am to day, and I
accepted the invitation. The 5th of February, 1883, I was in
the midst of those infamous heretics who, according to His
Holiness, the infallible Pope of Rome, are so blindly the
enemies of God and His Son Jesus Christ that they circulate
His soubdestroying word all over the world. I gave them an
address, of which they ordered 100.000 copies to be scattered
all over Great Britain. Through that address, finding that I
was as depraved as they were themselves in reference to the
Bible, they, by unanimous vote, elected me one of the govern-
ors and rulers of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and
now you can see my name in the very midst of those wicked
men.
" After such a proof of my degradation, I hope your readers
will easily admit that Mr. 'Kentucky Ben,' his Bishops and
priests are true gentlemen and lovers of the truth, when they
have proclaimed these thirty years, throughout the whole
world, that the apostate Chiniquy is so degraded that no
honest Protestant would have anything to do with him.
CHAPTER XXXIX
Conversion of M. J. A. Papineau to Protestantism. Senator Tasse's
Dasardly Attack Against Me Answered.
Brighter sunshine of Christian joy never beamed in my
soul than at the reading of the following message which I
received on the threshold of the year 1894:
"Monte Bello, January 1, 1894.
" My Revered Friend:
" Through the grace of God I have come to see that it is
my duty to break openly with Romanism, in which I have
ceased to believe these last thirty years. But so far I have
not had the courage of following your heroic example in giv-
ing up before the world the errors of the Pope to embrace
the truth of Christ as we find it revealed in the Gospel.
However, to=day, with the help of my Divine Master, I wish
to do so, and I come to ask you what steps I have to take to
become a member of the Presbyterian Church; and as I con-
sider you the Luther of Canada and as the reading of your
works has greatly helped me in coming to my present
resolution, I beg the favour to be admitted by you into the
great, noble Protestant family.
"Your sincere friend and admirer,
" L. J. A. Papineau."
Louis Joseph Amedee Papineau bears the most illustrious
name of Canada. He is the eldest son of Louis Joseph
Papineau, whose memory will be forever dear to the French=
Canadians; for it is to the ardent patriotism, the indomitable
energy and the remarkable eloquence of that great patriot
417
41 8 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
that they are indebted for the enjoyment of all the British
franchises.
The son had inherited the patriotism of the father; he fol-
lowed him throughout that glorious campaign of agitation and
revendication during the year 1837. To help more effect-
ively the great movement of political reforms, he founded
the society of the Fils de la Liberty. But one of the greatest
obstacles in the way was the Roman Catholic clergy, who saw
in those reforms a threat to their power.
The rebellion of 1837 having failed, Mr. Papineau took
refuge in the United States, where being welcomed in a
Christian family he learned to know something of the
glorious liberty of the children of God. After having been
admitted to the bar in New York, he visited France, his
mother country; the researches he made there into his family
tree proved to him that his ancestors were Protestants and
that they were only restored to the Church of Rome through
bloody persecutions.
He returned to Montreal in 1843, and being yet desirous of
devoting himself to the welfare of his countrymen, he organ-
ized an association called SociM6 des Amis, which was the
forerunner of the lusfitiit Cunadioi destined to vindicate so
bravely the right of the people to think for themselves. At
the same time he used his pen in giving lessons of political
economy which were published in the Revue Cunadienne.
In 1844 he was appointed protonotary of Montreal, an office
which he filled worthily during thirty^wo years, when in
1875 he resigned and retired to private life in the historic
manoir of the seigniory of Monte Bello, bequeathed to him
by his father. There, in the quiet of a delightful country
abounding in grand sceneries, Mr. Papineau, in the presence
of his God, pondered most earnestly over the religious
question with the ultimate result set forth in his letter.
It was my great joy and privilege on Wednesday evening,
the 10th of January, 1894, in St. John's French Presbyterian
Church, to admit that brother into the fellowship of the
A Dastardly Attack Answered 419
Christian Church before a great concourse of attentive
and respectful people composed very largely of Roman
Catholics.
The ceremony was grand in its simplicity and solemnity.
Eloquent addresses were delivered by some pastors of the
French Protestant Churches of the city, and by Rev. Dr.
MacVicar, who wished also to honour us with his presence on
this occasion. Before extending the right hand of fellow-
ship to Mr. Papineau, the following questions were put to
him, to each of which his answer was clear and firm, testify-
ing his deep conviction that the course he was pursuing was
the proper one:
1. Do you believe with all your heart in God your
Creator and Father, in Jesus Christ, His Son, who has
redeemed you, and in the Holy Ghost, who has sanctified
you?
2. Do you believe that the Word of God, which you have
been taught, is the perfect revelation of His will and can
alone instruct you to safety? Are you so persuaded of the
truth of the Gospel that you understand that it is better to
suffer all things than to abandon the profession of it?
3. Do you put all your confidence in Jesus Christ as your
only Saviour and do you seek in Him your safety and
your justification?
4. Do you repent of all your sins and do you confess them
to God with a sincere heart? Do you ask pardon of the
Lord and will you in return renounce sin to live according to
temperance, justice and piety and to offer yourself to God in
holy living sacrifice, which is your proper and reasonable
service?
After his formal reception, Mr. Papineau, trembling
slightly with emotion, slowly mounted the platform and ex-
pressed his gratitude to God for that glorious day. In his
Ijresent step he had consulted no one but his own conscience.
At the age of eighteen he had been driven from his country
into exile. He had seen priests refuse the last consolations
420 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of the Church to his friends who had fallen in the rebellion of
1837. The priests had in this way done more to defeat and
crush the cause of the patriots than all the English bayonets
brought against them. Forced to expatriate themselves as a
result, he was warmly welcomed in a Presbyterian family in
the United States. Here he first learned to think that sal-
vation could be found outside of the Catholic Church. He
had asked himself: "Are we not all children of God?"
He commenced to reason; naturally doubt followed. At the
age of twenty^five he had ceased the practise of the Catholic
religion. After a long study he had reached the conviction
that the only pure source of Christianity and the only rule of
faith was the Bible. In barbarous ages the clergy succeeded
in introducing into the belief and ceremonies of the Catholic
faith a host of legends until it had lost all resemblance to the
true faith of Christ. Only recently had the council of the
Church surrendered its supremacy in favour of the Pope.
To-day the Pope was a spiritual czar. He had arrived at the
conclusion that the most evangelical Church was the best, and
hence he had resolved to cast his lot with the Presbyterians,
who were the spiritual heirs of the Huguenots, his ancestors.
The conversion of Mr. Papineau called from the dark abyss
loud thunders of maledictions and gave the Roman Catholic
newspapers the occasion to prove once more to the world
that Romanism is a school of intolerance teaching that, as the
end justifies the means, it is then legitimate to get rid of an
adversary by slander and calumnies, and, if law allows, by
sword and fire.
The Minerve, a French daily of Montreal considered as the
organ of the Roman Catholic clergy at the time, signalized
itself above all others by its slanderous attack against Mr.
Papineau and myself.
The editor of that paper was then a Mr. Tass6, a senator of
the Federal Government, a very pious man, devoted to his
Church, a mere tool in the hands of the clergy.
Under the heading, "The Apostate Papineau," he published
A Dastardly Attack Answered 421
an article on the 11th of January, 1894, which I consider
proper to put before the eyes of ray readers to give them a
sample of the style of controversy the converts from Roman-
ism have ordinarily to contend with.
"Louis Joseph Papineau, the famous tribune, brought up
in the atheist school of the encyclopedists of the eight-
eenth century, ended his career ignominiously. It would
have been better for him to have never been born than to
have such an end! His indomitable pride brought him to
the threshold of eternity without asking pardon from the One
who had created him. Papineau set a terrible example, which,
alas! has deleterious fruits. 'Woe to him through whom
scandal cometh!' saith the Holy Scriptures. We find to=day
a sad application of these words.
" The father had defied God on his death bed. He grieved,
filled with terror and scandalized all those who believed in
eternal truth.
" The son has just abjured the faith of his fathers. He has
put upon himself an indelible stain,
"Both have placed between themselves and the race that so
long followed the former, an impassable gulf. Nothing is
wanting in the shame of the son of the agitator.
"The one who presided at last night's ceremony, in the St.
Catherine St. Presbyterian Church, amidst the sound of
hymns, is that white^washed sepulchre, that prevaricating
priest, rotten to the very marrow of his bones, that shameless
high liver who broke all his vows, who soiled those around
him while at the same time saying his mass, who preached
temperance in order the better to wallow in licentiousness;
who, in the confessional, learned the secrets of human fail-
ings only to make use of them; who, having no other means
left of blackmailing but apostasy, has ever since been con-
stantly carrying his crimes through every clime and vomiting
insult upon the holy religion of which he was for a long time
the unworthy defender.
" It is unnecessary for us to say that his name is Chiniquy;
422 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
that this reprobate man has become an object of horror
among our people, and that he never treads lower Canadian
Boil, a soil covered with the blood of martyrs, but holy
water is sprinkled to wipe off his diabolical footsteps,
"A Papineau becomes the victim, the prey of Chiniquy;
what a debasement, what a gloom for us, what a national
humiliation! Let us bow down our heads and cover our-
selves with ashes. Let us pray and ask pardon from God for
having drawn upon us such a terrible punishment."
I thought it was my duty to reply to such vituperations, as
they came from a man who occupied such an exalted position
in this country; but Mr. Tass6, as it might well be anticipated,
denied me the justice to publish my vindication in his paper.
It then found its way into the Protestant press of this city.
As it is an answer to repeated attacks against my character
found current among Roman Catholics, I consider it binding
upon me to include it in this book.
" To the editor of The Minerve.
"Sir: — You expect, no doubt, that your article against
me, in your issue of yesterday, will not be left unanswered,
and you will not be disappointed.
" You cannot find words vile enough to express your con-
tempt for my priestly life.
" Well, I must confess before God and man, to=day again,
what I have confessed a thousand times before the disciples
of the Gospel, not only on this continent of America, but all
over Great Britain and in the Australian colonies, that
during twenty=five years I was a priest of antichrist, when it
had been my intention and the ardent desire of my heart to
be the priest of Christ.
"I had to learn by heart the infamous questions which the
Church of Rome forces every priest to learn by heart.
" I was, in conscience, as all your priests are, bound to put
into the ears, the mind, the imagination, the heart and the souls
of females, questions of such nature, the immediate and
A Dastardly Attack Answered 423
direct tendency of which is to fill the minds, the memory
and hearts of both priests and jjenitents with thoughts,
phantoms and temptations of such a degrading nature that
there are no words adequate to express them.
" Pagan antiquity has never known any institution more
polluting to the soul and body than the Roman Catholic
Auricular Confession. No, there is nothing more corrupting
under heaven than the law which forces a female to tell her
thoughts, desires, and most secret feelings and actions to a
bachelor, an unmarried man. Let him be called a priest or
a monk, it makes no difference. Your priests may deny that
before you ; but they will never, never dare to deny it before me.
" Now, my dear sir, if you look upon me as a degraded
priest, because my heart, my soul, my mind, as those of all
your priests, were plunged into those bottomless waters of
iniquity which flow from the confessional, I confess guilty.
I was polluted, and I was polluting the souls of my female
penitents just as every priest has to do every day.
" It has required the whole blood of the great Victim, who
died on Calvary for you and for me and for all sinners,
to purify me. And I pray that you and all your priests who
are required to live in the same pestilential atmosphere may
be purified through the same blood.
" But now that, by the great mercy of God, I have been
taken away from the ways of perdition in which Rome was
forcing me to walk with all her priests, I have no fear to be
confronted with you, or any other of my small or big slander-
ers. Many times since that, I have challenged my bitterest
enemies to find anything in my life for which an honest man
must blush.
" Without any boasting I can say that there has never been
any priest in Canada so constantly cherished, honoured and
respected by the priests, the Bishops and the people as I was.
It is a public fact that I was carried in triumph from one
parish to the other from the remotest part of lower Canada
to the shores of Lake Huron.
4^4 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" There is not a great city, not a small town, not a cathedral
in the province of Quebec or Ontario, to which the Bishops
have not invited me to address the people; and the churches,
even your immense Notre Dame Church of Montreal, were
never large enough to receive the people who wanted to hear
me. I do not say these things in boasting, but only to show
to you and your readers how our dear countrymen, people,
priests and Bishops, were kind to me.
" The powers given to me to hear confessions and to
preach everywhere were greater than those given to any other
priest. In 1850, after I had been a priest seventeen years,
two years after I had left my parish of Kamouraska, in order
to establish the temperance society all over Canada, when the
Bishop of Quebec, the Right Rev. Baillargeon, went to Rome,
he came to meet me in Longueuil and requested me to
address a letter with my book on temperance to the Pope,
through him, that he might present it himself to the
Sovereign PontifiP — and when he had presented it he wrote
me a letter, which is still in my hand, and which I will be
much pleased to show you, if you desire to see it. In this
letter my Bishop tells me these very words:
'"Rome, Aug., 10, 1850.
" 'Sir and Dear Friend:—
" ' It is only to=day that it has been given me to have a
private audience with the Sovereign Pontiff. I have taken
the opportunity to present to him your book, with your letter,
which he has received, I do not say with that goodness,
which is so eminently characteristic, but with all special
marks of satisfaction and approbation, while charging me to
send to you that he accords his apostolic benediction to you,
and to the holy work of temperance which you preach.
"'I esteem myself happy to have had to offer on your be-
half, to the "Vicar of Christ," a book, which, after it had done
so much good to my countrymen, has been able to draw from
his venerable mouth such solemn words of approbation of
A Dastardly Attack Answered 425
the temperance society, and of blessing n he one who is its
apostle; and it is also for my heart, a very sweet pleasure to
transmit them to you.
" ' Your friend,
" ' Chakles T. Baillargeon.'
" Do you believe that such approval could have been given by
my Bishop, if, as my slanderers say to-day, my previous con-
duct had been that of a vile man, when I left my dear parish
of Kamouraska, in order to spread the principles of temper-
ance all over Canada? Then, that ^^ishop would have been
the vilest man. But if you will ask me, with many of my
other slanderers: 'Were you not interdicted in 1851 by the
Bishop of Montreal, a few days before you left Canada for
the United States?'
" I will tell you. Yes, sir; the Bishop of Montreal pretended
to have suspended me then. But I will allow you to
judge if that event is not one of the most glorious of my life,
and one for which I must bless God forever. For my integ-
rity has never been more clearly shown than in that circum-
stance.
"The sham interdict, which was a nullity by itself — for its
want of form, of justice and of foundation, had been kept by
the Bishop, and for good reasons, a secret in Canada as well
as in the United States. By his immediate and subsequent
acts the Bishop has given me the evidence that he was re-
gretting his error, and was trying to repair it and make me
forget it. But not long after I left the Church, to my sur-
prise, the Bishop of Montreal said that he had interdicted
me, and that he was inviting me to publish the reasons of
my interdict. It was the best opportunity that the provi-
dence of God had offered me to prove my innocence, and the
incredible excess of folly and tyranny of this Bishop of
Rome. Without delay I accepted the challenge, and pub-
lished through the French=Canadian press the following let-
ter, which forever confounded the poor Bishop. He has
4^6 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
never been able to reply, though it was so important for his
honour, and the interests of his Church, that he should have
replied to it:
"'St. Anne, April, 18,1857.
♦"To Bishop Bourget:
"'My Lord:—
" ' In your letter of the 19th of March you assure the public
that you have interdicted me, a few days before my leaving
Canada for the United States, and you invite me to give the
reasons of that sentence. I will satisfy you. On the 28th of
September, 1851, I found a letter on my table from you, tell-
ing me that you had suspended me from my ecclesiastical
oflBces, on account of a great crime that I had committed, and
of which I was accused. But the name of the accuser was
not given nor the nature of the crime. T immediately went
to see you, and, protesting my innocence, I requested you to
give me the name of my accusers, and to allow me to be con-
fronted by them, promising that I would prove my inno-
cence. You refused to grant my request.
" ' Then I fell on my knees, and with tears, in the name of
God, I requested you again to grant me to meet my accusers
and prove my innocence. You remained deaf to my prayers
and unmoved by my tears; you repulsed me with malice and
with airs of tyranny which I had thought impossible in you.
" 'During the twenty- four hours after this, sentiments of an
inexpressible wrath crossed my mind; I tell it to you frankly.
In that terrible hour, I would have preferred to be at the
feet of a heathen priest, whose knife would have slaughtered
me on his altars to appease his infernal gods, rather than be
at the feet of a man, who, in the name of Jesus Christ, and
under the mask of the Gospel, should dare to commit such a
cruel act. You have taken away my honour — you have de-
stroyed me with the most infamous calumny — you have re-
fused me every means of justification. You have taken
under your protection the cowards who were stabbing me in
the dark!
A Dastardly Attack Answered 427
" 'Though it is hard to repeat it, I must tell it here publicly:
I cursed you in that horrible day.
" ' With a broken heart, I went to the Jesuit College, and I
showed the wounds of my bleeding soul to the noble friend
who was generally my confessor, the Rev. Father Schneider,
the director of the college.
" 'After three days, having providentially got some reasons
to suspect who was the author of my intended destruction, I
sent someone to ask her to come to tlie college without men-
tioning my name.
"'When she was in the parlour I said to Father Schneider:
" You know the horrible iniquity of the Bishop against me —
with the lying words of a prostitute he has destroyed me; but
please come and be the witness of my innocence."
" 'When in the presence of that unfortunate woman, I told
her: "You are in the presence of God Almighty and two of
His priests. They will be the witnesses of what you say!
Speak the truth. Say, in the presence of God and of this
venerable priest, if I have ever been guilty of what you
accused me to the Bishop.'
" 'At these words the unfortunate woman burst into tears;
she concealed her face with her hands, and, with a voice half
suffocated with her sobs, she answered: " No, sir, you are not
guilty of that sin! "
" ' " Confess here another truth," I said to her; " Is it not
true that you had come to confess to me more with the desire
to tempt me rather than to reconcile yourself to God? "
" ' She said, " Yes, sir, that is the truth." Then I said again,
" Continue to say the truth, and I will forgive you, and God
also will forgive your iniquity. Is it not revenge for having
failed in your criminal design, that you have tried to destroy
me by that accusation to the Bishop?"
" ' "Yes, sir, it is the only reason which has induced me to
accuse you falsely."
"'And all that I say here, at least in substance, has been
heard, written and signed by the Right Rev. Father Schneider,
428 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
one of your priests and the director of the Jesuit College. That
venerable priest is still living in Montreal; let the people of
Canada go and interrogate him. Let the people of Canada also
go to Mr. Brassard, who had also in his hands an authenticated
copy of that declaration.
" ' Your lordship gives to understand that I was dis-
graced by that sentence, some days after when I left Canada
for Illinois. Allow me to give you my reasons for difiFering
from you in that matter.
" ' There is a canon law of the Church which says: " If a
censure is unjust and unfounded, let the man against whom
the sentence has been passed pay no attention to it. For, be-
fore God and His Church, no unjust sentence can bring any
injury to anyone. Let the one against whom such unfounded
and unjust judgment has been pronounced even take no
steps to annul it, for it is a nullity by itself."
" * You know very well that the sentence you have passed
against me was null and void for many good reasons; the first,
because it was founded on a false testimony. Father Schnei-
der is there ready to prove it to you, if you have any doubts.
" ' The second reason I have to believe that you yourself had
considered your sentence a nullity and that I was not
suspended by it from my ecclesiastical dignity and honours, is
founded on a good testimony, I hope, the testimony of your
lordship himself.
" ' A few hours before my leaving Canada for the United
States, I went to ask your benediction, which you gave me
with every mark of kindness. I then asked your lordship
frankly to tell me if I had to leave with the impression that I
was disgraced in your mind. You gave me the assurance of
the contrary.
" ' Then I told you that I wanted a public and irrefutable
testimony of your esteem.
" * You answered that you would be happy to give me one,
and you said, " What do you want?" "I wish," I said, "to
have a chalice from your hands to ofPer the holy sacrifice of
A Dastardly Attack Answered 419
the mass the rest of my life." You answered, " I will do that
with pleasure," and you gave orders to one of your priests to
bring you a chalice that you might give it to me. But that
priest had not the key of the box containing the sacred vases ;
that key was in the hands of another priest, who was absent
for a few hours.
" ' I had not the time to wait, the hour of the departure of
the train had come. I told you, " Please, my lord, send that
chalice to the Rev. Mr. Brassard of Longueuil, who will for-
ward it to me in a few days to Chicago." And the next day
one of your secretaries went to the Rev. Mr. Brassard, gave
him the chalice you had promised me, which is still in my
hands. And the Rev. Mr. Brassard is there, still living, to be
a witness of what I say — and to bring that fact to your
memory if you have forgotten it.
" ' Well, my lord, I do believe that a Bishop will never give
a chalice to a priest to say mass when he knows that that
priest is interdicted. And the best proof you know very well
that I was not interdicted by your rash and unjust sentence,
is that you gave me that chalice as a token of your esteem
and of my honesty, etc.
. " ' Respectfully,
'"C. Chiniquy.'
" Ten thousand copies of this terrible exposure of the de-
pravity of the Bishop were published in Montreal! I have
asked the whole people of Canada to go to the Rev. Mr.
Schneider, and to the Rev. Mr. Brassard, to know the truth.
The Bishop remained confounded. It was proved that he
had committed against me a most outrageous act of tyranny
and perfidy; and that I was perfectly innocent and honest,
and that he knew it, in the very hour that he tried to destroy
my character, sending this wicked woman to corrupt me.
Probably the- Bishop of Montreal had destroyed the copy of
the declaration of my innocence and honesty, and he thought
he would speak of the so=called interdict after I was a Prot-
estant. But in that he was cruelly mistaken.
430 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" By the great mercy of God, three other authenticated
copies had been kept, one by the Rev. Mr. Schneider him-
self, another by the Rev. Mr. Brassard, and another by one
whom it is not necessary to mention — and then, he had no
suspicion that the revelation of his unchristian conduct, and
of his determination to destroy me with the false oath of a
prostitute, were in the hands of too many people to be
denied. The Bishop of Chicaj^o, whom I met a few days
after, told me what I was well aware of before: " That such a
sentence was a perfect nullity in every way, and that it was a
disgrace only for those who are blind enough to trample un-
der their feet the laws of God and man to satisfy their bad
passions. And no doubt you will be of the same mind if you
are an honest man."
"But to show you that the Bishop of Montreal himself never
thought that his unjust sentence had any efiFect, and that he
himself never lost his good opinion of me, I also publish for
your perusal the letter he gave me the day that I left Canada.
These are his words:
"'October 13th, 1851.
" 'I cannot but thank you for what you have done in our
midst, and in my gratitude towards you I wish you the most
abundant benediction of heaven. Every day of my life I
will remember you. You will always be in my heart, and
I hope that in some future day the providence of God will
give me some opportunity of showing you all the gratitude I
feel for you.
" ' Ignace,
" • Bishop of Montreal.'
" I ask you, 'Will ever a Bishop say to a priest, in a written
document, signed with his own hands, 'I cannot but thank
you for what you have done in our midst,' — if that priest had
been an immoral, a bad priest?
" Does not the Bishop who writes such words acknowledge
A Dastardly Attack Answered 43 i
that he was wrong in his previous and hasty and unfavorable
judgment?
" Would the intelligent editor of The Minerve, if he were the
Bishop of Montreal, write to a priest, 'I cannot but thank
you for what you have done in our midst; in my gratitude
towards you I pray God to pour His most abundant blessings
upon you, ' if he knew that that priest was an immoral and
wicked man? No, never; nor would you give a chalice to an
interdicted priest to say mass with the rest of his life.
" Is it so that, as long as a priest is in your midst, he may be
a most depraved man, a public scandal, a murderer of souls,
yet the Bishop will like him, honour him and overload him
with every kind of public and private mark of respect? But
when he leaves them to become a Protestant, then they pour
out on him their scorn and abuse! By their own confession
have they not done this to me? If I were an immoral man
when a priest of Rome, how is it that the Bishops have
known it only after I had left the Church? And if I were an
immoral man when in their midst, why is it that the Bishops
from the beginning to the end of my career, gave me so
many public and private marks of esteem and respect? If
they have done so, are they not confessedly worse than what
they called me?
" In 1848 the Bishop of Montreal, in a public document,
puts me in the most exalted position in which a priest has ever
been placed. He calls me ' The Apostle of Temperance of
Canada, ' and one of his best priests. The same year he in-
duces the Pope to send me a magnificent crucifix. In 1850
he invites the people of Montreal from his pulpit in his
cathedral to come with the Hon. Judge Mondelet to present
me with a gold medal, as a public token of his respect and
gratitude ,to me. In 1851, the day that I left Canada, he
writes me that what I have done in his diocese, when working
under his eyes, has filled him with gratitude! And the same
man, after I had left the Church of Rome, says that I was an im-
moral priest — an interdicted and suspended priest! — and that,
43- Forty Years in the Church of Christ
on the testimony of a prostitute, who afterwards declared that
she had made a false oath to revenge herself Ijecause she had
not been able to persuade me to commit a crime with her!
"If what I declare of the infamous conduct of the Bishop
had not been correct, and if the recantation of that unfortu
nate woman in the presence of the Rev. Father Schneider
had not been correct also, how easy it would have been for
the Bishop to confound me forever by bringing the supe-
rior of the Jesuit College as a witness of my imposture
And how it would have been the imperative duty of Father
Schneider, when he saw his name in the public press com-
mitted with a fact so degrading to the Bishop, to come for-
ward and publish that what I had said was forgery!
"Then Chiniquy would have been forever and so easily con-
founded! But such was not the case. The poor Bishop had
to pay publicly for his infamous conduct towards me, and he
was left without any chance of escape. If you are honest it
is not on Chiniquy that you will turn your scorn; it is on the
man who, forgetting all the laws of justice, of God and men,
had united his efforts to those of a perjured prostitute, to de-
stroy his innocent victim. And if you are not honest enough to
see and understand this, what have I to care about your scorn?
"Now let us say a word about the interdict by Bishop
O'Eegan. And I tell you boldly, that if anything can be con-
sidered an honour by any man, it is to have deserved the wrath
of so publicly depraved a man. Though he never interdicted
me ( he only threatened to do it ) he found fit to publish that
he had done it. But in his letter of November 20, 1856,
where he publicly gives the reason of that so-called sentence,
he somewhat disturbs the plan you have contrived, my dear sir,
to make people believe that it was on account of immorality.
In that letter the Bishop says: 'His obstinate want of sub-
mission and his excessively violent language and conduct
obliges me to suspend him! '
" I thank and bless God who gave me the strength to say
some great truths to that most immoral and tyrannical Bishop.
A Dastardly Attack Answered 433
He was such a wicked man that several priests, among whom
I was one, wrote to the Pope about his bad conduct; and the
Archbishop of St. Louis, and many other Bishops, having
brought also serious complaints against the man, his diocese
was taken away from his hands, and he got a bishopric ' in
partibus infidelum,' which you very well know means a
bishopric in the moon — and the place was just fit for the man.
"The sentence was never served on me in any way. The
Church allowed me to pay no attention to it; and the sub-
sequent excommunication having been brought by three
priests who at the time were beastly drunk, and not being
signed by the Bishop nor any of his grand vicars or known
deputies, I was bound by the laws of the Church not to pay
any attention to it. The Rev. Mr. Desaulniers and the Rev.
Moses Brassard, having come some time later from Canada
to inquire about those matters and reconcile us to the Bishop,
declared before more than five hundred people that we
'could not be blamed for having paid no attention to that
sentence, which was evidently and publicly against all the
known laws of the Church.'
" But I have no bad feelings against that unfortunate man,
who died five years after. It is the contrary. His abomin-
able life, his vices, his complete want of principles which
forced the Bishops of the United States to denounce him to
the Pope, who condemned him at the end, have helped me
much, by the mercy of God, to know what the Church of
Rome has been, what she is, and what she will be till the
great day of God shall open the eyes of her poor slaves and
bring them to the feet of Jesus, who will make them free
with His Word and pure with His blood.
" Read the following declaration of the same Bishop to four
deputies sent to him by the people of St. Anne just two days
before our excommunication. That declaration, signed by
four Roman Catholics, is under oath before the civil tribunal
of Kankakee; — it is the best refutation of your slanderous
article against me.
434 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" Bishop O'Re^an <^ave the deputation a written response,
which was published in Canada at the time in the leading
newspapers.
" The Bishop was waited upon the 27th day of August, 1856,
and presented the following reply: —
" ' 1st. I suspended Mr. Chiniquy on the 19th of this month.
" ' 2d. If Mr. Chiniquy has said mass since, as you say, he
is irregular; and the Pope alone can restore him in his
ecclesiastic and sacerdotal functions.
" '3d. I take him away from St. Anne, despite his prayers
and yours, because he has not been willing to live in peace
and in friendship with the Revs. M. Lebel and M. Cartevel,
although I admit that they were two bad priests, whom I
have been forced to expel from my diocese.
" *4th. My second reason for taking Mr. Chiniquy away
from St. Anne to send him to his new mission south of
Illinois, is to stop the lawsuit Mr. Spink has instituted
against him; though I cannot warrant that the lawsuit will
be stopped at that.
" ' 5th. Mr. Chiniquy is one of the best priests of my diocese,
and I do not want to deprive myself of his services; no accusa-
tions against the morals of that gentlemen have been proved
before me.
" ' 6th. Mr. Chiniquy has demanded an inquest to prove his
innocence of certain accusations made against him, and has
asked me the names of his accusers to confound them ; I have
refused them to him.
" ' 7th. Tell Mr. Chiniquy to come and meet me — to prepare
himself for his new mission, and I will give him the letters
he needs to go and labor there.'
" 'Then we withdrew and presented the foregoing letter to
Father Chiniquy.
'"Frs. Bechard,
"'J. B. L. Lemoine,
" ' Basilique Allair,
" ' Leon Mailloux.'
A Dastardly Attack Answered 435
" Now, my dear sir, before taking leave of you allow me to
give you a little friendly advice.
" When you argue with a Protestant, even one whom you
call an apostate, never make a personal question of a prin-
ciple, if you wish to make people think that you have the
right side, and that the irrefutable arguments are in your
favour. For the very moment that you give up the argu-
ments on the question to drag your adversary on the un-
gentlemanly and unchristian ground of personal injuries and
slanders, you lose your cause in the mind of an intelligent
people. A man who has good reasons to support his cause
and strong arguments has never recourse to those personal-
ities and hard names which you have used.
" The question is not to know who has committed the most
sins against the Decalogue, but whether it is true or not that
the Church of Rome has forsaken the Word of God, the
Gospel of Christ, in order to preach her lying traditions.
" If you could prove that when I was a priest of Rome, 1
was as criminal as David, and as weak as Samson; a perjurer
as Peter, or a blind persecutor as Paul, this will not at all
prove that I have not done well to leave the Pope in order to
follow Christ. It is just the contrary. The more wicked I
was in the Church of Rome, surrounded as I was, and as you
are to=day, by the most pestilential atmosphere, and having
before my eyes the example of a concealed though most hor-
rible corruption in high quarters, as well as among my
equals, the more imperative was the duty for me , as for you, to
go out of those ways of perdition.
" Do you know, my dear sir, to what I have been tempted
when writing this letter? The thought has come to my
mind to publish, not all (for it would be too terrible) but a
part of what I know of the inside, and almost incredible
corruption of Rome! To give, for instance, a part of the
history of that Grand Vicar who was guilty of an unmention-
able crime and was never interdicted; of that other dignity
whose conquests were so numerous in Montreal that the
436 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
ground became too hot for him, and who was not interdicted
but kindly invited to go to another place; the history of
that good Bishop, also, who, for five years kept a fine young
man in his house as his confidential friend, and who had to
send that faithful servant, with five hundred pounds, to the
United States, when a very interesting circumstance proved
that the fine young man was a fine young girl! ' Honi soit
qui mal y pense.' I was also tempted to give to the public
some very interesting details from the memoirs, not of poor
Father Chiniquy (though he has some memoirs also), but
from the memoirs of one of the most respectable Bishops of
Rome, Bishop de Riccy, where it is often said and proved
' that the nuns of Italy are the wives of the priests. '
Happy celibataries indeed! I had some very interesting
things also which you have known, no doubt, of those three
good priests in a diocese not many miles from here, who
made a very interesting voyage with three young ladies, and
were so kindly treated by the holy Church of Rome, that
one of them is now hearing the confessions of the good nuns
of the City of Three Rivers, and the two others are in a very
exalted position in the diocese of Montreal.
" My intention, after having given you the correct history of
those respectful and venerable priests of Rome, was to ask
you, in a friendly way, without bitterness, why the Bishops
should have been so hard against me, when they were so kind
to others?
" No living man knows better than I do the clergy. I have
been fifteen years traveling amongst them. I have seen
the inside as well as the outside of your walls. For many
years I have been a serious observer of men and things ; and
everyday I have put down in my note^book that which
would make many knees shake in the midst of the priests of
Rome. I do not say that they are all wicked and depraved.
Thanks be to God I have found among them men who would
have been almost as pure as angels, if the confessional had
not been there as a snare to pollute their noble hearts. But
A Dastardly Attack Answered 437
I have known enough to startle the world, if I had not more
charity for my old friends of Rome than many of them have
shown to me, since God in His infinite mercy has given me
the light and the truth as it is in Jesus. If you honour me
with an answer, I will be proud and happy to meet you as a
gentleman on some of those high grounds of historical and
theological truths and errors about which we differ. But
give up that unmanly and unchristian way (which is too
much the use of Roman Catholics) of speaking of the real or
supposed sins of an opponent. We are all more or less great
sinners, and are too apt to see the straw in the eyes of our
poor neighbour, while we do not see the beam which is in
our own.
" Though you have been a little hard on your old country-
man, I feel grateful to you for having given me the opportu-
nity of explaining many things which I hope it will be good
to my friends to hear.
" Now, farewell, au revoir. Allow me to call myself your
fellow=sinner and your devoted brother in Christ."
CHAPTER XL
Futile Efforts. Priest's Efforts to Reach My Bed of Sickness FfustratetL
Challenge to Archbishop not Accepted
After a month of hard missionary labour in New England,
during the fall of 1894, having caught cold, I returned to
Montreal quite exhausted and sick, and consequently was laid
up for nearly two months.
During that long illness the Roman Catholic clergy made
special efiForts to reach my bed, in order, evidently, to have
some seeming pretext or ground to announce to the public
that I had become reconciled to their Church. But their
plan failed.
Suspecting what might happen, I had given strict orders,
as I generally do in such cases, not to allow any priests or
their agents to enter my room.
One day, however, in October, a lady by the name of De
la Ronsseliere, of very respectable appearance, presented
herself at the door of my house, and in a polite note begged
an audience with me. As she seemed so much in earnest,
and persistent, her request was granted. When ushered into
my room, where my wife, one of my daughters and a friend
were present, she asked to be allowed to see me alone. I told
her that I did not wish to hear anything that she could not
tell me in the presence of my family and that friend. Mean-
while, the door=bell rang again; and on opening, the servant
saw a priest who seemed to be in a great hurry, and who said
at once: — " Is there not a lady who has just come in? Please
take me where she is; I must see her immediately." But the
faithful servant said she could not do that, and directly she
188
Futile Efforts 439
called my son=in=law, the Rev. Mr. Morin, who on coming
downstairs found himself face to face in the hall with a stout,
jovial priest. " I am Abbe Marre of Notre Dame Church," he
said, " and as I have heard that Mr. Chiniquy is very sick,
I thought I would stop and see him; for we do not forget that
he is a priest, and as such, he is considered to belong to our
parish." Mr. Morin told Abb6 Marre about the strict orders
I had given not to allow any priest to come into my room,
— but that he would be welcomed should he call on me when
I had recovered.
Meanwhile, Miss De la Rousseliere was entreating me to
pray to the Virgin Mary, to be reconciled to the Holy Church,
and to accept the ministry of a priest, etc. I told her that
Christ was sufficient for me; He was my only Saviour and
my only Mediator, and that I had no need of the intervention
of any priest; that I had a horror mingled with pity for those
poor slaves of the Pope.
On hearing that, she rushed out of the room and went
down double quick where she met Abb6 Marre, and quite ex-
cited, exclaimed: "Oh Monsieur le cur6, do not go to see
him; he says he has a horror for your black gown!" The
priest began to laugh, and went out, leaving the witnesses of
that scene under the firm impression that the whole thing had
been planned beforehand, but that the plot had been victori-
ously defeated.
Soon after that clerical stratagem, I was besieged by other
zealots of the Pope, especially women, whose avowed aim was
my return to the Church of Rome,
As all these attempts failed, the Jesuits, who consider them-
selves, and rightly so, the shrewdest servants of the Pope,
thought they should also try their hand at my conversion.
So they set about it, using likewise a woman for their agent,
pretending that through her I had asked for their spiritual
assistance; all this appears in the two letters I here insert,
The first one was addressed to me on the 4th of November by
Father Hamon, being as follows:
440 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
" College St. Marie, Montreal.
" Dear Sir:
"Mrs. F. X. Trudel tells me that you would gladly
receive the visit of a father Jesuit, and she has shown me
an envelope signed by Mr. J. L. Morin, appointing for an
interview the first Sunday of November at half past two
o'clock.
" Unfortunately at that hour I must preside at a meeting
of the Catholic Union; but if it is convenient for you, I can
be at your place at half=past four.
" Yours truly,
" G. J. M. Hamon, S. J."
Mr. Morin, on receipt of the Jesuit's letter, perceiving that
Rev. Mr. Hamon had been apparently misled, wrote at once
the following reply:
"65 Hutchison St., Montreal, Nov. 5, 1894.
" To Rev. G. J. M. Hamon, S. J., College St. Marie,
"Sir:
" Mr. Chiniquy requests me to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter, and to tell you that he never expressed to Mrs.
Trudel the desire to receive the visit of a father Jesuit dur-
ing his sickness; on the contrary, he told that lady last Satur-
day that it was sufficient for him to have the presence of
Jesus; that he had no need of the presence of a Jesuit to die
in the full assurance of his salvation.
" As to that interview I am said to have appointed for the
first Sunday of November, here is the fact about it. That
good Mrs. Trudel, who has put forth a great deal of untimely
zeal to bring us back to the Church of Rome, began to extol to
me last Sunday the great advantages of ecclesiastical celibacy.
I then took the liberty to allude to the several irregularities
and disorders occasioned in all ranks of papal hierarchy by
compulsory celibacy, and I further pointed out to her that
the Apostle Peter was married, that the Roman Catholic
Futile Efforts 44 1
clergy followed his example in that respect during several
centuries, and that there are even to=day Roman Catholic
priests who have their legitimate wives. All these assertions
of mine appeared to her as so many errors and heretical
propositions, that I could not defend in the presence of a
priest or a Jesuit, she said. ' As well as in your presence,' I
replied. ' In that case,' she added, ' will you allow me to
bring here a Jesuit next Sunday to discuss those questions
with you?' ' I have no objection if you wish it,' I answered.
" She then asked me to write on an envelope, which she
held in her hand, the day and hour of that meeting and to
sign my name, ' for I fear that my memory would fail me,'
she said. This I did. But you see that Mr. Chiniquy is not
involved in any way in all this afiPair, and I do not conceive
how Mrs. Trudel could mislead you so much as to tell you
that it was Mr. Chiniquy who had appointed an interview
with you.
"However, if you are very anxious to know what Mr.
Chiniquy thinks of the Church of Rome, what faith and joy
he possesses in his Divine Saviour, you have only to tell me,
and when he is well enough I will notify you.
" Of course I am disposed to defend the propositions which
have horrified that poor Mrs. Trudel, and should you wish to
come for that purpose, I would ask you to choose another
day than next Sunday, for I will then be engaged.
" Yours truly,
" J. L. MOEIN."
To be sure that this letter would reach its destination, Mr.
Morin, accompanied by a friend, took it himself to the
St. Mary's college and gave it to the doorkeeper of that
institution, who said that Father Hamon was in, and that he
would deliver it to him personally,
We thought that we had heard the last of that affair, but
we were mistaken. True to his promise in his note. Father
Hamon called on Sunday at half past four — to see me accord-
442 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
ing to the appointed engagement, he said. When told by
Mr. Morin that he had written him a letter explaining all, he
said that he had not received it, that the messenger must have
miscarried it. " But I left the note myself at the college,"
said Mr. Morin. After such a hit, an ordinary man would
have lost his countenance: Father Hamon was not disturbed by
so little. After a very amicable conversation, he took leave of
Mr. Morin, excusing himself for the intrusion — and feeling,
doubtless, that honesty is the best policy, even in the conver-
sion of heretics.
When God in His mercy had restored me to health, I
thought it was my duty to send to the Archbishop of Montreal
the following letter, which appeared also in the press at the
time:
" Montreal, 65 Hutchison St., December 8, 1894.
" To My Lord Fabre, Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal.
"My Lord:—
"Your besieging me with your priests and priestesses
during my last sickness is the reason for my addressing you
this letter.
" I am perfectly cured, my lord: my bodily strength is so
perfectly restored that I write you this letter without the use
of any spectacles, and my hand does not shake more than
when I was only thirty years of age, though I am in my
eighty=sixth year.
" Yes, my lord, I am cured, perfectly cured, though I have
not had a single drop of your waters of Notre Dame de
Lourdes and without going to the good St. Anne de
Beaupr6!
" I am cured, in spite of the maledictions and excommuni-
cations of the Bishops and the priests of Rome!
"And, what will puzzle you the more, I am cured, perfectly
cured, without having accepted any one of your medals or
scapularies — without even having bought anj^ of your blessed
candles which I might have bought from you for fifteen cents.
Futile Efforts 443
" But to prevent you from suspecting that the devil alone
or some witches could have healed such a bad man as I am, I
must give you the secret of that cure.
" May our merciful God grant that you may have recourse
to the same remedy with the multitudes of our dear country-
men you are leading in the perishing ways of Rome.
" From the very day that I broke the chains which were
tying me to the idols of the Pope, I put myself under the
care of the best Physician the world has ever seen.
"His name is Jesus!
" He is both the Son of God and the Son of Man.
" He came from Heaven more than eighteen hundred years
ago, to save us from all our spiritual and even bodily miseries.
" But His condition was, that those who wanted to be cured
by Him, should not invoke any other name but His own.
For His Apostle Peter wrote in His Testament those very
words — ' There is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved.' Acts 4: 12.
" His Testament is called ' The Gospel.'
"These last eighteen hundred years, all the echoes of
heaven and earth are repeating His sweet words: — ' Come unto
Me, all ye who are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.'
Matt. 11:28.
" ' Whatsoever ye shall ask in His name, that will I do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' John 14: 13.
" * If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.'
John 14:14.
"'If a man love Me he will keep My words; and My
Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make
Our abode with him.' John 14: 28.
" 'I am the True Vine; ye are the branches.
"'Abide in Me, and I in you.' John 15: 1, 2, 3, 4.
"'If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to
Me.' John 12: 32.
" From the day I gave up the Pope to follow Christ, I have
found more and more every day that the greatest joy, the
444 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
greatest happineBS in this world, is to love and serve Him.
I have kept myself then united to Him with all the faculties
of my heart and my soul, as being my only Light, my only
Strength, my only Wisdom, and I have always found Him
true to His promises.
"But when I found that it was good to be united to that
mighty and merciful Friend in the days of prosperity, I have
found that it was still more to my interest to be united to Him
in the days of trial through which I had to pass.
" He was my Shield when I was attacked by the thousands
of assassins whom you or your priests have so often sent to
take away my life, either with their pistols, or with their
murderous sticks, or with their sharp stones.
" When those stones were falling upon me as hail in a
stormy day, in the streets of Montreal, Quebec, Halifax,
Charlottetown, Antigonish, Ottawa, etc., I was throwing
myself into the arms of that mighty and loving Friend, I was
pressing myself on His heart, and I felt secure as a little
child when in his loving mother's arms. I was invoking His
Almighty Name, and it seemed I was feeling His merciful
arms around me to protect me. I was hearing His sweet
voice telling me : * Fear not, I am with thee ! '
" And when I was escaping from my would4ie murderers'
hands bruised, wounded, bleeding, I felt happy for having
suffered something for the sake of that beloved Saviour who,
on the cross, had shed His blood for me.
" But it is when I was attacked by the last terrible sickness
that I felt the necessity of having that mighty and merciful
Friend near me as my Physician. With Peter I cried, ' Lord,
save me.'
" And you may come and see with what merciful and mighty
hand He has come to my help and cured me!
" You may readily imagine my surprise and sadness when
at that very time I saw your priests and priestesses coming
to tell me that I was out of the way of salvation, and that I
was to be damned if I would not come back to the Church of
Rome, of which you are a Bishop.
Futile Efforts 445
"For what had these priests of Rome to give me to take the
place of that Divine Friend and Physician, Jesus, the Son of
God, that I might forget that He was my only Hope, my only
Life, my only Saviour, my only Refuge?
*' What did they oflPer me to prevent me from saying with
Paul: ' I do not want to know any other but Jesus and Him
crucified'?
**They had nothing but a few rags, called scapularies, and
some idols of copper, iron and silver, probably found in the
crumbling remains of the temples of Venus, Minerva, Bacchus
and Jupiter!
" Yes! what had your priests to give me that I might forget
and forsake that dear Saviour Jesus, whose presence in my
heart was, very often, making me so happy that I was not
only forgetting my terrible sufferings, but was changing those
sufferings into feelings of unspeakable joy?
" They had to offer me a little god, only about one inch in
diameter, made with a little cake baked by their servant girls
between two heated irons.
" Be not surprised, then, if I have repelled those ambassa-
dors of Rome with the utmost indignation and pity.
" Here, my lord, allow me a few remarks.
" Since more than thirty years that I separated myself from
the Church of Rome, I have hardly been a single day, when
in good health, without asking, supplicating, even challeng-
ing you and your priests to come and show me what you call
my errors.
"Thousands of times I have told you that I would, with
pleasure, go back to the feet of your Pope and submit myself
to his authority, if you had the kindness to show me, before
the world, that the Apostle Peter has ever been in Rome, that
the present Pope is his legal successor, and that Peter with
all your !Popes has received from Christ the power to rule
over His whole Church.
"I have requested you many times and I do request you
again to-day, to show me, in a public conference, that your
44^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Auricular Confession is a sacrament established by Christ,
and that it has been always practised as it is to-day in your
Church; and I pledge myself to show, from the authority
of your best Roman Catholic authors, that it is of pagan
origin, and that it is in use in your Church only since the
dark ages.
" In that public conference, I will also ask you to show me
the text of the Gospel which allows you to let the poor people
burn in the flames of purgatory, because they have no money,
when you so quickly draw out of that burning furnace the
rich, who fill your hands with the gold which very often they
have stolen from those very poor people.
" I will have another favour to ask you in that public con-
ference.
"It will be to show me a Gospel text wliich allows you
to send to hell, as guilty of a mortal sin, the poor man
who in Lent has eaten a piece of pork not bigger than my
thumb, and that you allow him to go to heaven as a true Chris-
tian, if he eats that piece of pork when it is melted in his soup,
" When at that conference, I will also ask you to show me
the text of the Gospel which authorizes you to advise, if not
to force, so many men and women (priests, monks, and nuns)
to make vows of celibacy, and to promise they will never
marry, when God Himself in the Bible is so evidently opposed
to such vows, as you may see by the following texts:
'* 'And the Lord God said: It is not good that man should
be alone. I will make him a helpmeet for him.' Genesis
11:18.
• " 'To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife;
and every woman her own husband.' 1 Cor. 7: 2.
" * Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seduc-
ing spirits and doctrines of devils . . . Forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God
has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which
believe and know the truth .' 1 Timothy 4: 1, 2, 3.
Futile Efforts 447
*' You have never been brave enough to come and discuss
those matters with me so long as I was in good health and
able to answer you. The only answer you have given has
been to send murderers with sticks, stones and pistols to kill
me. But as soon as you hear that I am so sick that I can
hardly move my head on my pillow, you become brave, you
besiege me with your priests under the pretext of showing
me my errors and bringing me back to the Church of Rome.
" But do you not fear that even your schoolboys will see
that there is a lack of courage in you? Will they not feel
that you have no confidence in your own cause?
" When I was sick and unable to argue with your ambassa-
dors, I refused to see them. But to=day, thanks be to
God, I am well and able to meet and answer you; hence I
challenge you.
"If you were sincere in your efforts to bring me back to
your Church, come to=day, and show me my errors. I will
open you the doors of my house, and I will be the most
happy man to receive you in my humble home, and to give
you all the honour and respect due to your high position, and
according to my own personal esteem for you.
" We will meet and discuss as true gentlemen.
" Bishops and priests of Canada, if you grant me the favour
of that public discussion, I will also ask you to show me the
text of the Gospel which told you to hang our heroic patriots
of 1837 and 1888.
" For the French^Canadian people have not forgotten that
it was the desire of General Colborne to let them live, when
the Bishop of Montreal, Lartigues, said: 'Hang them!'
"You had excommunicated and cursed them before the
battles! As much as it was in your power, you had tied and
paralyzed their strong arms when on the battle-fields that
they might not conquer, and not satisfied with that — when
they were defeated, you ordered them to be hanged!
" What crime had they committed, to be so cruelly, so
unmercifully treated by you?
44^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
"Ah! they had so much loved their dear country, which
is yours and mine, that they thought it worth shedding their
blood to make it free!
"The stern voice of historical truth tells you that a hand-
ful of insolent tyrants had taken the notion that the French-
Canadians were good only to draw their water and cut their
wood. More and more every day they were tramjiling under
their feet our most precious and sacred rights; they were not
concealing their minds, that just as the negroes of the South-
ern States were destined to serve their white masters, so the
children of the French=Canadians, conquered on the plains
of Abraham, were fit only to serve their conquerors.
" The only crime of our heroic patriots was that they con-
sidered it better to die free men than to live slaves.
" Has not noble England, after the bloody days of St.
Charles and St. Eustache, taken the defense of our patriots?
Has she not applauded when her most eloquent parliament
orators with Lord Brougham, Lord Durham, etc., declared
that the French^Canadian patriots were among the noblest
men of our age; that they had fought and died for the de-
fense of their rights — and to prove it, has not that noble
English nation granted to us all the rights and privileges
for which those heroic countrymen of ours fought and died?
"Are you so blind and so ignorant of the history of your
own country as to ignore those facts?
" Among the heroes who shed their blood in those days for
you and for me, there was one who was the bravest among
the brave. The pages of ancient and modern history have
no record of any more daring and devoted soldier of liberty
than Chenier.
"But why is it that the very name of Chenier still fills
your hearts with fear and rage?
" Not satisfied with cursing that French^Canadian hero in
his life and in his death, you want to degrade his memory,
you want his body to be buried in the open fields with the
carcasses of the brute animals!
Futile Efforts 449
"Why so?
" It is only because the name of that heroic patriot is for-
ever mingled with the love of liberty!
" You hope that by destroying the first you will make the
people forget the second, for it is only slaves you want
and only slaves you can rule.
" But you are mistaken.
" Wherever there is a French=Canadian heart on the bor-
ders of oui majestic St. Lawrence River, it beats with a holy
emotion at the spotless names of Papineau and Chenier.
Every true French^Canadian, in spite of your ful_iination, is
proud of having had such an eloquent apostle of liberty in
the first one, and such a heroic martyr of liberty in the
second one.
" In spite of you the seeds of fraternity, equality and
liberty which Christ has brought from heaven to save the
oppressed nations from the hands of their tyrants, are bear-
ing their blessed fruits in Canada.
" Whilst you trample under your feet those sacred seeds of
liberty, the hour is coming fast when the French-Canadian
people, with the holy Gospel in their hands, will settle their
accounts with you.
" In that day your high citadels will crumble in Canada
as they have crumbled in England, France, Germany, Mex-
ico, etc.
" That day the French'Canadians will accept the Word of
God to guide them; and that Word will make them free!
" Truly and respectfully yours,
"C. Chiniquy."
CHAPTER XLI
My Fourth and Last Visit to Europe in 1896. The Challenge of Father
Begue Accepted. The Roman Breviary. Discussion at Oban
So many Christian friends from England and Scotland had
of late invited me to visit again their country, that I thought
my duty was to grant their request. They wanted me, they
said, to help them to fight the ritualists, whose deploralile
success was more and more, every day, a cause of anxiety to
the true disciples of the Gospel.
Though eighty-seven years of age, my health was so good
that I thought the invitation of those friends was the voice
of God.
After having received from the grand and noble Protestant
Alliance Society, through their secretary, Mr. A. H. Guin-
ness, a promise that they would map out and guide my tour
through Great Britain, and arrange the details of my ad-
dresses on the difPerent subjects on which they wished me to
speak, I took my passage to England on the steamship
Laurentian, the 10th of September, 1896. But before leaving
Canada I thought my duty was to address the following let-
ter to my countrymen:
" The good Master calls me again to go and work among
our Christian brethren of England for a few months. But be-
fore leaving the enchanted shores of our beloved Canada,
allow me to address a few words to our dear countrymen of
every origin and creed on the great question of the day — the
separate schools. More than eighty=seven years have passed
over me. Every day of that long experience has taught me that
one of the greatest calamities which can fall on a country is
the separate schools, established under the pretext of religious
differences. If you put the stupid, unpatriotic, unchristian
150
Last Visit to Eurpe 451
walls of religious division to separate the children from each
other when in the schools, it will be as impossible to make of
them a united, strong and happy people, as it would be to
make a strong rope with grains of sand. Yes, if you allow
a part of the children to say to the other part, born under
the same skies, 'We are too holy to sit on the same school
benches with you; we are too holy to kneel before the God
of heaven and earth with you,' you sow seeds of contempt,
hatred and division which will make it absolutely impossible
to reap the blessed fruits of unity, esteem and respect for
each other, without which men are very little superior to the
wild beasts of the forests. Yes, if you allow a part of the
people to say to the people of the other part in the school,
' You are so contemptible in our eyes; you are so much the
enemies of God; you are so completely damned that we can-
not allow our children to breathe the same atmosphere in the
school, etc,' you at once form two camps of implacable ene-
mies of all your boys and girls, and those implacable ene-
mies, when young, will, for the greater part, remain implaca-
ble enemies when old. Those boys and girls who will
never see, know or love each other when young, will not
be likely to know and love each other when men and
women. Surely, no person should be asked to give up his
religion under the pretext of sending his children to school.
Liberty of conscience is one of the precious fruits of modern
civilization — a fruit bought by too many rivers of blood to be
given up on any consideration. Nothing must be done or
said by the teacher which may hurt the religious feelings of
any one of his pupils; but, thanks be to God, there are a
thousand things which are common to all Christian denom-
inations, on which the teacher can speak without hurting any
one's feelings. If any one objects to the speaking on any
religious subject by the teacher, then let the children learn
their catechism and their Bible at home and in their Sab-
bath-schools rather than go to separate schools during the
week. But I hope that the Roman Catholic Bishops and
45- Forty Years in the Church of Christ
priests in Canada have received enough of the bright light
of our age to allow their people to read the Bible, and that
the time has also come to them to know that they have not
the right to prevent the people from bathing in the rays of
that grand and divine Light which heaven has given to earth
— the Bible. They will not object any more to the reading
of the Bible in the schools, provided the teacher will not be
allowed to make any comments thereon.
" I have another favour to ask my dear countrymen before
I leave my dear Canada. It is that they go no more to Rome
to ask the Pope how to rule Canada. Let the men whom we
have selected to guide and rule us give in their resignation
if they do not find themselves wise and learned enough to
fulfil their duties. But by no means let us hear any
more of consulting the Pope how to rule Canada. The Pope
has no more business here in our legislative affairs than the
Emperor of Constantinople. The Pope and the grand Turk
are two great gentlemen, surely, but they have business
enough at home to be released from the burden of ruling such
a distant country as Canada. Besides that, let us remember
the white breeches of Mercier! What a price we have paid
for those breeches! What disasters and humiliations were
in store for that great patriot and all his friends, through
those white breeches!
" My last request to my kind friends is that they pray for
me when I will be working in that precious part of our
Lord's vineyard — Great Britain. Let them ask our common
Saviour that He may so constantly guide me in everything
I will do and say in England, that it may be all for His
glory and the good of the precious souls for whom He suffered
and died on the cross."
After a pleasant voyage I reached England on Thursday,
September 22d. A deputation was in readiness to re-
ceive me, embracing several of the prominent oflBcers of
the Alliance. After warm congratulations had been ex-
changed, I was informed that the applications from churches
Last Visit to Europe 453
and societies for my services were much more numerous than
could possibly be entertained, and that my great age had
been borne in mind, and that I would not be overworked
while in England. In my reply, I said: "That is very kind
of you, but you see, when I am in Canada I am lecturing al-
most daily, and when I had so many pressing invitations to
visit England, I thought at last, ' Well, if it be the Lord's
will that I should go to England, I shall only be doing
there what I should do if I remained in Canada, and the
voyage will do me good.' Although I am convinced that
Rome will never again get the upper hand in England, yet
you have a battle to fight in England against Romanism, and
you in England do not know what Rome is, and so I am
coming to tell you that her system is not Christianity. Why,
when I was in the Church of Rome, I had to repeat the
following prayer from my Breviary ' Mary, thou art the only
hope of sinners.' That is not Christianity. It is paganism
and idolatry. The christ of Rome is a false christ, and not
the Christ revealed in God's Word."
I could but little anticipate that the few statements I made
before these friends, and which the press reported more or
less correctly, were to have the importance that circumstances
gave them. As the readers will see hereafter, they led to a
challenge of a priest and an exciting controversy.
On Wednesday the Protestant Alliance held a reception in
the drawing=room of the National Club, for the purpose of
giving me a welcome, and of afPording an opportunity for
many old friends to renew the acquaintances formed on pre-
vious visits. The drawing-room was far from large enough
to accommodate the ladies and gentlemen who had accepted
the invitation.
Mr. T. A. Denny occupied the chair, and after a prayer by
Canon McCormick, he referred to having presided for Pas-
tor Chiniquy many years ago in Exeter Hall, when the meet-
ing proved a somewhat stormy one, owing to the presence of
an opposing element in its midst. He maintained that the
454 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
cause of Protestantism was by no means dead, and that,
tlespite the progress of Romanism in some quarters, it would
be a large undertaking to kill the Protestants to be found in the
country. He deprecated the false charity which was only
manifested on one side and instanced the declaration of the
Pope as to the "invalidity" of Anglican orders as showing that
the demand of Rome is " all or nothing."
Mr. Guinness, secretary of the Alliance, read a long list of
influential names in clerical, military and other circles who
sympathized with the object of the meeting, but were pre-
vented from being present. Among these were Archdeacon
Sinclair, Canon Tugwell, Prebendary Webb=Peploe, the
Duchess of Manchester, the Countess Tankerville, and Lord
Roden. It was encouraging to see such an intelligent and
sympathetic audience. In my address I remarked:
" I do not come as a learned man or as a teacher, for there
are very many able to occupy such a position better than I;
but I come from Canada at the request of many English
friends to do what I can to open the eyes of the English
people to the dangers to which they appear to be drifting.
Not long ago, in the United States, a train heavily laden
with passengers was proceeding at full speed towards a bridge
which had just collapsed. A man who had seen the disaster
ran back to stop the train. I am like that man, and my de-
sire is to do something to prevent the country from commit-
ting itself to the broken bridge of Romanism. For twenty*
five years I was a priest in that Church, and honestly desired
to serve God. It is a mistake to suppose that all Roman Cath-
olics are not honest. Many of them are thoroughly so, though
they are mistaken, and, having been brought up in that
system, it requires almost a miracle to open their eyes to their
true position. During my stay among you I hope to have
the opportunity of addressing meetings in many parts of the
country. It is not my desire to abuse Roman Catholics, for I
have known many noble and honest hearts among them, but
it is our duty to give the truth to those who have it not. I
Last Visit to Europe 455
am sorry to find, so far as my observation goes, that Protes-
tants are too silent, and lose in that way many converts who
might be won if as Christians they had more zeal. You are
too much on the defensive. Do you fear the future? Christ
is in the boat, though the tempest is raging, and though the
machinery of the Romish Church may be powerful, yet ' the
race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,' but the
side on which God is will have the victory."
In the midst of my work, a letter containing a challenge
appeared in the Catholic Times of October 2, 1896, by
the Rev. F. Begue of the Pro Cathedral, Oban. This is the
letter:
" I read in the Rock of September 25th the following
statement by Pastor Chiniquy, who, I understand, is on a
visit to England. ' You in England do not know what
Romanism is, and so I am coming to tell you that I know that
her system is not Christianity.' ' Why,' continued the Pastor,
' when I was in the Church of Rome I had to repeat every
day the following prayer from my Breviary: Mary, thou, art
the only hojje of sinners. That is not Christianity: it is
paganism and idolatry,' Now, sir, I beg to challenge the
statement italicized, and I defy Mr. Chiniquy or any of his
friends to give chapter and verse, i. e., the place where the
said prayer is to be found in the Roman Breviary, which I
suppose the gentleman in question must have read in by=gone
days. And I hereby oflPer to hand over to him a cheque on
the Nottingham and Notts Bank for X150, being all I pos-
sess in this world, if he can make good his assertion."
After the challenge was read to me the ofiicers of the
Alliance thought it hardly possible that a priest should issue
such a challenge if the prayer were not in the Breviary.
They seemed to fear that I had put myself in an inextricable
predicament by asserting what I could not prove. I told them
that there was just one way by which they could become per-
fectly sure about the matter, which was to get the book and
see for themselves. I told them to send for the book and I
456 P'orty Years in the Church of Christ
would show them the prayer addressed to Mary — "Quia tu es
spes unica peccatorum."
The secretary of the Alliance immediately sent to Wash-
bourne's for a copy of the Breviary and a copy was pur-
chased that had been issued in the year 1895, " Jussu Editum,
Clementis VIII. Urbani VIII. et Leonis XIII.
I then told the secretary to take the volume entitled
" Pars Autumnalis " and to turn to page 381, which he
did, and, to his great surprise, as well as that of the other
friends present, read the very words: " Quia tu es spes unica
peccatorum."
Seeing the prayer with their own eyes, the officers of the
Protestant Alliance said that they were fully satisfied that I
was right.
I accepted of course the priest's challenge, and after subse-
quent correspondence with Mr. Begue, I sent the following
letter to the press:
" Protestant Alliance, November 5, 1896.
•• Sir:
" In reply to the Rev. Father Begue's letter, which letter
is of the 28th of October, he states that 'with regard
to my challenge to him he reasserted his previous statement
as to the prayer we priests are (falsely) said to be under the
obligation of reciting every day * to Mary, our only hope.'
" I beg to state that I have not reasserted anything of the
kind; what I did say was, that the ' Breviarum Romanum '
was a prayer=book, a part of which the priests of Rome had
to read every day; and in the 'Romanum Breviarum' these
words occur, in Latin: 'Thou art the only hope of sinners,'
which statement is addressed to Mary. The Rev. F. Begue
must know that there are four volumes of the Breviary —
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
" The challenge that I accept, as stated by the Rev. F.
Begue, is as follows:
" 'And I defy Mr. Chiniquy or any of his friends to give
Last Visit to Europe 457
chapter and verse, i. e., the place where the said prayer is to
be found in the Roman Breviary, which I suppose the gen,
tleman in question must have made use of in by-gone days,
and I hereby offer to hand over to him a cheque on the
Nottingham and Notts Bank for £150, being all I pos.
sess in this world, if he can make good his assertion.' "
I should state here that a letter containing Priest Begue's
challenge had been sent to clergymen in the districts in Eng-
land where meetings were being held in connection with the
Protestant Alliance, no doubt with the motive of discrediting
my statements in the eyes of the public. Priest Begue in
all probability had no expectation that his challeuge would
be accepted in view of my great age (it being then in the
midst of winter), and the great distance from England to
Oban, in Scotland. He did not evidently think that he ran
any risk of losing his ,£150. under the circumstances. In this
he found his mistake; for the Protestant Alliance took imme-
mediate steps to meet the challenger, and the Argyllshire Hall
in Oban was secured for a meeting on the 17th of November.
As the Breviary is prominently named in connection with
the Oban controversy, most readers are not supposed to
have a knowledge of it, except in name.
This is the handbook, or, as it is sometimes called, the
prayer-book of the priests. There are lessons in it for the
different days of the year, and every priest is required to
devote considerable time to its perusal every day; a neglect
to do that is classed among mortal sins, and cannot be for-
given except on severe conditions. This book must have
a great influence on the minds and characters of the priests.
This is in reality their Bible. They are bound to believe
everything in it as infallibly true. This fact alone ought to
be sufficient to open the eyes of any one to see that Popery
is a system of superstition and downright fraud. Truly it
is a system of lying wonders. This book, a modern writer
has remarked, " is the most vulnerable point of attack on the
Roman system, and is really indefensible."
458 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
This book was sanctioned by the Council of Trent, and was
revised by Pope Clement VIII., and printed in 1602 at the
Vatican. In 1631, Urban VIII. revised it, and this seems to
be the authentic Breviary, which is of course in Latin. It is
a work of great magnitude. There are in it biography, hymns,
passages from the Psalms, prayers and lessons covering all
the days of the year. Miracles, or " pious frauds," constitute a
prominent feature. An English translation was made some
years ago by the present Marquis of Bute, in two large vol-
umes. The work passed under the supervision of a learned
Jesuit, to whom the Marquis expresses his obligations. He
says in his preface, " that if the translation itself or the foot=
notes, should contain anything which a faithful Catholic
ought not to have written, he has written such passages inad-
vertently."
The work contains many absurdities and lies, and any one
to accept them must be either dishonest or blindly credu-
lous, or I may say insane. In it there are things stated
which no man using ordinary reason can accept.
Let us now mention a few of these. Holy children spoke
when five months old. St. Philip Beniti at that age scolded
his mother for not giving alms to some begging friars. Bells
sometimes rang of their own accord wdien saints were born.
There is quite an account of St. Rose, in connection with
whom there were miraculous manifestations from her earliest
childhood. Her face took the form of a beautiful rose. She
was born in Lima, South America, in 1586, and the only na-
tive of this continent ever canonized by the Pope. At the
age of five years she uttered a vow of perpetual virginity!
The translation of the story of that saint by the Marquis
differs considerably from the original. A copy of the passage
from the Latin is this: "Quinquennis votem perpetuae vir-
ginitatis emisit." But the translator gives her age as fifteen,
instead of five as found in the original, when she took this
step. He either makes a great mistake, inadvertently or by
design, to make the act seem more reasonable. How many
Last Visit to Europe 459
more inadvertencies, mistakes or alterations he has made to
tone down the absurdities, it is hard to say. St. Rose wore
a garment of rough haircloth into which she inserted small
pricks. She wore day and night under her veil a crown,
the underside of which was made of pricks. In imitation
of Katherine of Sienna, she girded her loins with a threes
fold iron chain. She had a bed of knotty sticks, and filled
the gaps with broken pieces of pottery. She lived in a
wretched hut and subjected herself to fastings, whippings and
sleeplessness. She was visited by departed spirits or ghosts.
St. Reymond on one occasion being on a certain island, and
wishing to go to Barcelona, spread his cloak upon the sea
and passed over the waters, accomplishing the whole distance
of sixiy leagues in six hours, and finally entered his convent
through the closed door ! Thirty miles an hour was good speed.
No modern steamships have come up to that yet. Why not
cross the Atlantic Ocean at the present day by some such arrange-
ments and dispense with costly and cumbersome steamships?
There is an account of the holy house of Lorett in Italy,
which was brought centuries ago through the air by angels
over the seas from Jerusalem. This was the house in which
the Virgin Mary and Joseph lived. This beats all the mod-
ern improvements in house moving. One saint stuck his
staff in the ground and it developed into a fig4ree covered
with fruit. One nun found herself short of bread, having
only a few crumbs of crust, but the fragments became loaves
of bread so that she and those with her had an abundance.
Pope St. John went on a journey to Corinth, and was fur-
nished with a horse by the lady of a nobleman, which was her
favourite animal. The horse after being returned was unman-
ageable, and kicked in the hands of its mistress so violently
that she parted with it, and gave it to the Pope. The horse
was then perfectly tractable with its master, having become so
proud that it would serve no one of less dignity than the Holy
Father. St. Dionysius was beheaded and walked off with his
head under his arm to Paris, and entered the present Abbey
460 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
of St. Denis in that position. St. Jannarius was thrown
into a red-hot furnace, and was not even singtid. The
next day all the beasts of the amphitheater came crouch-
ing before him. The body of this saint once extinguished
the flames of Vesuvius. Rome ought to supply saints to ex-
tinguish some of the terrible fires that break out in our great
cities. Such might bring millions into the Pope's treasury.
Of course the liquefaction of the blood of this patron saint of
Italy is not passed over in the Breviary. St. Francis de Paulo
crossed the Strait of Sicily on a cloak taking another monk
as a passenger. St. Hyacinth, a Pole, prosecuted a long voy-
age in a similar way, taking his companions with him.
St. Ferdinand is most highly praised for his defence of the
Catholic faith. The Breviary states: " This he performed
in the first place by persecuting heretics, to whom he allowed
no repose in any part of his kingdom; and for whose execution,
when condemned to be burned, he used to carry the wood
with his own hands."
The Breviary records a sort of penance which was promi-
nent, and tended to spiritual purification — that of self-flagel-
lation. This absurdity is strongly recommended. The
greatest saints found the application of scourges specially
conducive to holiness. Xavier, Bernard, and many other
eminent saints were in the habit of lashing themselves.
Xavier used an iron whip, which at every blow was followed
with copious streams of blood. Teresa used freely this kind
of purification, but she was not satisfied with this; she some-
times rolled herself on thorns, and the Breviary tells us that
the holy nun, by this means, " was accustomed to converse
with God." Her body, we are told, after her death becoming
" circumfused in a fragrant fluid, remains till the present
day, the undecayed object of worship."
January 10th is the festival of the identical chair used
by Peter. For many years the chair was exposed for the
adoration of the faithful. In 1662 an unfortunate thing
happened. While the chair was being cleaned the twelve
Last Visit to Europe 461
labours of Hercules appeared, so that the genuine chair of
St. Peter suddenly vanished. The chair is not now on
exhibition, the fraud being so barefaced that the material
thing had to be kept out of sight.
In the lesson for May 26th, " St. Phillip N6ri was so smitten
with the love of God that he continually languished, and his
heart boiled with such ardour, that when it could not be con-
tained within its own boundaries the Lord wonderfully
enlarged his breast by breaking and elevating two of his
ribs."
Under the date of December 3d: " St. Francis, by the sign
of the cross, turned so much salt water into fresh, that for
a long time he supplied 500 sailors who were at death's door
for thirst, and, being carried into various countries, many
were cured by it."
January 15th, we are assured, " When Anthony visited Paul,
the hermit, in a cave in the desert, he found him dead, and
when he had not an implement to dig the ground for a grave,
two lions came with rapid course from the innermost parts of
the desert to the body of the blessed old man in such a
manner that it was readily understood that they expressed
their sorrow in the best way they could; then eagerly tearing
up the ground with their paws made a hole which would con-
veniently hold the man." April 2, about Francis of Paola, we
are told that, "God was pleased to attest the sanctity of His
servant by many miracles, of which the most celebrated was,
that being refused a passage by sailors, he crossed the Straits
of Sicily with his companions, on his cloak spread upon the
waves."
I might go on multiplying the lies contained in the
Breviary, which the priests are bound to believe as facts.
The translation, which was the result of a work which lasted
several years under the supervision of Father Swiney of
the Jesuit order, is in two volumes, 8 vo, of over 1200
pages.
The Breviary reminds one of the sacred books of India
462 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
which abound with stories similar to those we find in it
There are the accounts of gods (saints) to be worshiped,
abounding with superstitious lies and absurdities, but no
greater than are found in the Breviary.
In a 1-ong article on Buddhism in the Encyclopedia
Britannica, the writer, in speaking of the form of this system
in Thibet, makes a very significant statement: " Lamaism, with
its shaven priests, its bells and rosaries, its images and holy
water, its popes and bishops, its abbots and monks of many
grades, its processions and feast-days, its confessional and
purgatory, and its worship of the double Virgin, so strongly
resembles Romanism that the first Catholic missionaries
thought it must be an imitation by the devil of the religion of
Christ; and that the resemblance is not in the externals only
is shown by the present state of Thibet — the oppression of all
thought, the idleness and corruption of the monks, the des-
potism of the government, and the poverty and beggary of
the people."
In view of the stuff found in the Breviary, with the stamp
of papal infallibility which the priests are required to
saturate their minds with every day, their low intellectual
and moral grade is what might be expected. It is no wonder
that such men never elevate the people, and the condition of
the people in Italy, Spain, Quebec and Ireland is what might
be expected.
The Romish missionary goes forth with his Breviary,
stuffed with superstition, lies and idolatry. The Christian
missionary goes out armed with the Holy Scriptures, given
by inspiration of God.
I proceed now to speak directly of the controversy at Oban
which had been decided upon. I went to Oban and learned
that Father Begue refused to meet me. I then suggested
that three arbitrators should be chosen on either side to settle
the disputed points. This Priest Begue refused in the fol-
lowing letter:
Last Visit to Europe 463
"Bishop's House, November 17, 10:15 A. m.
"Dear Sir:—
" The very nature of my challenge, which I hereby repeat,
precludes the possibility of any discussion or controversy on
the point. It is a mere matter of fact. On what page of the
Breviary are the words quoted by 3Ir. Chiniquy? The
meeting is to be public, and I will attend with Breviary at
7:30, and on his publicly making good his assertion I will
hand him the cheque. No further correspondence is needed
on the subject.
" Yours truly,
•' F. Begue, Priest."
He thus agreed to attend the public meeting and prove his
point. At the appointed time I attended the meeting accom-
panied by deputies from the Scottish Protestant Alliance, —
Mr. M. C. Maughan, chairman of the directors of that society
and the Rev. A. Townshend, of St. Silas Episcopal Church,
Glasgow. There were also on the platform: Rev. Alex, Duff,
Rev. Ewan Macleod, Rev. James Hutchison and Rev. James
Forbes Campbell of Dunstaffnage, who briefly introduced
the proceedings. Scripture was then read and prayer offered,
after which Mr. W. C. Maughan read to the meeting the terms
of the challenge which, he said, had led me at the great age
of eighty=seven to undertake a journey to Oban; he read also a
letter from Father Begue of the same day's date, in which he
said: " The very nature of my challenge, which I hereby
repeat, precludes the possibility of any discussion or trifling
with the point. It is a mere matter of fact on what pages of
the Breviary are the words quoted by Mr. Chiniquy. The
meeting is to be public and I will attend with my Breviary
at 7:30, and on his publicly making good his assertion I will
hand him the cheque." Mr. Maughan stated that Father
Begue had refused to attend a meeting specially called for,
at which three arbitrators on each side who understood Latin
464 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
should give their translation of tlie prayer which appeared in
the Breviary, and, therefore, they brought the matter before
the public meeting.
The Rev. Mr. Begue, who ascended the platform carrying
an armful of Breviaries, while Mr. Maughan was speaking,
said he had read in the Rock of the 25th of September my
words referred to, and he had challenged the statement and
did so again. They were going to be told by Mr. Townshend
that there was one passage in the Roman Breviary, where the
words occur in Latin, "Maria, tu es sola spes peccaforum,^^
but he would say — " these words occurred only once a year, or
perhaps twice. Mr. Chiniquy said these words were a prayer,
and were to be said daily in the Roman Breviary." That was
the statement he challenged, and none else.
Rev. Mr. Townshend rose to reply to Rev. Father Begue.
He said the challenge as set forth in TJie Cafholic Times was
different from that set forth by Father Begue that night.
That challenge was, that Father Begue " defied Pastor Chini-
quy or any of his friends to give chapter and verse — the
place where the said prayer was to be found in the Roman
Breviary." Rev. Father Begue had also sent a letter to Rev.
Mr. Macleod of Oban, in which he said: " It is a mere mat-
ter of fact on what page of the Breviary are the words quoted
by Mr. Chiniquy." He (Rev. Townshend) would now read
from the Breviary, and as he was only a poor Irishman, he
hoped they would listen to him as he read them. He had
with others that morning visited Father Begue, who received
them most kindly — and he must thank Father Begue for the
courteous manner in which he treated them — and he admitted
that in the Roman Breviary, for the 9tli of September, they did
find words similar, quoted by Pastor Chiniquy. The rev-
erend gentleman then read out of a copy of the Breviary the
words referred to, upon which there w-as prolonged applause.
If they were not satisfied with his reading from that Breviary.
he could, he said, ri^ad the words from any other they liked.
There were the words as distinct as could be.
Last Visit to Europe 465
Rev. Mr. Townshend added: "Without going into the ques-
tion of whether Pastor Chiniquy said every day or not, I only
again refer to the letter of Father Begue, who said distinctly:
'I defy Mr. Chiniquy or any of his friends to give chapter and
verse — the place where the said prayer is to be found in the
Roman Breviary.' I have done that."
Rev. Father Begue again pressed his point that the words
did not occur daily, and that they were in a sermon, not a
prayer.
At this stage the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, of Loch Ranza,
who occupied a place at the back of the platform, stepped
forward and asked permission to make a remark. He said
they had not come to ascertain whether the prayer was a
daily one or not. They were concerned with the substance,
and if Father Begue admitted that once a year he prayed —
" Mary, thou art the only hope of sinners," that was the crux
of the question, and nothing else.
Rev. Father Begue said he maintained that the words in
the Breviary were not a daily prayer. That was the term of
his challenge. He maintained that if the words occurred,
they were in a sermon of St. Augustine, and were not a
prayer. Now, as he asserted this to be a matter of fact. Father
Begue started to leave the platform, and said, " I wish you good=
night. You won't have the X150." There were, on his leav-
ing the platform and going out of the hall, booing, laughter
and cries of " Shame! Shame!"
Rev. Mr. Townshend said he thought they had the right to
decide that I was the victor in that matter. Father Begue
had said he defied me and my friends to give the place where
the prayer was to be found in the Roman Breviary, and said
if that was done he would hand over £150. " I have shown,"
said the reverend gentleman, " that Pastor Chiniquy is
right and 'that Father Begue is wrong, and he has gone
and taken his cheque with him."
I then spoke, and in the course of my discourse I said that
the X150 was nothing to me; I cared only about the truth. I
466 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
showed my hearers that I had offered through friends to
settle the question with Father Begue in an amicable way,
but this offer had been refused three times. I had never
said that the prayer was repeated every day; although that
statement had appeared in the newspaper, I never said so.
There were different prayers for every day, and the same one
was not said every day.
In response the Kev. Messrs. Townshend, Duff and Macleod
intimated that they had read the prayer in question, in the
Breviary.
Rev. Mr. Townshend in a letter to one of the public papers
a short time afterwards, gave the following statement: "On
receipt of this letter, arrangements were made for Father
Begue to attend the public meeting in the Argyllshire Hall.
The terms of the challenge having been stated by Mr. W. C.
Maughan, Father Begue endeavoured to ccjver a retreat by
affirming that he offered the £150 only on condition that the
prayer could be pointed out daily in the Breviary. Produc-
ing his own letter, I read to the meeting his own words — ' It
is a mere matter of fact. On what page of the Breviary are
the words quoted by Mr. Chiniquy?' I then read from an
authorized edition of the Roman Breviary the following
prayer, occurring on September 9th : — 'Oheaia Maria . . .
accipe quod offerimiis, redona quod rogamus, excusa quod
timemus; quia tu es spes unica peccatorum.'*
" And I invited any one in the hall to inspect the passage.
Without disputing the truth of my assertion. Father Begue
then left the hall. Pastor Chiniquy at once proceeded to
appeal to the following gentlemen: Rev. E. Macleod, Rev.
A. Duff, Rev. J. Hutchison, and Mr. W. C. Maughan,
whether the prayer was to be found in the Breviary or not.
These gentlemen, representing different Churches, replied in
the affirmative; and finally the following resolution was
carried by acclamation by the whole meeting: 'This meet-
ing is satisfied that Pastor Chiniquy has most conclusively
answered the challenge of Father Begue, and they are of the
Last Visit to Europe 467
opinion that Father Begue is now in honour bound to pay
over the sum of X150. ' "
As Father Begue tried to escape from his predicament by
quibbling, I notice this to show and illustrate the Jesuitism
of the enemy we have to deal with. His resorting to such
subterfuges only went to prove the truth of what I asserted
in regard to the prayer of the Breviary.
As to the fact of the prayer being such and where I as-
serted, was as plain as anything could be. This accords
with what we find in several of the most prominent Romish
books. "The Glories of Mary," by St. Liguori, is one of
these books sanctioned by the highest popish authorities.
The general drift of the book accords with the prayer I have
proved to be in the Breviary. I might give almost any num-
ber of passages to show this. This writer represents John
Damascus as thus addressing Mary: "Oh lady, in thee I
have placed all my hope and my firm confidence. I look to
thee for my salvation." St. Thomas is represented as saying
that, " Mary is all the hope of our salvation." St. Ephrem
prays, " Oh most holy Virgin, receive us under thy protection,
if thou wilt see us saved, since we have no other hope of
being saved but through thee."
St. Liguori writes further: "Do you not know that she
(Mary) is the only city of refuge, and the only hope of sin-
ners?" St. Augustine has called her " the only hope of
sinners"; " Unica spes peccatorum." He speaks in another
place of a red ladder upon which Jesus Christ was standing,
and a white one upon which was His holy mother. The per-
sons who attempted to ascend the red ladder rose a few steps,
and then fell; they ascended again, and again fell. When
they were exhorted to ascend the white ladder and obeyed,
they succeeded, for the Blessed Virgin offered them her hand
and took th6m directly into paradise.
A volume might be filled with similar statements from
Romish writers.
The attempt of Father Begue to escape by saying that the
468 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
idea asserted in the prayer is found in a sermon by St.
Augustine, borders on the ludicrous. If the power ascribed
to Mary in a prayer is ascribed to her in a sermon, it is a
doctrine, and such a prayer would be consistent with, and
based upon the doctrine. It is not likely that Augustine had
advanced so far towards pojiery that he taught any .such doc-
trine or prayer. But be that as it may, what is ascribed to
him, is endorsed in the Breviary as infallible.
I quote a passage from the " Banner of the Covenant " that
is here in point:
" The most stirring incident of his visit (Dr. Chiniquy's)
was connected with a challenge sent by a Father Begue of
Oban, to prove in the Roman Breviary the use of the blas-
phemous expression, ' Because thou art the only hope of
sinners,' etc., with a prayer to the Virgin. The existence of
the words was proved, the priest himself admitling it in one
or two places. The meeting declared Chiniquy the victor,
and entitled to the £150 which the priest was to give him if
successful. But Begue gathered up his Breviaries and dis-
appeared with the money. The discussion has, however,
created considerable interest in Oban, and friends there,
greatly astonished to find such blasphemous sentiments
attributed to the great Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, desired
us to verify the words. It was certainly a very difficult task
to search for these words in twelve huge Latin folio volumes.
A slight reference to Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon attributed the
expression to sermon eighteen, by this Father. The ordinary
editions of his works are no help, but on referring to the best
and most reliable, that edited by the Benedictine Fathers at
Louvain, there was a surprise. Where sermon eighteen was
to be, there was a blank. It was found, however, in an appen-
dix and numbered 194. It was removed as spurious from
the authentic works of the Father, the learned editors add-
ing a note that, ' in the judgment of the Louvainenses, it is
the work of an uneducated man.' "
Thus another fraud is laid bare, not by Protestants, but by
Last Visit to Europe 469
Benedictines, on which the idolatry and superstition of the
Roman Breviary is built up. It may interest others as well
as friends in Oban.
The Oban debate resulted, under God, in a grand triumph
for the cause of truth. I can see the hand of my Heavenly
Father in it. The influence of it for good was manifested
not only in Scotland, but in Ireland and England. The
hand of the same God that was in the struggles of Luther
and Knox, was shown in this. To His name be all the
glory.
CHAPTER XLII
My Fourth and Last Visit to Europe — Continued. Severe Illness and
Recovery. Invitation to Lecture in Holland Accepted. A Week in
Paris. Germany Visited. The Pulpit and Tomb of Luther. Return
to Canada. The Close of this Book and of Life's Voyage.
I cannot undertake to give a detailed account of my work
in Great Britain during my last trip there; suflBce it to say
that eight days after my arrival, more than a hundred invita-
tions had been received from my English friends, to go and
deliver them the message which the good Master wanted me
to proclaim.
On December 22, 1896, I had already given eighty=two
public addresses to multitudes which very often could not be
accommodated in the large halls or churches where I spoke
in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Brighton, etc.
But on December 22d, after two days of lecturing in Nor-
wich, it was the will of God to stop my humble labours
with a severe cold, which kept me in bed till April 22d,
— just four months. Several times during those months
my doctors told me: "We would hope to cure you very
soon, if you were not so old. But with your eighty=eight
years of age, the best thing you can do is to prepare yourself
for the better life which is in store for the children of God."
These words were very wise, and I would have been very
imprudent not to pay attention to them. However, it was the
will of God to restore my health again, and on April 30th, I
was enabled to give two lectures, without feeling any fatigue,
to more than three thousand people, in the immense Queen's
Hall of London, on the occasion of the annual meetings of
the Protestant Alliance of England.
But the physicians told me that for a thorough restoration
470
Last Visit to Europe 471
of my health, I needed a change of atmosphere, and as I was
consequently contemplating my return to America, I received
an invitation from the Rev. H. J. Schouten, of Ommeren,
Holland, to visit his country, where he said I had many
friends desirous of hearing me. This invitation, which was
not in the least anticipated, seemed to me providential, afford-
ing me the three^fold opportunity of proclaiming the truth,
of following the advice of my physician and of visiting that
interesting people whose grand history I had so greatly
admired, especially in connection with the struggle for the
cause of civil and religious liberty, when the mighty and
tyrannical Philip II. of Spain failed to crush that small but
heroic people. It was then my privilege and my unspeakable
joy to address the disciples of the Gospel ' who filled with
their multitudes the immense and beautiful churches of Rot-
terdam, The Hague, Harlem, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Anhalt,
Apeldorn, Leyden. I was thus lecturing among that most
hospitable, kind and earnest people during the whole month
of April, speaking sometimes through an interpreter, and
part of the time directly to the audience in French or in
English, many of the people of that country being highly
educated and speaking three languages. The ministers
seemed to vie with each other to manifest tokens of respect
and friendship.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Rev. Mr. Schouten,
who put forth such earnest efforts for the extension and suc-
cess of my work, and also to his worthy brother, a lawyer
who resides at The Hague.
At that time there was quite a political campaign going on
in Holland. One of the parties to which the Romanists mostly
belonged, hoped to influence the Protestants that belonged
to another party to join them, so that they would be sure to
win the day. But in that the Romanists failed, and they
themselves ascribed that result to the influence of my lec-
tures.
But on the 31st of May, some important affairs in the in-
47^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
terest of the Gospel having called me to Paris, I was obliged
to go from Holland to France.
When in that brilliant capital of the French people, I had
the joy to meet my daughter Rebecca and her husband, the
Rev. Mr. Morin, who had come to that great centre to enjoy
the educational advantages it affords.
I spent a week with my dear children, and during that
time, besides sight=seeing and many visits to places of in-
terest, I addressed the Coligny Society of Colonization
which is especially interested in promoting the immigration
of Protestants to Algeria. By special request, I spoke of my
colonization in Illinois. My few remarks aroused patri-
otic sentiments among the members of that society when
they learned that one of my primary objects in founding that
colony was to foster the interest of the French nation in
America. I was, on the spot, elected an honourary member
of the society.
One of the most pleasant recollections of my short stay in
Paris this time is the great pleasure I had in meeting Mr.
Eugene R6veillaud, whom I found to be a most warm and
attentive friend. He took great pains in entertaining us at
Versailles, where he resides. He arranged for meetings upon
my return to Paris in July, but, as it will be seen, hereafter I
could not fulfil these engagements on account of previous
invitations in England.
As many German friends had invited me to go and visit
them, I left Paris on the 7th of June for Germany. The
next day it was my privilege to see and admire the marvelous
Cathedral of Cologne, and on the 9th of June I enjoyed the
Christian hospitality of one of the most learned and pious
ministers of the Gospel in Germany, the Rev. A. Schneider,
in the celebrated city of Magdeburg.
It is known that that city had been destroyed and entirely
burned by the Jesuits in the days of the Reformation, to
punish its inhabitants, who had broken the yoke of the Pope
in order to follow the Gospel which Luther had given them.
Last Visit to Europe 473
But since that time they have rebuilt it on a more splendid
scale.
A public open=air meeting had been prepared in that city
to hear the Gospel message they had asked me to give.
It seemed, at first, a great imprudence to deliver a
long address in, an open-air meeting, in the very heart
of the city; but though my address lasted an hour, no injury
came to me. It was the contrary — I have never enjoyed
better health since I gave to those multitudes the Gospel
food my God had ordered me to dispense to them.
The next day it was my joy — my unspeakable joy — to go
and visit the tombs where Luther and Melancthon are rest-
ing from their labours, at Wittenberg. How can I express
my feeling and emotion when in that beautiful and cele-
brated church, where the hero whom God had chosen to
strike down the modern Goliath, had so often made his thun-
dering voice heard!
No; no words can tell what I felt when in the very pulpit
of Luther I made the echoes of the church repeat the beau-
tiful words of David: "O my soul, bless the Lord, and let all
that is within me bless His holy name. "
It seemed I heard from the tombs of Luther and Melanc-
thon a mysterious voice uniting to mine, saying: "O my
soul, bless the Lord, and let all that is within me bless His
holy name."
I would have to say many things about what I have seen
with my eyes and touched with my hands in that celebrated
city of Wittenberg, the blessed cradle of the Reformation;
but it would be only the repetition of the story which all the
tourists have to tell who have seen the same city. However,
I may say that I did not like to leave that historical spot
without carrying with me, as a precious relic, some of the
earth I had taken from the tomb of Luther.
I had to hasten my return to England, as the Rev. Mr.
Sterling and other friends had arranged for a few lectures
they wished me to give before my departure for Canada.
474 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
My passage, with that of my daughter and son in=law, was
secured for the 8th of July on the " Parisian." What joy I an-
ticipated at seeing again my dear and beautiful Canada after
more than ten months absence!
But before leaving England I thought it proper to publish
an address of farewell to my Christian friends there, together
with those of Scotland and Ireland, part of which I insert here:
" I cannot leave your hospitable shores without thanking
and blessing you for the numberless acts of kindness by
which you have overwhelmed me these last ten months. Our
merciful God alone can pay the debt of gratitude I owe you,
May that merciful heavenly Father pour upon you the rich-
est treasures of His mercies for what you have just done to
me, His old, unprofitable servant.
" I will not leave your hospitable shores without telling
you again: Beware of the Jesuits! and still more, beware of
the traitors in your midst under the name of Ritualists or
High Church party! they are the agents of the enemy of
your liberties to bring England back under the heavy and
degrading yoke of Popery. If you want to bequeath to your
children the glorious Gospel which your heroic ancestors
have purchased with their own blood, gird your loins and
fearlessly prepare yourselves to fight again the battles of the
Reformation.
" The Pope of Rome, with his armies of Jesuits, priests,
nuns, cardinals, approaches you to=day with smiling lips and
honeyed words, — just as Delilah did with Samson, — but do
not forget how this giant of old was punished for trusting
himself to the perfidious Philistine girl.
"Rome has not changed: she cannot change. The Rome
of to=day is the Rome that planned the Gunpowder Plot,
built and manned the ' Invincible Armada,' and reddened
your soil with the blood of your noble ancestors.
" But to fulfil your grand and sublime mission, it is not
enough to fight Rome; you have something better to do:
it is to convert the Roman Catholics.
Last Visit to Europe 475
" Do not forget that you have a whole nation in Canada
which God Almighty granted you to conquer that you might
bring them to the dear Saviour's feet. You have already
done much to help our Canadian missions to reflect the light
of the Gospel into the midst of the terrible darkness with
which Popery has covered my dear native country — Canada.
But the work is not yet finished. It is true that we feel an
unspeakable joy when we consider that there are at least
30,000 French-Canadian Roman Catholics who these last fifty
years have broken the heavy yoke of the Pope to follow
Christ. But we have still more than two millions who are at
the feet of the idols of Rome, and who are adoring a god made
with a wafer baked by the servants of the priests of Rome.
" Divided we perish; united we stand. Let us unite our
prayers as well as our efforts, and the God of the Gospel will
give us the victory over the common foe. The stronghold of
Popery in Canada will be brought into dust, the French^
Canadian people will be wrenched from the hands of the
enemy, and we will, during all eternity, bless the Lord for
having granted us the privilege and honour of doing some-
thing for that glorious and blessed work."
After a most enjoyable voyage, brightened by a beautiful
sun and enlivened by most pleasant company, we arrived in
Montreal on the 18th of July, experiencing the truthfulness
of the most touching English song:—
Home! home! sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home!
Now, dear readers, I bring my book to a close.
In it I have endeavoured to state and enforce the truth as I
find it in the Gospels and the writings of the inspired apostles.
This truth I have been preaching for forty years, ever
since I received the full light.
I loved the truth as such from the bottom of my heart and
I have not consciously varied from it a particle in my
teaching.
476 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Nothing can do us the highest good except the simple
truth as revealed in God's Holy Word. This is the medicine
and food of the soul, not the traditions and inventions of
fallible men. The blessed Saviour prayed: "Sanctify them
through Thy truth ; Thy Word is truth." We cannot be saved
by mere churchianitij but by Christianity.
As to matters of fact stated in this volume, I have not
knowingly varied in the least degree from the truth. My
readers can judge for themselves, and arrive at conclusions.
My work on earth is now coming to an end, and I must
soon appear before my Judge, who knows all things, and who
will do just right. My entire trust for salvation is in Christ
as my Redeemer and Mediator.
I am now about to cross the river, I am just at the end of
life's pilgrimage, rich with the unspeakable gift which has
been given me, and pressing my dear Bible to my heart as
the richest treasure, I hasten my steps with unspeakable joy
towards the Land of Promise. I hear the angel's voice tell-
ing me: " Come, the Master calls thee."
My life has been lengthened out much beyond the average,
being now in my ninetieth year. This has been prolonged
by the good mercy of my Heavenly Father, so that I could
do something in the cause of my Saviour, who has done so
much for me.
I ascribe my long life under God to my abstaining from
the use of intoxicating liquors, and general observance of the
laws of health. No doubt my habitual state of mind has had
a great influence on my bodily health. My strong confidence
in my God and the peace and joy I have felt, springing
from an abiding evidence of my acceptance with Him, have
tended to promote health and length of days.
I am now ready to depart and be with my Lord. All my
labours and trials seem insignificant in comparison with that
eternal weight of glory which awaits me. I have no fear of
death — it has no sting for me. Thanks be to God who gives
me the victory over the last enemy through our Lord Jesus
Last Visit to Europe 477
Christ, I can adopt the words of Paul: " I am now ready to
be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous-
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at
that day ; and not to me only, but to all those that love His
appearing."
CHAPTER XLIII
The Final Triumph. Requiescat in Pace.
THE LAST MESSAGE OF FATHER CHINIQUY — HIS ANTE=MORTEM
DECLARATION OF FAITH, SIGNED AND ATTESTED SIX DAYS
BEFORE HIS DEATH.
REASONS WHY HE COULD NOT RETURN TO THE CHURCH OF
ROME.
On this 10th day of January, in the year of our Lord
1899, at the special request of the Keverend Charles Chiniquy,
of the city of Montreal, evangelist, minister of the Gospel,
Doctor of Divinity, etc., I, George R. Lighthall, the under-
signed Notary Public, practising in the city of Montreal,
aforesaid, in the province of Quebec, accompanied by
William Grant Stewart, of the said city of Montreal, Esquire,
Doctor of Medicine, a witness to these presents, expressly
called, went and repaired to the domicile, in the said city of
Montreal, of the said Rev. Charles Chiniquy, where being,
and finding him in poor health of body, but of sound mind,
as appeared to us, said notary and witness, by his actions,
conversation and demeanor, he hath made and published,
and has declared to us, said notary and witness, as follows: —
"Believing that my earthly life is drawing to its end, and
that I am about to die and enter into the presence of God
Almighty and of my blessed Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ,
I, before God Almighty, declare the following to contain the
faith in which I die, and some of the express reasons why I
still, and will refuse to return to the yoke of the Pope or of
his Church, which is commonly called the Roman Catholic
478
The Final Triumph 479
Church, of which Church I was at one time, and for years, a
priest in good standing.
'• I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God, my
Creator, through the sole infinite merits of Jesus Christ, my
Divine Redeemer.
" I hereby expressly declare myself to be a Protestant, pro-
testing against the many damnable errors of the Roman
Catholic Church, and in the Protestant faith I have, once and
for all, accepted Jesus Christ for my only Saviour, believing
that God has forgiven all my sins for His sake, and I accept
His Holy Word for my only guide.
" I can never return to the yoke of the Church of Rome,
for, amongst others, the following reasons:—
" 1. The dogma of the apostolic succession from Peter to
Leo XIII. is an imposture. There cannot be found a single
word in the Holy Gospel to show us that Peter passed a
single hour in Rome. The superiority or pre-eminence given
by the Roman Catholic Church to Peter over the whole
apostles is another imposture. Every time that our Saviour
was asked by His twelve apostles who would be first, the
leader, the Pope, He always answered that there would not
be such first, leader or Pope in His Church. More than that.
He positively answered the mother of Zebedee's children,
that He had not received from His Father the power to
establish one of His apostles over the others. ' To sit on My
right hand or My left, is not Mine to give.' (Matt. 20: 23.)
" We have an irrefutable and infallible proof that our Sa-
viour never put Peter at the head of the apostles as the first,
the leader or the Pope, in the dispute that occurred among the
apostles a little before His death. 'And there was also a
strife among them, which of them should be counted greatest.'
(Luke 22: 24.) Such a dispute would never have occurred if
Jesus Christ had established Peter as the greatest, or the
first of them. They would surely have known it, and Jesus
would have answered, 'Have you so soon forgotten that
Peter is the greatest among you, that he is the first among
480 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
you from the day on which I appointed him the fundamental
stone of My Church? ' But far from answering thus, the Son
of God rebukes His apostles and tells them positively, 'The
kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them . . . But
it shall not be so among you.' (Luke 22: 23-25.) Not only
that modern forged primacy of Peter had never been acknowl-
edged by any of the apostles, but had been openly and posi-
tively denied by Paul. ' For He that wrought effectually in
Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me towards the Gentiles.' (Gal. 2:8.) 'And
when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be the pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me
and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should
go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.' (Gal.
2:9.) Here Peter is named only after James, a thing that
never would have been done by St. Paul if he had known
anything of the marvelous superiority and primacy of Peter
over the rest of the apostles.
"The following are the words of St. Paul: 'But when
Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, be-
cause he was to be blamed.' (Gal. 2: 11.) It is evident that
Paul had not the least idea of any kind of superiority of
Peter over him when he withstood him to the face; and still
more when he wrote these lines. It is clear that the Holy
Ghost inspired Paul to give us the history of his so stern
withstanding to the face of Peter, that we might not be
seduced by the grand imposture of the supremacy of Peter,
which is the corner=stone of the apostate Church of Rome.
*' 2. I will never be a Roman Catholic, for the Roman Cath-
olic Church is idolatrous. It worships God? Yes, but the
god whom it worships is made with a wafer — it is a wafers
god that is on its altar. Every hour of his priestly life a
priest is guilty of the crime which Aaron committed when he
caused the Israelites to worship a golden calf. The only
difference between him and Aaron is that Aaron's god was
made of gold, and that of the priest is made of some dough
The Final Triumph 481
baked by nuns or servant girls between two well-polished
and heated irons.
" The Roman Catholic Church has a christ on its altars.
Yes, and it is very devoted and truly pious towards that christ,
or rather, these christs: it praises their powers and their mer-
cies; it sings beautiful songs in their honour; but the christs
whom they worship are spoken of by our Saviour in the
24th of Matthew: 'There will be false christs, and they will
show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were pos-
sible they should deceive the very elect. Wherefore if they
say unto you, behold He (Christ) is in the secret cham-
bers, believe it not.'
" Now I see that terrible prophecy is accomplished by the
Church of Rome every time its people prostrate themselves
before these christs made in little cakes and put in the secret
chambers of its Church. Its people believe in those christs
of the secret chambers, when the Son of God tells them ' Be-
lieve it not.' They go there to adore the wafer-god, when
the true Christ says, 'Go not there.'
" In vain it tells us that Christ gave its priests the power to
make its god with the engraven wafer. I answer that Christ
Himself had not the power to make God and make Himself
with an engraven wafer; for His Father had forbidden such
an absurd and idolatrous act when, on Mount Sinai, in the
midst of thunders and lightning, He said: ' Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any-
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of
them that hate me.'
" Christ came to accomplish and not to break His Father's
commandments. He could not give the Church of Rome the
permission or the power to break them by ordering it — as it
pretends He did — to make an engraven wafer, turn it into
482 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
God, and bow down before it, for this is idolatry. When
Christ told us to eat His body and drink His blood, He was
speaking in the same fij^ure as when He said He would eat
the Passover. Though Christ said, * I will eat the Pass-
over,' he was not able to eat the Passover, for the simple
reason that the passage of the exterminating angel over
Egypt could not be eaten. But the lamb which was eaten in
remembrance of the Passover would be eaten, and that lamb
was called the Passover because it represented a Passover.
By the same figure of speech the body and blood of Christ
would not be eaten. But the bread which represented that
body would be eaten, and the bread had then to be called the
'body' for the same reason and by the same rule of lan-
guage that the lamb was called the ' Passover ' though it was
not the Passover; just in the same way and by the same rule
of language that when we look at the marble statue of Queen
Victoria we say, ' This is Queen Victoria,' though it is not
Queen Victoria at all.
" 3. I will never be a Roman Catholic because every Ro-
man Catholic Bishop and priest is forced to perjure himself
every time he explains a text of the Holy Scriptures. Yes,
though it is a very big word and a hard word, it is the truth.
From the day that he has sworn when he was ordained a
priest to interpret the Holy Scriptures only according to the
unanimous consent of the holy fathers, he has seldom
preached on a text of the Holy Scriptures without being
guilty of perjury, for, after having studied the holy fathers
with some attention, I am ready to prove that the holy
fathers have been unanimous in only one thing, which was to
differ on almost every text of the Scriptures on which they
had written. For instance, the priest cannot say that the
books of the Maccabees are inspired without perjuring him-
self; for the greatest part of the holy fathers say that these
books are not inspired. A priest cannot, without perjuring
himself, say, when Christ said to Peter, ' Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My Church,' it signified that
The Final Triumph 483
Peter was meant by this rock, and that he is the corner^
stone of the Church; for the priest knows very well that St.
Augustine and many other holy fathers said that Christ
meant Himself when He said, ' Upon this rock I will build
My Church.'
" 4. I cannot be any more a Roman Catholic, for I know
that Auricular Confession is a diabolical institution, as I
have amply shown it to be by my book called, ' The Priest,
the Woman, and the Confessional.'
" 5. I will never be a Roman Catholic, for I have seen with
my eyes the inside of the walls of the churches, and they are
filled with all the abominations of the world. The priestly
celibacy is of diabolical institution. Purgatory, with the
poor souls that burn in it, and are saved by paying the
Church so many dollars, is of diabolical institution. The
waters of La Sallette and Notre Dame de Lourdes which
are sold in the Roman Catholic Church, are of diabolical in-
stitution. The Roman Catholic Church's forbidding to eat
meat on certain days is of diabolical institution. Its infalli-
ble Pope and immaculate Mother of God are of diabolical
institution.
" 6, With the help of God I will never think of making my
peace with the Church of Rome, for her priests. Bishops and
Popes have shed the blood of millions of martyrs, from John
Huss to our dear brother, Hackett. On the Pope's hands I
see the blood of 75,000 Protestants slaughtered on the night
of St. Bartholomew, and the blood of half a million of Chris-
tians slaughtered in the mountains of Piedmont.
" 7. I will never be a Roman Catholic, for its Church is the
implacable enemy of the laws of God and of the rights,
liberties and privileges of man. Its Church has degraded
and brought into the dust and mud all the nations it has ruled.
" I might give many other reasons why I would never be a
Roman Catholic, but I hope that these are sufficient to show to
my dear countrymen, who are so cruelly kept in ignominious
ignorance and slavery, that, having once accepted Christ and
484 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
His holy Word for my guide, I cannot bow down any more
before idols and wafer^gods.
" It is my wish and desire that publicity be given to this
my declaration of faith, and to that end I hereby instruct and
ai)point my son=in4aw, the Rev. Joseph L. Morin, of said
city of Montreal, minister of the Gospel, to cause these
presents to be published in the newspapers of the French
and English languages as he may think best, and to take such
other means for the j)ublication thereof as in his opinion
may be advisable. I also hereby instruct him to forward a
duly certified copy hereof to the Roman Catholic archbishop
of Montreal, for the time being, at the time of my death."
" Executed at the domicile of the said Rev Charles Chini-
quy on the day and date aforesaid, under the number three
thousand five hundred and sixty^six, and signed by said
declarant, witness and notary, after due reading hereof.
" (Signed) C. Chiniquy.
" W. Grant Stewart,
" Geo. R. Lighthall, N. P.
"A true copy of original hereof remaining on record in my
oflBce.
" (Signed) Geo. R. Lighthall, N. P."
II
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE OF FATHER
CHINIQUY, ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1899, BY THE
REV. C. E. AMARON, D. D., PASTOR OF ST. JOHN'S FRENCH
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, OF WHICH THE DECEASED WAS A
MEMBER.
The solemn duty of saying a few words at the tomb of the
illustrious man of which the French Protestant Church and
Christendom have just been bereft, has been entrusted to
me by my brethren. I feel unequal to the solemn duty.
The Final Triumph 485
If I followed the promptings of my heart, if I did not con-
quer my feelings, with the afflicted family, with this vast
concourse of people, come from far and near, to honour the
memory of the valiant defender of the truth who has ceased
his labours, with a multitude from the ranks of the humble
and poor of the world, whom he always aided and succoured,
I would bow my head in sorrow and allow my tears to flow.
We deplore the great gap that has been caused. We feel
the loss we have sustained, and all the more because we were
not prepared for it.
It had seemed to us that the mighty wrestler of so many
years, who, like the oak of the forest, had withstood so many
storms, and whose admirable physical frame had so often
triumphed over sickness, would once more be conqueror to
continue the great work to which God had called him. But
our fond hopes have been disappointed, and with the prophet
of Israel we are constrained to cry aloud: "Howl, fir tree;
for the cedar has fallen."
I need not dwell here on the leading features of the his-
tory of the distinguished reformer whom God has called
away.
Born in the Church of Rome when she was all-powerful in
Canada, Father Chiniquy became one of her leading priests.
Miraculously guided and illumined by the teachings of
God's Holy Word, he was impelled by the Holy Ghost to
abandon the religious system that could no longer satisfy the
wants of his soul and the promptings of his conscience, to
accept the religion of the Gospel.
No one ignores the sacrifices which were involved in such a
step, not to speak of the dangers. For conscience sake
he voluntarily divested himself of those supernatural powers
which every priest is supposed to possess, and he forfeited the
immense influence which he had already acquired, and made
the sacrifice of greater riches and honours in store for him.
He did not hesitate to come down from that lofty pedestal
of ecclesiastical and worldly glory, to become a simple minis-
4-86 Forty Years in the Church ot Christ
ter of the Gospel, should we not rather say, to ascend to the
ciio^nity of the honourable servant of Jesus Christ.
He was well aware that outrages, persecutit)ns and dangers
awaited him on all sides. He felt conscious that there would be
strong misgivings as to the character of the work of intellec-
tual and moral emancipation, which would absorb his thought,
and to which he felt called to devote his life. Beforehand he
knew he would be despised, hated and cursed by the power-
ful Church from which he was withdrawing, and he would be
suspected by Protestantism.
But the voice of duty prevailed over all others, and inspired
by the cry of this illustrious forerunner, John Calvin, " God
wills it, God wills it," with that energy, with that indomitable
courage which ever characterized him, born of strong convic-
tions and faith in Christ, like the Apostle Paul, that noble
apostate of the Jewish Church, he forsook all to unfurl the
banner of the Christian faith. In view of the extraordinary
influence which he wielded among his countrymen, the re-
sponsibilities which God entrusted to him were very great.
Would he be faithful to his sacred trust? Would he prove
worthy of it? Would he proclaim to the end the principles
of evangelical Protestantism? Having been a priest of
Rome, would he dare to face the messenger of death without
the ministry of the priest? Thousands of his fold who so
often unjustly accused him of pride, predicted again and
again his return to Rome at the solemn hour. Likewise did
others, who did not cease to love him, while regretting his con-
version. Those who had previously experienced saving faith,
and who had knowledge of his, who knew him intimately,
who had witnessed his piety, and who had occasion to become
acquainted with the motives which prompted him even in
his most scathing discourses against that which for him was
error and idolatry; those who had shared his great moral and
religious struggles, never doubted his sincerity and fidelity.
He had failings, yes, and who is without these? Those with
which he could in a special manner be reproached, must be
The Final Triumph 487
charged to the inadequate and positively harmful clerical edu-
cation he had received, and which he in after years so vigor-
ously combated.
Possessing strong convictions, Dr. Chiniquy remained
faithful to the Protestant faith to the end ; in public and in
private he proclaimed the virtues of Him who had called him
out of darkness into His marvelous light.
During his last illness of fifteen days, his strong faith sus-
tained him. One week previous to his death, after hearing the
reading of the letter from the Archbishop of the Roman Catho-
lic Church of Montreal, who offered him the help of his
ministry, the sick man, still strong and in the full enjoyment
of his intellectual powers, asked those who had made him
acquainted with the intentions of the Archbishop to express
to him his sincere thanks for the interest he had manifested
in his spiritual welfare, and said in substance: " I am grate-
ful to the Archbishop . . . but I have definitely with-
drawn from the Church of Rome. I am perfectly happy in
the faith in Christ Jesus. God and Jesus suffice me. I long
to depart."
In an interview which I myself had with the Archbishop,
I promised him that if Dr. Chiniquy expressed a desire to see
him, his liberty of conscience would be respected. On sev-
eral occasions I asked the distinguished patient if the faith
which had sustained him during the last forty years of strug-
gles proved sufficient at the supreme hour. With uplifted
hands he replied: " The road which leads me to heaven is
straight; it is Jesus Christ."
Two days later he said to me: "It is beautiful to reach
the end of the voyage. Heaven opens before my wondering
eyes. What more could be offered me? How could I miss
the road when Jesus the only Saviour guides ? " My brethren,
if a man who dies with such a faith is not saved, there is no
salvation possible. And thus did this noble life come to a
close, a life of intense Christian activity and charity.
Calmly and peacefully he fell asleep; the celestial messen-
488 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
gers carried his soul, ransomed in the blood of the Lamb, to
the city of God, and at this solemn moment his peaceful
countenance reflects the calm rest of heaven.
During his life, he proclaimed to thousands of souls salva-
tion through the merits of Christ alone. He placed Jesus
and His ministry of grace and pardon ever above that of man.
By his triumphant death he now lifts the veil which has
concealed the truth from thousands of timid souls, men and
women, who, whilst having lost faith in the religious system
which he combated, have never had the courage to embrace
the evangelical faith. He says to them that he who forsakes
all to accept Christ, the Saviour, is happy during life, and
receives the crown of immortality at the hour of death.
Servant of the living God, we do not bid thee adieu, but
farewell; thy pains and griefs and labours are ended. No
more shall we hear the accents of thy sympathetic voice.
The noises of the earth for thee are now hushed in silence,
and thou art at rest under the shadow of the tree of life.
We give the rendezvous in the Jerusalem above, the eter-
nal city, the holy palace where dwells the great King, the
abode of the ransomed, faithful soul.
While we weep for thee, in the mansions of God all is joy
and peace; the vaults of heaven resound with loud hosannas.
There, no more sorrows, no more pains; all tears are dried.
Sleep thy last sleep,
Free from care and sorrow;
Rest where none weep,
Till the eternal morrow;
Though dark waves roll o'er the silent river,
Thy fainting sonl Jesus can deliver.
Though we may mourn
Those in life the dearest,
They shall return,
Christ, when Thou appearest;
Soon shall Thy voice
Comfort those now weeping,
Bidding rejoice.
All in Jesus sleeping. Amen.
The Final Triumph 489
III
MEMORIAL SERVICE. — SERMON PREACHED BY THE REV. A. J.
MOWATT, IN ERKSKINE CHURCH, MONTREAL, ON SUNDAY
MORNING, JANUARY 22, 1899.— THE APOSTLE OF FRENCH
EVANGELIZATION.
" I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown." 2Tira. 4:7, 8.
I see Paul yonder writing his last letter, putting on record
his dying words. He knows it. Death faces him. The lion
that had been kept at bay is now ready to spring upon him.
The sword leaps from its scabbard that is to slay him. What
will he write? How do things look to him now? It is one
thing to see them with life and all its promises before one,
and it is another thing to see them when life and all it has
failed to be lie behind one. Is he sorry now that he broke
with his old faith and all the brilliant prospects it held out to
him? Does he now see that the great light that flashed upon
him in the way was not a light that he should have followed?
Does he regret the zeal that swept him from city to city,
shore to shore, preaching Christ crucified? He remembers
what he has had to suffer and sacrifice for the Gospel's sake.
The loss of all things it means to him, the times he had
been whipped and stoned and imprisoned, the perils it had
dragged him into and through, and for what? Here he is,
a poor old missionary, deserted of his friends, forsaken of
those who should stand by him when he needs them most.
Oh, it is sad, it is all a mistake; "so let apostates die!" his
enemies are saying. But Paul does not regret. Kead his
dying testimony, and if words mean anything, he counts his
life not a failure at all, but a splendid success, a triumph:
" I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is
come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for
490 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right-
eous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not only to me, but
also to all them that have loved His appearing."
I stood here on Thursday, where I am standing now, and I
looked into Father Chiniquy's dead face as it lay before me,
and there were some questions suggested that seem to me
worthy of our most earnest consideration. It may have been
fancy on my part, but his face seemed to smile up into mine,
and to say something like this: " I am already offered, and
my departure has come. I, too, have fought the good fight.
I. too, have finished my course. I, too, have kept the faith.
And for me is the crown that was the apostle's crown, the
crown of all who have loved the Lord's appearing."
I want to ask this to=day, first of all, with his dead face
still before me, if it was a mistake, one of the blunders of a
great life, such as his has been,
TO BREAK WITH THE CHURCH OF ROME?
Men do make mistakes. They blunder their lives. Great
men do that. Wise men do it. Did Father Chiniquy do it,
when, at an important crisis in his life, he broke with his
own past record of some fifty years standing, broke with the
faith that had done so much for him, broke with the Church
of his fathers, the Church that had nourished and cherished
him as a mother nourishes and cherishes her child; that had
baptized him, that had taken him into her bosom and had
put him among her children, that bad educated him and then
had ordained him, that had opened a brilliant future for him
and honoured him with her honours — did he, I ask, do a
great wrong, make a mistake, blunder his life,blunder somuch?
Now, it is easy for some, looking at things from their par-
ticular standpoint, to say: "Yes, he did wrong." And so
they call him an apostate. Others again find it just as easy
to say: "No, he did nothing wrong; he did right." And so
they call him an apostle and extol his virtues.
The Final Triumph 491
We listen to these and they speak well; we listen to those
and they speak well, too, or seem to. And yet both cannot
be right. If Chiniquy v/as an apostate, he cannot be an
apostle; if he was an apostle in any proper sense, he cannot
be an apostate. Where, then, are we?
I need not dwell on the particulars of his life; these have
been sufficiently dwelt upon. A lovelier childhood could
hardly be. We see mother and child bathed in one another's
tears as the one teaches and the other learns the sweet Gospel
story of the Saviour's love, and there is nothing to be desired.
If that is in any measure a sample of what is going on in
Roman Catholic homes, it shames many a Presbyterian
home. Then, later, we see him entering upon his public du-
ties with a holy, burning zeal. The way he championed the
temperance cause, and sought to lift up the people in that
respect, cannot be too highly praised. And so it goes on
with him till a complication of circumstances arise in con-
nection with the gigantic colonization scheme he is at the
head of, that drives him to choose between obedience to God
and man. It is solemn moment with him, a real garden of
Gethsemane. Who can enter into that darkness? Who can
estimate the agony of a true soul as it is led to tear itself
away from a past so sacred, and venture upon a future so
dark and ominous? But when he took from his breast=
pocket his little French Testament and read: "Ye were
bought with a price; become not bond=servants of men," that
settled it. He fell on his knees and yielded himself to Him
who had bought him with His blood — bought him to make
him free. Henceforth let no one lord it over him. When a
Church, whether the Church of Rome or the Presbyterian
Church, usurps the place of God, and seeks to bind men to
her as slaves are bound, she is to be broken with. Thus was
Father Chiniquy led, driven, compelled, as he looked upon
it, to break with the Church of his fathers, to free himself
from what he felt to be, on her part, tyranny, spiritual usur-
pation.
49^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
There was Paul — he broke with his Church the tyrannous
and persecuting ecclesiasticism of his day. I ask, did he
do right? You find him in full sympathy with her bitter
persecuting spirit. A fiery zeal burned in his great soul and
swept him on. But he saw a great light. It flashed upon
him from heaven. He was not looking for it. It came look-
ing for him. And in its light how difiPerently things looked
from the way they had looked to him before! And then he
heard a voice as well as he saw a light — the voice of Jesus
the Crucified. The voice and vision so changed things for
him that he would not go back to what he had been. You
see him on his knees in the little room. It is his Garden of
Gethsemane. Who can enter into the awful experiences of
those three days? But he emerged a new man. They
called him an apostate for turning his back on his
Church and people and all he had been. They said
all manner of hard things about him. And was there not
good reason for it? Had he not in all good faith accepted a
position and commission, and bound himself to stand by the
mother Church? Yes. No sooner, however, is he out of
sight of the authorities that had sent him and trusted him
than he broke faith with them and went over to the other
side to be as strong there. What shall be said of such a
man? Apostate shall we not call him? And yet, he is no
apostate, but an apostle. He had been wrong, and he came
to know it. His Church had been wrong, and he came to
know it. Her priests and high priests and ecclesiastics were
all wrong, and he came to know it. With his fuller light
then, what else, as an honest man, could he do if he would
be true to himself, true to the truth, true to God, but break
with his Church, change his faith, apostatize— shall we not
call it? I tell you the world would be the better and the
Church would be the purer if there were more of such apos-
tates as Paul and Chiniquy.
I look again into tlie dead face of Father Chiniquy as he
lay there and I ask myself and ask you here to day if he did
The Final Triumph 493
a thing unworthy of him to give himself with all the inten-
sity of his great soul, with all the fire of apostolic zeal, and
with all the eloquence with which he was endowed so
richly, to
THE CAUSE OF FRENCH EVANGELIZATION
Look at Paul and see what he did. As we have seen, he
broke with the Church. In the new light that had come to
him he could not do otherwise. And not only did he break
with his Church, he turned right round, and was as hard
against her as he had been for her. He gave himself to the
Gospel, to its promulgation and extension, with all the might
that was in him. He went into the synagogues of the land
with his new faith and pleaded there the cause of the Gos-
13el, and thus divided them, sowed dissension, set them on
fire, overturned things. He found men living at peace with
one another, doing their duties in the old way, and after he
had spoken, they were all at variance, some holding to the
old faith still, others siding with the new, and the very foun-
dations of things ready to be broken up. Do you wonder
then that such a firebrand of a man as he was, was mobbed
in the streets, stoned, imprisoned, driven out from one place
and pursued to another, the most hated and abused of his kind?
And yet he was gentleness itself, as kind as love could
make him, seeking only men's highest interests, willing to
lay down his life, if in that way or in any other way at all
he could be a help to them. It was the truth as he preached
it that set them on fire, and so whenever he came preaching
the Gospel there was hot work, — hot words, hot hearts. " Let
us have peace," men said. And the Gospel is peace. But
how can truth and error be at peace together? Peace in-
deed! I tell you it is a dead state of things with both of
them whel'e there is peace. Put a dead wolf and a dead
lamb together in the same fold and all will be peace — the
peace of the dead. But let there be life, and where then is
the thing men call peace?
494 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
Many could not see what the old fight was all about. The
old Jewish Church and the new Christian Church — are not
both, the one as well as the other, seeking to lead men to the
one and same place? Let there be no quarrel between them.
But there was all the difference between truth and error.
The one had the Gospel and the other did not have it. The
one rejected Christ, crucified Him; the other received Him,
crowned Him. Paul, with his light, saw all the difference
in the world between them, and so he preached Christ, and
in preaching Christ he went full tilt against the Church of
his fathers. There was nothing else for it, and so the smoke
of battle arose.
Now, as with Paul, so with Father Chiniquy. And I hesi-
tate not to compare them. The Gospel Paul preached, Chini-
quy preached. It was Christ crucified with Paul, and it was
Christ crucified with Chiniquy. It was salvation by grace
through faith with Paul, and it was salvation by grace
through faith with Chiniquy. It was everything to Paul to
preach the simple Gospel, and it was everything to Chiniquy
to do it, too. If Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, Chini-
quy was the apostle of French evangelization.
What is French evangelization? It is simply the Gospel
to the French people. Paul felt it his duty and privilege to
go to his countrymen with the Gospel, and Chiniquy felt it
his special call and mission to go to his countrymen with the
Gospel. You see Paul rising from his knees and with his
soul on fire going forth to tell his co-religionists of Jesus.
And you see Chiniquy rising from his knees and hastening
home to his beloved people; he tells them with a tongue all
on fire what a blessed light had brok(m upon him, and the
people, one and all, hailed him and followed where he led
them. It was another day of Pentecost yonder. That was
forty years ago, but the memory of it can never fade, the
light of it never go out.
French evangelization — some do not like it. They speak
against it, call it hard names. It filled the streets of Mon-
The Final Triumph 495
treal with a howling mob in other days, stoned Chiniquy
and his friends; it must be a bad thing. It kindles up
strife and controversy, casts firebrands; it must be a bad
thing. It enters once happy homes and sets one against
another; the husband against the wife and the wife against
the husband, the parent against the child and the child
against the parent; a thing that does that must be a bad
thing.
But is that so? Why cannot we see that that is the very
thing that is wanted? Why cannot we see that in so far as
it does that it is the old Gospel Christ preached and Paul
preached and Luther preached? The Gospel, as Christ
preached it, mobbed Him and at last crucified Him. The
Gospel, as Paul preached it, threw him into prison, and at last
martyred him. Think it not a strange thing then, if the apostle
of French evangelization could not fulfil his mission, do his
work without a fight. When French evangelization or any
other evangelization ceases to be a firebrand in the land, it has
outlived its usefulness, its day is done, it has lost its power.
It is time to give your money, your support, to something
else, something better.
I asked here to-day — and that old face with the light still
in it is before me as I try to speak — if it was his one great
mistake, the maddest and foolhardiest thing a man of his
ability ever set himself to do, to give the best forty years of
his life to a thing so utterly hopeless as French evangeliza-
tion? If he had remained true to his Church he might have
occupied the proudest positions at her disposal, and died full
of her honours. And yet despise not French evangelization.
It is still a little thing in the land — a little thing ecclesiasti-
cally, socially, politically. And now its apostle and champion
has fallen, and its friends are asking what is to become of it
now.
But let us not fear for it. As I saw the thousands come to
look on his face, and heard the words that fell from their
lips, this was made very clear to me, that the movement has
496 Forty Years in the Church of Christ
taken a deeper root in the hearts of the people than many of
us are aware of. It is not man's work, but God's, and that
being the case it will go on, slowly it may be, and not with-
out a struggle, but in the end it will triumph. The Church
of Rome cannot put it down.
Some see no necessity for it. They tell us the French
people do not want it. They are satisfied with their Church
and she is all right. Why should we encourage schismatics
and firebrands such as old Chiniquy was? But that was just
the way men talked about Christ and His vvork, Paul and his
Gospel. They were not wanted, it was said. Things were
well enough as they were; let them alone.
The truth is, however, the Church of Rome is not right.
She is standing in the way, as she has ever done, of the
country's progress and the people's good. Patriotism chIIs
upon us as well as piety to push as we have never done the
claims of French evangelization. As soon as the people
know what it is, the Gospel there is in it for them, they will
hail it. Already the leaven of doctrine is at work, and there
is a waking up all over the land. A movement is developing,
taking shape and working out, the extent and value of which
we cannot foresee. There is hope for Quebec, but not in what
the Church of Rome can do for her, but in the direction of
Chiniquy's labour. It is still the Gospel of Christ crucified
that is to save and lift up the people, not ultramoutanism.
Give the people the Word; sow the seed of truth among
them with a full hand; teach them of Jesus; inspire them
with faith, and they will awake as from sleep, and put on
strength.
Oh! great Chiniquy, we shall not soon see thy like again.
Thou wert a greater man than we knew, a mightier force
for good than we realized. The Lord raised thee up to lead
forth an exodus, and although it is still in the wilderness,
and the land of promise still afar o fP, it will yet get there
and possess the land. In that day it will be seen as it is not
to*day what it was thine to do, what a seed of faith it was
The Final Triumph 497
thine to plant, and what a crown it will be thine to wear.
Kest from thy labou rs, O great worker, and let them follow
thee. Hero of many battles, thou didst fight well in the cause
of truth, and now it is the victor's crown. We saw thy faults
when thou wert with us, but now we see thy virtues, and we
honour thee, for the Lord honoured thee above many. Fare
thee well, apostle of French evangelization, till the day when
it will be ours to greet thee in glory to come, shining amid
the shining ones near the throne. Amen.
IV
RESOLUTIONS OF THE PRESBYTERY OF MONTREAL, OF WHICH
FATHER CHINIQUY WAS A MEMBER.
AT MONTREAL, 14tH DAY OF MARCH, 1899.
The Presbytery of Montreal of the Presbyterian Church in
Canada met inter alia. The Rev. Principal Mac Vicar, D. D.,
LL. D., on behalf of the committee appointed to propose a
suitable minute on the death of the late Rev. Charles Chini-
quy, D. D., submitted the following, which was unanimously
adopted by the Presbytery: —
" The Rev. Charles Chiniquy, D. D., was naturally endowed
with talents of an exceptionally high order. The knowledge
of God's Word imparted to him in childhood by his mother
exerted a powerful moulding influence upon his character and
subsequent career. In early manhood he was educated for
the priesthood in the Church of Rome, in connection with
which he continued during fifty years. As a priest he en-
joyed in an extraordinary degree the confidence and venera-
tion of the people, and received from his ecclesiastical supe-
riors, including the Supreme Pontiff, special marks of appro-
bation and favour. As ' the Apostle of Temperance,' he accom-
plished a great, beneficent and patriotic work, and gained
unique distinction in his native province and far beyond it.
Forty years ago, for reasons drawn from the Word of Grod, he
withdrew from the Church of Rome, publicly renouncing her
49^ Forty Years in the Church of Christ
distinctive dogmas, and entered the ministry of the Presby-
terian Church, in which ofBce he continued in good and
regular standing till his demise. His unfaltering faith in
the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only
infallible rule of faith and practise, his intense love of his
French compatriots, his burning missionary zeal, his heroism
in fighting the battles of truth and freedom, and his persua-
sive eloquence in the pulpit and on the platform, were con-
spicously recognized in the Old and New World, as well as
in New Zealand and Australia. His labours to the close of
his long life were most abundantly fruitful, being mainly
directed to the enlightenment of his French=Canadian coun-
trymen, among whom he was spared to see that signal growth
of a spirit of toleration and great advancement in their en-
joyment of the blessings of the Gospel and in the exercise of
their civil and religious rights as citizens of the British Em-
pire, In his ninetieth year he peacefully fell asleep in
Jesus, trusting in Him as the only Saviour and Mediator be-
tween God and man."
Extracted from the minutes of the Presbytery of Montreal,
James Patterson,
Presbytery = Clerk.
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