Why I, With 25,000 of my Countrymen, Left the Church of Rome.

The Rev. C. Chiniquy said—In the 66th Psalm, David says, "Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul!" It is the same with me. When I consider what God has done for me, I wish I could go over the whole world, and tell the children of God the great things He has done for me and so many of my dear countrymen. Now, my friends, I do not come here this evening to satisfy your curiosity—I have a higher object in view. In a few days I will be in my grave. Everything I say or do wears a very solemn aspect, when I consider that I shall soon have to give an account to my God. I come here this evening to ask you to bless the Lord, and I know when you go home you will say, "Oh, God of our salvation, may Thy name be for ever blessed, for Thy mercies towards the poor sinful man, who has spoken to us tonight."

You all know that I was born in Canada, and that I was raised to the priesthood of the Church of Rome in the year 1833, and continued a priest for twenty-five years. All that time I believed sincerely that the Church of Rome was the Church of Christ; and it was my ambition to extend her power over all the continent of America. Probably there is not a priest who has worked with more zeal and success than I have done. In fact, the Pope so much appreciated my zeal that he sent me presents and honors and dignities much more than I deserved; and the bishops and the priests of Rome also praised me above my merit. Now, my friends, it was my object to conquer the Protestants, for my Church, had told me what she tells everyone—that there is page 5 no salvation without her; my heart was sad when I considered the multitudes of Protestants that were going to perdition. Therefore, I did all in my power to throw what I considered the light into their midst. I studied the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers, for it was my desire to make myself a very learned man, so that I might have a public discussion with the most learned Protestant ministers, and prove to the world that they were nothing but a band of ignorant and deceitful men. (Laughter.) You will excuse me, gentlemen, but that was my belief. To this end I studied the Scriptures and the Fathers, with incredible attention, passing whole nights in comparing the Word of God with the Holy Fathers, and with the teachings of my church. Now, before I go any further, I must tell you something which will be the key to many things which I have not time to speak about this evening. My father had studied in order to become a priest in the seminary of Quebec. But before his reception, he saw something in the high quarters of the Church of Rome which made him change his mind; he became a notary and settled at Murray Bay, a new settlement. As there was no school there, my mother was my teacher. In consequence of my father having studied for a priest, he had received from the superior of the seminary a beautiful Bible as a token of his kind feelings. This Bible was the first book that my mother taught me to read. When I was seven or eight years old, instead of playing with the other children, I used to sit by my mother's knee, and read some of the most sublime passages in the book which she had selected. Being blessed with a very retentive memory, I was able, when about nine years old, to recite a great part of the Old and the New Testaments. In bad weather when the roads were impassable, the farmers used to come to my father's house on the Sabbath Day, and my father would put me on the table, and I would recite to them the most beautiful chapters of the Bible. One Sabbath Day, I had gone with my mother to church, and was waiting at the door of the church, before the service began. An old farmer seeing me, put me in his buggy, and called to the people to come and hear me, and asked me to give the chapter which I had recited by heart the previous Sabbath in my father's house. And I gave them the story of the Prodigal Son, from the 15th chapter of Luke. These poor people had never heard of it before; it was quite new to them. I remember how the tears trickled down their cheeks, and how sorry they were when the hour of service came. Well, the next day, one of those who listened to me went to confession, and told the priest what had happened at the Church door the day before. The priest demanded to know who read the Bible in his parish. The man answered him it was at Chiniquy's house. The next day the curate came to my father's house, and was welcomed as usual. After some ordinary conversation the priest said, "Monsieur Chiniquy, is it true that you and your boy read the Bible? My father said, "Yes, not only does he read, but he learns it by heart; and if you like, he will give you some chapters of it." The priest replied, "I don't come here for that. Don't you know it is forbidden in the Church of Rome to read the Bible in the vernacular tongue." My father said he did not see any sin in it, that the Bible was given to him by the superior of the Seminary, who surely know what he did. The priest answered, "You know better, Monsieur Chiniquy; you know it is forbidden, and it is my painful duty to take the book from you and burn it." My father was a quick-tempered French man; when he heard that, he paced the room on the double quick. (Laughter.) The priest began to tremble, for he knew my father's temper; I was also trembling beside my mother, because I was afraid my father would give up the Bible, and my mother was crying. After some silence, my father turned to the priest and said, "Is that all you have to say?" The priest trembling, said, "Yes; that is all." Then my father said, "You know the door by which you came? Go." And the priest thought it was advisable to follow that advice, and went at the double quick also. (Cheers.) I was so glad that my bible was not taken away, that I ran to my father to pay him in my childish way. I jumped on the table and I kissed him, and I recited to him the beautiful story of the fight between David and Goliath. Of course, in my mind, my father was David, the priest was Goliath, and the Bible was the little stone of the brook. (Cheers.) About a year after my father died suddenly, and the Bible disappeared from the house. We believed the priest, through some of his friends, carried it off. But, thank God, I knew it mostly by heart, and the rays of light were never extinguished. While a priest of the Church of Rome, I was always in favour of the Bible being read by the people. But we must be fair to the Roman Catholics. In this country, as well as in England and America, the Roman Catholics are now allowed to read the Bible. But to whom do they owe this privilege? Is it to their Church? Not at all. Because, if their church could act to-day as in past times, they would be sent to gaol, and put to death for reading the Bible. I was in England in the year 1860, when twelve noble young men page 6 of Spain were condemned to death for reading the Bible. They were not put to death, because the Queen of England interfered, but they were sent into exile. It is to the glorious British flag, and not to their church, that the Roman Catholics in this country owe the privilege of reading the Bible. (Cheers.) But when a Roman Catholic priest or layman reads the Bible, a diabolical condition is put on his doing so. When I was on my knees before the Bishop to be received a priest, he requested me to make two solemn oaths. One was very good. I swore that I would read the whole word of God, and the Bible was put into my hands. The second oath which made, and which every priest of Rome makes, was that I would not interpret a single word of that book according to my intelligence or my conscience, but only according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers. This oath comes from hell, and I challenge the Roman Catholic Bishop here to prove that he does not make every priest whom he ordains take it. Now, my friends, the Holy Fathers are unanimous in only one thing, and that is, that they differ-in almost everything. The Church says to the people, "You may read it, but it is better not to read it, because it is a dangerous book. Look at those poor Protestants; they read it, and see how divided they are, and how they fight against each other." The Church of Rome exaggerates the divisions among Protestants. She forgets that when Christ gave his solemn views about His Church, He said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." You will not find two branches alike on the vine. Every branch is different from another. One is very big, another is very small; one goes up, another goes down; one is straight, going north; another is crooked, going south; but so long as the branches are united to the vine, they bear good fruit. (Applause.) The Roman Catholic, then, is told that more souls are lost by reading the Bible than by not reading it. How, then, can he read it with pleasure? The Roman Cothelic priest and layman have the book, but it is only as a show-book. Suppose a young gentleman and a young lady asked their father's permission to travel through the many countries they had heard about. After much reluctance the father gives his permission; but just when they are about to start, he tells them that as they might see and hear many things which would be bad for them, he had arranged that their pastor should accompany them. They were to shut their eyes and their ears, and when they returned, their pastor would tell them everything they had heard and seen. (Laughter.) So it is with friends of the Church of Rome. They may travel through this glorious book, but they must not use the eyes and ears of their intelligence, nor interpret a single word according to their own understanding. They have to obey the Church; the Church says what she pleases and the Bible remaims a sealed, a dangerous, an unintelligible book. But it was not so with me. I had drunk of the water of life when young, and it was precious to my soul. How many times, when in college, have I wept when my superior refused me the Bible. From my twelfth year, when I entered the college, to my twenty-second, I was not allowed to open the Bible a single time. But when I became a priest of Rome they could not refuse me the Bible, and I read it with the intention of strengthening my faith, and of making myself a powerful man, out of zeal for my Church. I wanted to extend her power over all America. But the ways of God are not the ways of man. Many a time I have read from eight o'clock at night till, dawn the next day, but almost as many times I have heard a mysterious voice saying to me, "Don't you see that in your Church you do not follow the Word of God, but you follow the lying traditions of men? Don't you see you are preaching lies and forgeries which are not countenanced by the Scriptures? Don't you see that in your Church you invite poor sinners to invoke the name of Mary when the Scriptures say, ' There is only one name by which you can be saved—Jesus Christ?'" How many times have I read in the book my own condemnation. One day I preached in the great cathedrial of Montreal It is an immense church, and I generally preached there to a multitude of at least 15,000 people. That day I spoke on the Blessed Virgin Mary. I told the people it was not fit for the sinner to go to Jesus, because Jesus being God, and the sinner being a rebel, a rebel has nothing to do with the king against whom he is rebellious. I said to these poor sinners, "We are rebels against God, He will not listen to our prayers or hear our requests; He is angry with us. Now, when a man wants some favour from a king, he goes to the friends of the king, he addresses himself to the officers of the king and they present his petition, and the rebel gets his pardon." Then I said to these poor sinners, "Come with me to the feet of Mary. Jesus has never refused any favour to His Mother, He has always granted her request; come with me and we will put our petition into the hands of Mary, and she will go to Jesus and paay for us, and what Christ would refuse to you and to me, because we are sinners, He cannot refuse to His dear mother." And I invited them to come to Mary, with such zeal that the whole congregation was in tears; and page 7 the Bishop of Montreal complimented me on the address. That evening, as I was reading the Bible, my eye fell on this passage, which was one of the first rays that entered my soul—"And they said unto Him, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with Thee. But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? and who are my brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said: Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister and mother!" And a voice like thunder said to me. "Don't you see you preached a lie this morning? You deceived the poor people when you said Jesus has always granted the petitions of Mary!" When I turned to St. Mark and I saw the same passage—When Mary saw that Christ paid no attention to her she felt hurt, and asked the people to speak to Him for her; and when they said to Him that His mother wished to speak to Him, He did not recognise her, but said, "Who is My mother?" and turning to His disciples He said, "Everyone who does the work of My Father in Heaven, the same is My mother." I passed the night in tears, and I said, "My God, is it possible I have preached a lie?" I saw that Christ had come to the world as its Saviour, and that he would not permit even His mother to come between Him and humanity. His words were, "Come unto Me all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The next, morning the Bishop saw by my eyes that I had been crying, and he asked the reason. I replied it was because I had preached a diabolical lie to the people the day before. He looked amazed, and said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, my lord, I have searched from chapter to chapter, and I do not find a single instance of Jesus, except when He was a child, granting the request of His mother, and yesterday I told those poor people to get her to intercede with Christ! I do not mean to preach that any more." (Cheers) He said, "Well, will you become a Protestant?" I felt insulted at this question. I would rather have been called a dog than a Protestant. Poor Protestants! (Laughter.) I replied, "No, my lord, not at all."

My friends, the light was coming to my eyes, but I shut them to it. I could not be brought to believe that that glorious Church of Rome, which was so magnificent, so powerful, the Church of "La Belle France," which has given to the world so many learned men, which has given to heaven so many saints, the church of my dear mother the church which loved me so much, and which I loved so much, was not the Church of Christ. And there was a constant struggle within me. But my God, with His merciful hand, was breaking the fetters that bound me, and in the end He conquered, and brought me to the feet of Jesus, where I have found peace and joy, which surpasses every understanding. I will tell you or another terrible battle I fought against the light. One day I said to my servant girl, "Marguerite, I have no more good gods in my tabernacle; I have given the last one to a sick man; please make me some wafers." And she mixed a little flour and water together, and put the dough between two warm irons, and turned it into wafers. In the morning I took them to the altar, and I had to believe that when I had pronounced five magical words over them, they were no longer bread, but my God, Jesus Christ Himself! That day, at mass, I had called on my congregation to adore with me the god which I had made out of a little dough. And they and I bowed our faces to the dust, and adored that piece of dough as our God. Well, that very same day, when reading my Bible, I came across the passage in the 20th chapter of Exodus, and the words came to me as a thunderbolt, "And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thyself 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 thyself to them, nor serve them." And the voice again said unto me, "Don't you see that this morning, and all your life since you have been a priest, you have adored a God made with your own hands? Don't you see that on Mount Sinai I proclaimed that no man should make a god with his own hands and worship it Then God spoke to me in a voice of thunder, "Come out of that Church! You are an idolator; you worship a god made out of a piece of dough." I passed the night in tears and prayer. I struggled against the light. It seemed impossible that my dear Roman Catholic Church could be an idolatrous Church. I preferred to think that I had not intelligence enough to interpret the Scriptures, and I wept and was distressed beyond measure. But my God was conquering me. Let every tongue here bless Him, and every heart love Him for His kindness to His unprofitable servant. I will now tell you of the great day when I could not resist the Lord any longer. I must tell you, first, that the Bishops of Canada and America had the intention to take possession of the United States. I was selected to go from Canada to page 8 Illinois, which was considered the richest part of the United States. It was a vast magnificent prairie. Chicago, which now has 400,000 inhabitants, had then only 40,000. The Bishops, seeing this fine country, said, "If we can take possession of that State, we will rule the United States from it." And they said, "Chiniquy, you must go there, and direct the tide of Catholic emigration to the prairies; there we shall form such a great and mighty people that we will outnumber the Protestants, and finally rule the whole country." I settled there in 1851, and in a few years persuaded 75,000 French Canadians to go there. I was so glad to see my dear Church of Rome taking possession of that magnificent country.

About that time, the Bishop of Chicago did a thing which we Frenchmen could not tolerate. It was a great iniquity, and my countrymen and I, after long consideration, decided that it was our duty out of respect for ourselves, to protest publicly against the conduct of the Bishop. Accordingly, we published a letter in the Press against his action. The Bishop was angry, and he wrote letters condemning us, and all the bishops took his side. During the whole year a burning discussion was going on in the Press between him and us, and at the year's end I took all the documents written by him and us, and I sent a copy to the Pope, and a copy to the Emperor of France. I asked the Emperor to read the facts, and if he, through his ambassador, found them correct, to help us at the Court of Rome, that such a wicked man might be removed from our midst. And I asked the Pope if he would appoint some of his archbishops to make an inquiry into the facts, and if he found them correct, to take away from us a bishop who was a scandal to our church, and was destroying all religion. An inquiry was made by the Emperor of France, through his ambassador, and by Cardinal Bedini, sent by the Pope; the Bishop, being found guilty, was taken from our midst, and sent to Ireland, where he had the good sense to die in a couple of years. (Laughter) Another bishop was sent in his place—a very good man. He said to me, through his Grand Vicar, Mr. Dunn, "Chiniquy, we are very glad you have beaten that bishop, it is a glorious victory, and we are thankful to you; but as you have handled him rather roughly, it is believed now in England and France that you are a Protestant. We know better, but would you not give us a document by which we may prove to the world that you still are a good Roman Catholic priest?" I said I had no objection; but it seemed to me it was the golden opportunity for me to know whether the voice which was troubling my rest for so many years, which was saying to me, "Don't you see in your Church of Rome you do not follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions of men?" was from God or from Satan. I wrote these very words, "My lord, we want to live and die in the holy Catholic Church, and to prove this to your lordship, we promise solemnly we will obey your authority according to the Word of God as we find it in the Gospel of Christ." I showed that to the Grand Vicar, and asked him what he thought of it. He said it was just what was wanted. I said, "I fear the Bishop will not accept this submission, because it contains a condition. I say I submit myself to the Bishop according to the Word of God as we find it in the Gospel of Christ." The Grand Vicar answered, Well, is not that good?" I said, "I think it is too good for the Pope." (Laughter.) He said, "What do you mean?" I answered, "My dear friend, you know there is not a Roman Catholic priest today who has studied the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers more than I have done, but I must tell you the more I compare the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers the more I see that in our Church of Rome we have no other God but the Pope, and no Gospel but the lying traditions of men; and if it be so the Bishop cannot accept this submission, based on the Word of God." "Well," said he. "you are wrong, Chiniquy. Come to the Bishop, and you will see he will accept your submission, and will be pleased with it." I went to him, and to my great surprise he was beside himself with joy. He threw his arms around my neck, and with tears of joy, he said. "The bishops and the Pope will be most happy to hear you have submitted yourself to us."

Now, to show my blindness, and the great mercy of God, I must confess, to my shame, that I was glad I had made peace with man when I was not at peace with God. My Bishop gave me a letter to say I was a good priest, and that everything was right between him and me. I went back rejoicing among my countrymen; but my God had looked down upon me, and was going to break that false peace and give me His saving light. Ten days after this I received a letter from the Bishop, telling me to go to him. When I went, he asked me to show him the letter he had given me a few days before. I handed it to him, and after making sure it was the one, he threw it into the fire. I was so astonished at this proceeding, that I was almost paralysed. After a moment I ran to the fire to save the letter, but it was destroyed. I turned to him and said, "My lord, how dare you take from my hands a document which is my property, and burn it without my permission?" He said, "I am your superior, and do not choose to give you any account of what I do." I replied, "Yes, page 9 you are my superior. You are a great Bishop in the Church of Rome, and I am nothing but a poor priest; but there is a God who is as much above you as He is above me, and in the presence of that God and in the presence of the Superior of the Jesuits, who is here. I protest against your iniquity." He said, "Dont lecture me. I have brought you here because you are an impostor. You deceived me the other day, in giving me a note of submission, which is not one. I made a fool of myself in taking it. I now reject it." Then the voice said to me, "Don't you see you do not follow the word of God but the lying traditions of men?" And I sent a prayer to the throne of mercy, asking for guidance. Turning to the Bishop, I said, "What do you mean by saying I have deceived you? You read the document; you understood it well; if you have been deceived the other day, you have deceived yourself." He said, "What do you mean by this? We submit ourselves to your authority, according to the Word of God in the Gospel of Christ." I said, "We mean what is there. We cannot submit ourselves to your authority except according to the eternal law of truth, justice, and holiness of God, as we find them in the Holy Scriptures." "That is just what we don't want. You are a good priest, I hope, and if so, you must know that a good priest has only to submit, without any condition, to his superiors." I said, "If I take away from my submission 'the Word of God,' and 'the Gospel of Christ,' please tell me, on what cornerstone my submission will stand?" He said, "You must take away those words, and submit wholly to my authority, without any condition, and promise to do anything I will tell you to do." Then I rose to my feet, and said, "My lord, what you require of me is not submission, it is adoration. I refuse it, I will never adore you." He replied, "If so, you cannot be any longer a Roman Catholic priest." I raised my hands towards heaven, and said, "May the Almighty God be for ever praised!"

Now, my friends, I left the Bishop, who was trembling and surprised at my determination. I engaged a room in a hotel, and locked the door. There I fell on my knees in the presence of God; and I reflected on what I had done. It was then clear to my mind that the Church of Rome could not be the Church of Christ. I had learned the terrible truth—not from the lips of Protestants, not from the enemies of my Church, but from my Bishop, who had told me I could not remain a Roman Catholic except by giving up the Word of God. I saw I had done well to break the ties which united me to that Church. But a dark cloud came over my poor guilty soul, and I began to weep. I said, "My God, my God, the Church of Rome is not Thy Church, but where is Thy Church? Where must I go to be saved? I have given up my country, my friends, the Church of my father and my mother. I have given up the Church which has made me so great in the world, but where is Thy Church? Oh, God, speak to me!" But no answer came to my prayer. I saw that by giving up the Church of Rome, I had given up everything that was dear to me. I hope you will never understand what that means. Yes! I pray God He will never ask from you such a sacrifice. I did not regret what I had done, I only wanted to know the will of God; but it seemed as if he would not hear my prayers, nor see my tears. After crying for more than an hour, I saw that a battle to the death would begin that day between the Church of Rome and me. I saw that the priests would attack me in their press, in their pulpits, in their confessional, where they strike a man and you cannot see where the blow comes from. I saw a struggle would begin which would end only with my life; and I looked around to see if I had any friends left to help me. Not one remained. In the Church of Rome even my dear brothers were bound to curse me, to look upon me as an infamous impostor. Among the Protestants there were none, as I had spoken against them all my life. I saw I was left alone to fight the battle against the giant power of Rome. It was too much for me, and if God had not stopped this guilty hand, I would have cut my throat in that dark hour. Oh, my friends, I was on my knees crying for light, asking God to come to my help, life had grown such a burden that I could not carry it any longer. To go from that room into the world where I would not find a single hand to press my hand, where I would be an outcast, was more than I could bear. I preferred a thousand times to die! But, thanks be to God, He stopped my hand when I was about to commit the horrible crime of self-murder. Great drops of sweat fell from me, my heart was fainting, and every moment I expected to fall a corpse. I cried, "Oh, my God, I die; I am lost; have mercy upon me. Tell me where I must go to be saved." Then the thought flashed through my mind that I had my dear New Testament, which I used then, as now, to carry everywhere with me. And the voice said to me, "Read and you will find the light;" and with a trembling hand, but a praying heart, I opened the book, and my eyes fell on these words:—"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." The English is good, but oh, the French is beautiful—"Vous avez été achetes à Grand Prix; ne devenez point les esclaves des hommes." And with these words a light came to me so beautiful, that the rays of the sun are nothing but dark clouds compared to it. Then I saw for the first time the way page 10 of salvation. I said to myself, "Jesus has bought me. Well, if He has bought me, I am His—body, soul, intelligence, all belong to Christ. If I buy a thing, it belongs to me. Jesus has bought me, therefore I belong to Him. And if He has bought me, I am saved. Saved! Yes, saved! And if Jesus has saved me, I am perfectly saved. For Christ could not save me by half. The works of God are perfect—then my salvation is perfect; I am perfectly saved! And what is the price He has paid for me? It is His blood shed on Calvary. Oh! Jesus has saved me by dying." Then I said, "If He has saved me by His death, I am not saved as I have preached. I have been saved, not by going to Mary, not by going to confession, not by indulgences, but by Jesus, and by Jesus alone." It was so beautiful, I felt so happy; but it was the will of God my joy should be short. A moment after another dark cloud surrounded me. I saw a huge mountain coming towards me; it was composed of all the sins I had committed in my life. The mountain seemed to roll towards me; it rolled over my shoulders, and it was so heavy that I could not breathe under its burden; I cried, "My God! I am lost, my sins are destroying me!"

It seemed as if God could not hear my voice, because of the mountain between Him and me, and that He had nothing to do with me, but open the gates of hell, and send me to that prison I so richly deserved. I thought my God was far away, but He was very near; for in that moment, before the eyes of my soul a very strange thing was seen. Often when crossing the ocean in a thunderstorm. I have seen the sun break through a bank of dark clouds, and everyone was saying, how beautiful it is! It was the same in the midst of that dark night. I saw a beautiful light; I could not be mistaken. My dear Jesus was in the midst of the light. I saw His bleeding wounds, His heavy cross, His crown of thorns, and He came very near to me and said, "My dear friend, I have seen thy tears, I have heard thy cries, and I come to take away thy sins; salvation is a gift, take My word for a lamp to thy feet; give Me thy heart, I will take away your sins." And for the first time I fell at the feet of Jesus; and more with my tears than my lips, I said, "Dear Jesus, speak again to me. Thy words are so sweet to my soul. Oh! my dear Saviour, cannot you take away that mountain, it is crushing me down." Then my Saviour stretched forth His mighty hand, and the mountain was removed, and thrown into the deep waters of the sea. I felt the blood of the Lamb was cleansing my guilty soul, and I felt a peace so great that the angels of God could not be happier than I was, and I cried out, "My dear Jesus, Thou hast saved me. The mountain is gone. Oh! what joy and peace! Oh! dear Saviour of my soul, Thou hast paid my debts. I give Thee my heart. Gift of God, I accept Thee! Abide in me and grant me to abide in Thee for ever! Make me strong and pure." Yes, friends, for the first time I knew I was saved, for the first time I was drinking the pure waters of life, and they were so sweet! I took my dear Gospel and pressed it to my lips, and swore never to preach anything but what I would find there. I said, "Dear Jesus, I have my feet on the rock of Thy salvation. Grant me to go to my countrymen, that I may bring them to Thee." I then rose and washed my face to conceal my tears: paid my bill, and took the train for my colony. I arrived at the door of my church at the hour of service the next day, which was a Sabbath day. There was a large multitude of people, and they said, "Father Chiniquy what news?" I told them to come to the church and I would tell them what the Lord had done for my soul. When I gathered them there I said, "Frenchmen, I must tell you that Jesus said before He died, that He would be to the disciples the cause of great scandal. I will be the same to you; but as the scandal which Christ gave to His disciples has saved the world, so, by the great mercy of God, the scandal which I will give will save you. I bring you strange news. I am no longer a priest; but, Frenchmen, I do not come here to tell you to follow me; no! do not follow me, but follow Christ, and Him alone. He paid your debts, shed His blood for you, and is preparing a place for those of you who will believe in His name, and serve Him." I then, gave them the reasons why I left the Church of Rome. I spoke for two hours; and after I had finished I said, "The hour of sacrifice has come, I must go away. I respect you too much to impose myself on you; but I will not go before you tell me to go. You will cut with your own hands the ties so sweet which have attached me to you. Frenchmen, these are my last words." There were tears and sobs. I asked them to be calm. I said, "Here are my parting words: if you think it is better to follow the Pope than Christ, and better to invoke the name of Mary than Jesus, and better to put your trust after death in the fabulous purgatory of Rome, rather than in the blood of Christ, and better to have a priest of Rome to preach to you than me, stand up!" To my surprise not a single one moved. They were all in tears. The church was as crammed as this hall is this evening, and not one moved to tell me he was sorry I was leaving the Church of Rome. After five minutes' silence I said, weeping, "Frenchmen, you are acting very foolishly. Why don't you tell me to go?" A young man said, with a strong voice, "Jesus died for me on Calvary. I will never invoke any but His name." Another said, page 11 "Pull down the images! We have been at their feet long enough." Another said, "My shoulders are bleeding with the yoke of man; why don't we go with our pastor to Jesus?" And then with a loud cry I said, "My countrymen! Oh, dear Frenchmen, the mighty God who yesterday took me out of! the land of Egypt, is in your midst to save you; with me you will cross the Red Sea. With me you will go to the feet of Jesus. I will put to you the same question in another shape. If you think it is better to follow Christ rather than the Pope, better to invoke the name of Jesus than Mary, better to put your trust after death in the blood of Christ rather than in the fabulous purgatory of Rome, and better to have me preach to you rather than a priest of Rome, stand up!" And they all, as a single man, rose up, and we sang for the first time the hymns of Zion. They were all filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and I saw what has probably not been seen since Pentecost. They were beside themselves with joy. The old men went to the young men and said, "Bless the Lord! Jesus has made you free with his blood." And the women pressed their daughters to their bosom, saying, "Dear child, bless the Lamb of God who was slain on Calvary for us all. We will not go any more to the feet of a man to be defiled in that infamous confessional. Jesus has paid your debts!" I thought I would die with joy. A thousand names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life that day. The news went to England and France that Chiniquy had gone out, at the head of a noble band of men, from Egypt to the Promised Land, and everywhere this news spread, the name of Jesus was blessed. That day we had one thousand converts; six months after, we had two thousand; twelve months after we had four thousand; and to-day we have twenty-five thousand converts, (Loud applause.) After my conversion, I knew I was condemned to death, but I thought it was my duty to go to Canada, where I had preached for twenty-five years as a priest of Rome. On my way there, the Governor of Canada kindly wrote me a letter when I passed through Toronto, telling me it was dangerous to go to Quebec, that not long before Gavazzi had been nearly killed, and I would surely be killed. I thanked him for his kindness, but I said I must go at any cost. When I arrived in Quebec, my countrymen were exceedingly pleased, and in spite of priests, they rented a magnificent hall for me to speak in. The priests tried to prevent them from going to hear me, but they said they must hear me. And every, day for five days, that large hall was crammed. On the fifth day I told them that the next day would be my last day amongst them, and I promised to give them a Bible. I said, "Keep your Bible and do not let the priests take it from you. As the sun shines on the poorest man as much as on the rich, so the light of the Gospel is for you, as much as for the Pope or anyone else." But when the Bishop heard of this, he said, "We must get rid of him;" and he went to the lowest dregs of society and engaged men to take my life. At ten o'clock forty converted young men who had heard of the plot, told me that I was to be killed that night, that these men were to come at one o'clock to set the house on fire and kill me, and they implored me to leave the place. I said, "My friends, I came here in the name of Christ, a soldier of the cross. I came to fight, and I will fight to the end. If it is the will of God that I should die tonight, it is just as easy to die to-night as tomorrow." They said, "You cannot prevent us from putting a guard round the house." I said, "Do as you please about that, but my business to-night is to pray, and to get some rest for to-morrow's work." Well, these forty young men, well armed, remained outside and inside the house, and when the murderers came at one o'clock, they were prevented from approaching the house. They went away, and a little before dawn, the young men, supposing that there was no danger, left in order to obtain a few hours' rest. The murderers then came back to the house. I went to the parlour to see what was the matter, when I was at once surrounded by about fifty men. Some had daggers and others sticks. One of them put a butcher's knife to my breast, and said, "damned apostate, you are in our hands, and if you don't swear you will never preach the Bible, you are a dead man;" the dagger was pressed hard on my breast, and every moment I expected it to go through. Then I prayed to my Saviour. "Dear Jesus, for my sake on the cross Thou hast given Thy life; if it is Thy will to have my blood shed to-day, may Thy will be done." The murderer said, "We do not come here to hear prayers; swear you will not preach the Bible." And then the dagger was pressed through to the bone, and every moment I thought I would fall a corpse. I raised my hands and said, "Oh, my God, they want an oath from me. I will give them an oath. So long as my tongue can speak I will preach the Holy Word as I find it in the Bible." And I said to them, Strike the blow!" But the Captain of my salvation was there to protect His poor soldier. The murderer, trembling, let the dagger fall at my feet, and, with a trembling voice he said, "If you go away we will not kill you." It seems he meant me to go from the city, but I thought he wished me to go from the house Well, I left the house, and went to the mayor, Mr. Hall (a Scotchman who is still living—may God bless him), and told him of the murderous attack upon me, and that I would preach that day at any cost. I put myself page 12 under the protection of the British flag, and said that if I was killed he would have to answer for my death. He said, "I will protect you;" and he ordered out the two thousand soldiers who were in the garrison at Quebec, and they came well armed and surrounded the house. The mayor took me to the hall, and to about ten thousand of my countrymen who had come to hear my last address. I spoke for two hours, and gave away six hundred Bibles. They received them as thirsty men receive pure water, as starving men receive bread. After that I left the city of Quebec, and returned to Illinois, to my countrymen whom I had brought to Christ. I thought I would be at peace for some time, but the Bishop sent five priests, who got seventy-five false witnesses to swear in court that I had burned a church. They tried to get me sent to the Penitentiary for life. I was taken prisoner and had to get bail. The terrible battle began again. During two years they brought those seventy-five witnesses, who swore that I had set fire to the church; but God came to my help. We proved that they had been told by the priests in the confessional to swear falsely; then instead of Chiniquy being condemned for life, the court sent the priest to gaol for fifteen years for perjury. (Loud applause.) The first day I went to the city of Kankakee, I met a lady who had been a great friend of mine when I was a priest. She was enraged, and said to me in the street that it was a great shame that I should be the cause of that holy priest being kept in gaol; "But," said she, "he is happy, he is such a holy priest, he is glad to be there." Well, when she told me he was happy there, I went to a merchant's office, and wrote to the priest, "My dear sir, I have just heard you are glad to be in gaol. If that be so, there are two happy men in the world. You are happy in gaol, and I am happy that you are there instead of me." (Laughter and applause.) But the priest was not to be happy long. The immense number of rats that infested the prison troubled him, and after six months, finding it was a bad investment, some of his friends cut the bars of the prison, and the bird flew away. He went from Illinois, by crooked ways, to Canada, where he told the people he had been rescued by the Virgin Mary, who came one night and opened the door of the gaol. The Roman Catholics in Montreal believed the story. Like the Bishop of Chicago, he had the good sense to die soon after. I have been brought before the Criminal Court thirty-four times. It has cost me 14,000 dollars to save my life and my honour. But I have no bad feeling against the Roman Catholics. I know it is the duty of the Church of Rome to kill me. If they do not do it, it is because they fear to be punished. The only thing we can do is to pity them, to pray for them, to give them good example. The Church of Rome is shaken in Canada. As I have told you, 25,000 French Canadians have sent their names to the Bishop to say that they have given up the Church of Rome. Among these are twelve priests, several of whom are helping me. We must fight the battle, and you must come to my help with your prayers and with material help. Though your distance from them appears great, yet these people are your neighbours, your sisters, and your brothers. You must do something for them. I do not come here to beg for myself. I have been a rich man, and thanks be to God, my hands can still plant the corn on the plains of Illinois for my own sustenance. But I am at the head of a great work, and I must have help. The Church of Rome will never cease to persecute me. It is only four months since the last law suit against me was stopped. I must build churches for those converts who have been ruined by the priests. Many of them have lost their lands, and had their inheritance taken from them by their parents, I do not want anything for myself. If you do not think the work is worth support, or the address not worth anything, do not give anything. But if you think the lecturer, who has come so far to give you these details, is worth support, give, not to Chiniquy, but for the work. When I left I had a dozen young men weeping and saying, "Mr. Chiniquy, will you forget us I We are preparing ourselves for the ministry, but we have not a cent." No, my friends, I said, I will not forget you, and I will send you what you want. Be sure, Protestants of Australia, that if you do anything to support that great evangelical work, the God of the Gospel will bless you for ever for it. (Loud applause.)

During the lecture, Mr. Chiniquy requested the audience not to applaud, but several times they could not refrain from expressing their approval in a very demonstrative manner.