FORWARD
Father Chiniquy was a famous Catholic priest of Canada, born at Kamouraska,
Quebec, on July 20, 1809. He established the first temperance society there and
won the title, “Apostle of Temperance of Canada.”
Because of his ability and piety, he was entrusted with a colonizing party of
French-Canadians, who settled in Illinois.
Late in life he was a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
He toured England several times and this particular narrative of his life was
first given in London. He lived to his ninetieth year, dying in Montreal, on
January 16, 1899.
* * *
THE GIFT OF SALVATION
I was born and baptized a Roman Catholic in 1809, and I was ordained priest in
the year 1833, in Canada. I am now in my seventy-fourth year, and it is nearly
50 years since I received the dignity of the priest-hood in the Church of Roman.
For twenty-five years I was a priest of that Church, and I tell you frankly that
I love the Church of Roman, and she loved me. I would have shed every drop of my
blood for my Church and would have given a thousand times my life to extend her
power and dignity over the continent of American, and over the whole world. My
great ambition was to convert the Protestants, and bring them into my Church,
because I was told, and I preached, that outside the Church of Roman there was
no salvation, and I was sorry to think that those multitudes of Protestants were
to be lost.
A few years after I was born we lived in a place where there were no schools. My
mother became my first teacher, and the first book in which she taught me to
read was the Bible. When I was eight or nine years old I read the Divine Book
with an incredible pleasure, and my heart was much taken up with the beauty of
the Word of God. My mother selected the chapters she wished me to read, and the
attention I gave to it was such, that many times, I refused to go and play with
the little boys outside in order to enjoy the pleasure of reading the Holy Book.
Some of the chapters I loved more than others, and these I learned by heart.
But after my mother died, the Bible disappeared from the house, probably through
the priest who had tried to obtain possession of it before. Now this Bible is
the root of everything in this story. That is the light which was put into my
soul when young, and, thanks be to God, that light has never been extinguished.
It has remained there. It is to that dear Bible, by the mercy of God, that I owe
today that unspeakable joy that I feel at being among the redeemed, among those
who have received the light, and are drinking at the clear fountain of truth.
But perhaps you are inclined to say, “Do not the Roman Catholic priest allow
their people to read the Bible?” Yes, I thank God that is so. It is a fact that
today, almost all over the world, the church of Rome grants permission to read
the Bible, and you will find the Bible in the homes of some Roman Catholics.
But when we have confessed this we must tell the whole truth. When the priest
puts the Bible in the hands of his people, or when a priest receives the Bible
from his Church, there is a condition. The condition is that through the priest
or people may read the Bible, they must never, under any circumstances,
interpret a single word according to their conscience, their intelligence , or
in their own mind. When I was ordained a priest I swore that I would interpret
the scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers.
Friends, go to Roman Catholics today, and ask them if they have permission to
read the Bible. They will tell you, “Yes, I can read it.” But ask, “Have you
permission to interpret it?” They will tell you, “No.” The priest says
positively to the people, and to the Church says positively to the priest, that
they can not interpret a single word of the Bible according to their own
intelligence, and their own conscience, and that it is a grievous sin to take
upon themselves the interpretation of a single word. The priest says in effect
to the people, ”If you try to interpret the Bible with your own intelligence you
are lost. It is a most dangerous book. You may read it, but is better not to
read it, because you can not understand it.”
What is the result of such teaching? The result is, that through both the priest
and the people have the bible in their hands, they do not read it period. Would
you read a book if you were persuaded that you could not understand a single
word by yourself? Would you be such fools as to waste your time reading a book
which you were persuaded that you could not understand a single line of? Then,
my friends, this is the truth about the Church of Roman. They have a great
number of Bibles. You will find Bibles on the tables of the priest and of
Catholic layman, but among 10,000 priest there are not two that read the Bible
from the beginning to the end and pay any attention to it. They read a few pages
here and there; that is all.
In the Church of Rome the Bible is a sealed book, but it was not so with me. I
found it precious to my hear when I was a little boy, and when I became a priest
of Rome I read it to make me a strong man, and to make me able to argue for the
Church.
My great object was to confound the protestant ministers of America. I got a
copy of the “Holy Father’s,” and I studied it day and night with the Holy
Scriptures, in order to prepare myself for the great battle I wanted to fight
against the Protestants. I made this study in order to strengthen my faith in
the Roman Catholic Church.
But, blessed be God! Every time I read the Bible there was a mysterious voice
saying to me “Do you not see that in the Church of Rome you do not follow the
teachings of the Word of God, but only the traditions of men?” In the silent
hours of the night, when I heard that voice, I wept and cried, but it was
repeated with the strength of thunder. I wanted to live and die in the Holy
Roman Catholic Church, and I prayed to God to silence the voice, but I heard it
yet still louder. When I was reading His word He was trying to break my fetters,
but I would not have my fetters broken. He came to me with his saving light but
I would not have it.
I have no bad feelings against Roman Catholic priest. Some of you may think I
have. You are mistaken. Sometimes I weep for them because I know that the poor
men- -just as I did- -are fighting against the Lord, and that they are miserable
as I was miserable then. If I relate to you one of the struggles of which I
speak, you will understand what it is to be a Roman Catholic priest, and you
will pray for them.
In Montreal there is a splendid cathedral, capable of holding 15000 people. I
used to preach there very often. One day the Bishop asked me to speak on the
Virgin Mary, and I was glad to do so. I said to those people what I thought to
be true then, and what the priests believe and preach everywhere. Here is the
sermon I preached:
“My dear friends, when a man has rebelled against his King, when he has
committed a great crime against his Emperor, does he come himself to speak to
him? If he has a favour to ask from his King, dare he, under the circumstances,
appear himself in his presence? No; the King would rebuke him, and would punish
him. Then, what does he do? Instead of going himself he selects one of the
friends of the King, someone of his officers, sometimes the sister or the mother
of the King, and he puts his petition into their hands. They go and speak in
favor of the guilty man. They ask his pardon, they appease his wrath, and very
often the King will grant to these people the favor he would refuse to the
guilty man.”
“Then”, I said, “We are all sinners, we have all offended the great and mighty
King, the King of Kings. We have raised rebellious colors against Him. We have
trampled his laws under our feet, and surely He is angry against us. What can we
do today? Shall we go ourselves with our hands filled with our iniquities? No!
But, thanks to God, we have Mary the Mother of Jesus, our King, at his right
hand, and as a dutiful son never refuses any favor to a beloved Mother, so Jesus
will never refuse any favor to Mary. He has never refused any petition which she
presented to him when he was on earth. He has never rebuked his Mother in any
way. Where is the son who would break the heart of a loving mother, when he
could rejoice her by granting her what she wants? Then I say, Jesus, the King of
Kings, is not only the son of God, but he is the son of Mary, and loves his
mother. And as he has never refused any favor of Mary when he was on earth; he
will never refuse her any favor today. Then what must we do? Oh! We can not
present ourselves before the great King, covered as we are with iniquity. Let us
present our petitions to his Holy Mother; she will go to the feet of Jesus,
herself, her God and her son, and she will surely receive the favors which she
will ask; she will ask our pardon and will obtain it. She will ask a place in
the Kingdom of Christ, and you will have it. She will ask from Jesus to forget
your iniquities, to grant you the true repentance, ;and he will give you
anything his mother may ask of him.”
My hearers were so happy at the idea of having such an advocate at the feet
of Jesus interceding for them day and night, that they all burst into tears, and
were beside themselves with joy that Mary was to ask and obtain their pardon.
I thought at the time that this was not only the religion of Christ, but that
it was the religion of common sense, and that nothing could be said against it.
After the sermon the Bishop came to me and blessed me, and thanked me, saying
that the sermon would do great good in Montreal.
That night I went on my knees, and took my Bible, and my heart was full of joy
because of the good sermon I had given in the morning. I opened and read from
Matthew 12:46, the following words:
“While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood
without, desiring to speak with him. Then said one unto him, “Behold thy mother
and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee.” But he answered and
said to him that told Him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” And he
stretched his hand toward his disciples, “Behold! My mother and my brethren, for
whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my
brother, sister, and mother.”
When I had read these words there was a voice speaking to me more terrible than
the voice of loud thunder, saying, “Chiniquy, you preached a lie this morning
when you said Mary had always received the favors which she had asked from
Jesus. Do you not see that Mary comes to ask a favor, that is, to see her son,
during whose absence she had been lonesome, and who has left her during many
months to preach the gospel?” When Mary got to the place where Jesus was
preaching, the place was so crammed that she could not enter. What will she do?
She will do what every mother would do in her place. She raises her voice and
requests him to come and see her: but while Jesus hears the voice of his mother,
and with his divine eye sees her, does he grant her petition? No. He shuts his
ears to her voice and hardens his heart against her prayer. It is a public
rebuke, and she feels it keenly. The people are astonished. They are puzzled,
almost scandalized. They turn to Christ, and they say to him, “Why don’t
you come and speak to your mother?” What does Jesus say? He gives no answer
except this extraordinary one: “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” And,
looking upon his disciples he says: “Behold, my mother, my brethren, and my
sisters.” As for Mary, she is left alone and publicly rebuked.
And then the voice spoke to me again with the power of thunder, telling me to
read again St. Mark 3:31-35. You will find the same incident both in Mark and in
Luke 8:19-21. Instead of granting her petition Jesus replied in such a way as to
publicly rebuke his mother. And then the voice spoke to me with terrific power,
telling me that Jesus, so long as he was a little boy, obeyed Joseph and his
mother; but as soon as Jesus presented himself before the world as the Son of
God, as the Saviour of the world, as the great Light of humanity, then Mary had
to disappear. It is to Jesus alone that the eyes of the world must be turned to
receive light and life.
Then, my friends, the voice spoke to me all the night: “Chiniquy, Chiniquy, you
have told a lie this morning, and you were preaching a lot of fables and
nonsense; and you preached against the Scriptures when you say that Mary has the
power to grant any favor from Jesus.” I prayed and I wept, it was a sleepless
night with me.
The next morning I went to table with the Bishop Prince, the coadjutor, who had
invited me to breakfast.
He said to me, “M. Chiniguy, you look like a man who has spent the night in
tears. What is the matter with you?”
I said, “My lord, you are correct. I am desolate above measure.”
“What is the matter?” he asked.
“Oh! I can not tell you here,” I said. “Will you please give me one hour in your
room alone? I will tell you a mystery which will puzzle you.”
After breakfast I went out with him and said:
“Yesterday you paid me a great compliment because of the sermon in which I
proved that Jesus had always granted the petitions of his mother. But, my lord,
last night I heard another voice, stronger than yours, and my trouble is that I
believe that voice is the voice of God. That voice has told me that we Roman
Catholic priests and bishops preach a false hood every time we say to the people
that Mary has always the power to receive from the hands of Jesus Christ the
favors which she asks. This is a lie, my lord - - this, I fear, is a diabolical
and damning error.”
The bishop then said, “M. Chiniguy, what do you mean? Are you a Protestant?”
“No,” I said, “I’m not a Protestant.” (Many times I have been called a
Protestant because I was so fond of the Bible.) “But I tell you, face to face,
that I sincerely fear that yesterday I preached a lie, and that you, my lord,
will preach one also the next time you say that we must invoke Mary, under the
pretext that Jesus has never refused any favor to his mother. This is false.”
The bishop said, “M. Chiniguy, you go too far!”
“No, my lord,” I said, “It is of no use to talk. Here is the gospel; read it.”
I put the gospel into the hands of the Bishop, and he read with his own eyes
what I had already quoted. My impression was that he read those words for the
first time. The poor man was so much surprised that he remained mute and
trembling. Finally he asked, “What does that mean?”
“Well,” I said, “This is the gospel; and here you see that Mary has come to ask
from Jesus Christ a favor, and he has not only rebuked her, but has refused to
consider her as his mother. He did this publicly, that we might know that Mary
is the mother of Jesus as man and not as God.”
The bishop was beside himself. He could not answer me.
I then asked to be allowed to put him a few questions. I said, “My lord, who has
saved you and saved me upon the Cross?”
He answered, “Jesus Christ.”
“And who paid your debts and mine by shedding his blood; was it Mary or Jesus?”
He said, “Jesus Christ.”
“Now, my lord, when Jesus and Mary were on earth, who loved the sinner more; was
it Mary or Jesus?”
And again he answer that it was Jesus.
“Did any sinner come to Mary on earth to be saved?”
“No.”
“Do you remember that any sinner has gone to Jesus to be saved?”
“Yes, many.”
“Have they been rebuked?”
“Never.”
“Do you remember that Jesus ever said to sinners, ‘Come to Mary she will save
you’?”
“No,” he said.
“Do you remember that Jesus has said to poor sinners, ‘Come unto me’?”
“Yes. He has said it.”
“Has he ever retracted those words?”
“No!”
“And who was then, the more powerful to save sinners?” I asked.
“Oh! It was Jesus!”
“Now, my lord, since Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, can you show me in the
scriptures that Jesus has lost anything of his desire and power to save sinners,
or that he has delegated this power to Mary?”
And the bishop answered, “No.”
“Then, my lord,” I asked, “Why do we not go to him, and him alone? Why do we
invite poor sinners to come to Mary, when, by your own confession she is nothing
compared with Jesus, in power, in mercy, in love, and in compassion for the
sinner?”
Then the poor bishop was as a man who is condemned to death. He trembled before
me and as he could not answer me, he pleaded business and left me. His
“business” was that he could not answer me.
But I was still not converted. There were many links by which I was still tied
to the feet of the Pope. There were other battles to be fought before I could
break the chains which bound me.
But in those days, though I was troubled I had not lost my zeal for my Church.
The bishops had given me great power and authority, and the Pope had raised me
above many others, and I had the hope, with many others, that little by little,
we might reform the Church in many things.
* * *
In 1851 I went to Illinois to found a French colony. I took with me about 75,000
French Canadians, and settled on the magnificent prairies of Illinois, to take
possession in the name of the Church of Rome. After I had begun my great work of
colonization I became a rich man.
I bought many Bibles and gave one to almost every family. The Bishop was very
angry at me for this, but I did not care. I had no idea of giving up the Church
of Rome. But I wanted to guide my people as well as I could in the way in which
Christ wanted me to lead them.
Now the bishop of Chicago did a thing at that time which we Frenchmen could not
tolerate. It was a great crime, and I wrote to the Pope and got him dismissed.
Another bishop was sent in his place, who deputed his Grand Vicar to visit me.
The Grand Vicar said to me, “M. Chiniguy, we are very glad that you have got the
former bishop dismissed, for he was a bad man: but it is suspected in many
places that you are no more in the Church of Rome. It is suspected that you are
a heretic and a Protestant. Will you not give us a document by which we can
prove to all the world that you and your people are still good Roman Catholics?”
I said, “I have no objection.”
He rejoined, “It is the desire of the new bishop whom the Pope has sent, to have
such a document from you.”
I then took a piece of paper - - and it seemed to me that it was a golden
opportunity to silence the voice which was speaking to me day and night and
troubling my faith. I wanted to persuade myself by this means that in the roman
Catholic Church we were really following the Work of God, and not merely “traditions of men.” I wrote down these very words:
“My lord, we French Canadians of the colony of Illinois want to live in the 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 your authority according
to the word of God, as we find it in the gospel of Christ.”
I signed that and offered it to my people to sign, and they did. I then gave it
to the Grand Vicar and asked him what he thought of it. He said, “It is just
what we want.” He assured me that the bishop would accept it, and all would be
right.
When the bishop had read the submission, he to found it right, and with tears of
joy said: “I am so glad that you have made your submission, because we were in
fear that you and your people would turn Protestants.”
My friends, to show you my blindness, I must confess to my shame, that I was
glad to have made my peace with the bishop, a man, when I was not yet at peace
with God. The bishop gave me a “letter of peace,” by which he declared that I
was one of his best priests, and I went back to my countrymen with a
determination to remain there. But God looked down upon me in mercy, and he was
to break that peace which was peace with man and not with God.
The bishop, after my departure, went to the telegraph and telegraphed my
submission to the other bishops, and asked them what they thought of it. They
unanimously answered him the very same day: “Do you not see that Chiniquy is a
disquised Protestant, and he has made a Protestant of you? It is not to you that
he makes submission; he makes his submission to the word of God. If you do not
destroy that submission you are a Protestant yourself.” Ten days later I
received a letter from the bishop, and when I went to him he asked me if I had
the “letter of peace” he had given me the other day. I produced it, and when he
say it was that letter, he ran to his stove and threw it in the fire. I was
astonished. I rushed to the fire to save my letter, but it was too late. It was
destroyed.
Then I turned to the bishop, and I said, “How dare you, my lord, take from my
hand a document which is my property and destroy it without my consent?”
He replied, “M. Chiniguy, I am your superior and I have no account to give to
you.”
“You are indeed, my lord, my superior, and I am nothing but a poor priest, but
there is a great God who is as much above you as above me, and that God has
granted me rights which I will never give up to please any man; in the presence
of that God I protest against your iniquity.”
“Well,” he said, “Do you come here to give me a lecture?”
I replied, “No, my lord; but I want to know if you brought me here to insult
me?”
“M. Chiniquy,” he said, “I brought you here because you gave me a document which
you know very well was not an act of submission.”
The I answered, “Tell me, what act of submission do you require of me?”
He said, “You must begin by taking away these few words ‘according to the word
of God, as we find in the gospel of Christ’, and say simply that you promise to
obey my authority without any condition; that you will promise to do whatever I
tell you.”
Then I got to my feet, and I said, “My lord, what you require of me is not an
act of submission, but an act of adoration, and I refuse it to you.”
Then, said he, “If you can not give me that act of submission, you can not any
longer be a Roman Catholic priest.”
I raised my hands to God, and said, “My almighty God be forever blessed,” and I
took my had and left the bishop. I went to the hotel where I had engaged a room,
and locked the door behind me. I fell on my knees to examine what I had done in
the presence of God. Then I saw, for the first time clearly, 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 her enemies, but from the lips of the
Church of Rome herself. I saw that I could not remain in it accept by giving up
the word of God in a formal document. Then I saw that I had done well to give up
the Church of Rome. But Oh! My friends, what a dark cloud came upon me! In my
darkness I cried out, “My God, my God, why is it that my soul is surrounded with
such a dark cloud?”
With tears I cried to God to show me the way, but for a time, no answer was
vouchsafed. I had given up the Church of Rome; I had give up position, honor, my
brothers and sisters, everything that was dear to me! I saw that the Pope, the
bishops, and the priests would attach in the press, and in the pulpit. I saw
that they would take away my honor and my name - - and perhaps my life. I saw
that war to the death had begun between the Church of Rome and me, and I looked
to see if any friends had been left to me to help me fight the battle, but not a
single friend remained, I saw that even my dearest friends were bound to curse
me, and look upon me as a infamous traitor. I saw that my people would reject
me, that my beloved country, where I had so many friends would curse me, and
that I had become an object of horror to the world.
Then I tried to remember if I had some friends amongst the Protestants, but as I
had spoken and written against them all my life, I had not a single friend
there. I saw that I was left alone to fight the battle. It was too much, and in
that terrible hour, if God had not wrought a miracle, I should not have been
able to bear it. It seemed impossible for me to go out from that room into the
cold world, where I should not find a single hand to shake my hand, or single
smiling face to look upon me, but where I should see only those looking upon me
as a traitor.
It seemed that God was far away, but he was very near. Suddenly the thought
entered my mind: “You have your gospel; read it, and you will find the light.”
On my knees, and with trembling hand, I opened the book. Not I, but God opened
it, for my eyes fell on I Cor.7:23 “Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the
servants of men.”
With these words the light came to me, and for the first time I saw the great
mystery of salvation, as much as man can see it. I said to my self, “Jesus has
bought me; then, if Jesus has bought me, he has saved me; I am saved! Jesus is
my God! All the works of God are perfect! I am, then, perfectly saved - - Jesus
could not save me by half I am saved in the blood of the Lamb; I am saved by the
death of Jesus.” And these words were so sweet to me that I felt unspeakable
joy, as if the fountains of life were opened and floods of new light were
flowing in upon my soul. I said to my self, “I am not saved, as I thought, by
going to Mary; I am not saved by purgatory, or by indulgences, confessions or
penances. I am saved by Jesus alone!” And all the false doctrines of Rome went
away from my mind as a tower which is struck at the base.
I then felt such a joy, such a peace, that the angles of God could not be more
happy than I was. The blood of the lamb was flowing on my poor guilty soul. With
a loud cried of joy I said, “Oh! dear Jesus, I feel it, I know it; thou hast
saved me! Oh! Gift of God, I accept thee! Take my heart and keep if forever
Thine. Gift of God, abide in me to make me pure and strong; abide in me to be my
way, my light, and my life; grant that I may abide in thee now and forever! But,
dear Jesus, do not save me alone; save my people; grant me to show the Gift
also! Oh! That they may accept thee and feel rich and happy as I am now.”
It was thus I found the Light and the great mystery of our salvation, which is
so simple and so beautiful, so sublime, and so grand. I had opened the hands of
my soul and accepted the gift. I was rich in the gift. Salvation, my friends, is
a gift; you have nothing to do but to accept it, love it, and love the Giver. I
pressed the gospel to my lips and swore I would never preach anything but Jesus.
I arrived in the midst of my colony on a Sabbath morning. The whole people were
exceeding excited and ran towards me, and asked what news. When they were
gathered in the Church, I presented to them The Gift. I showed to them what God
had presented to me, His Son Jesus as a gift - - and, through Jesus, the pardon
of my sins, and life eternal as a gift. Then, not knowing whether they would
receive the gift, I said to them: “It is time for me to go away from you, my
friends. I have left the Roman Catholic Church forever. I have taken the gift of
Christ, but I respect you too much to impose myself on you; if you think it is
better for you to follow the Pope than to follow Christ, and to invoke the name
of Mary than the name of Jesus, in order to be saved, tell it to me by rising
up.”
To my exceeding great surprise the whole multitude remained in their seats,
filling the Church with their sobs and tears. I thought some of them would tell
me to go, but not one did so. And as I watched I saw a change come over them - -
a marvelous change, which can not be explained in natural ways and I said to
them, with a great cry of joy:
“The mighty God who saved me yesterday can save you today. With me you will
cross the red sea and go into the promised land. With me you will accept the
great gift - - you will be happy and rich in the gift. I will put the question
to you in another way. If you think it is better for your to follow Christ than
the Pope, to invoke the name of Jesus alone than the name of Mary, that it is
better to put your trust only in the blood of the Lamb shed on the Cross for
your sins, then in the fabulous purgatory of Rome, after your death to be saved;
and if you think it is better for you to have me preach to you the pure gospel
of Christ, than to have a priest teach to you the doctrines of Rome, tell it to
me by rising up - - I am your man!”
And all, without a single exception, rose to their feet, and with tears, asked
me to remain with them.
The Gift, the great, unspeakable Gift had, for the first time, come before their
eyes in its beauty; they had found it precious; they had accepted it; and no
words can tell you the joy of that multitude. Like myself they felt rich and
happy in the Gift. The names of one thousand souls, I believe, were written in
the Book of Life that day. Six months later were two thousand converts; a year
later we were about four thousand! And now we are nearly twenty-five thousand
who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The news spread quickly all over America, and even in France and England - -
that Chiniguy, the best know priest of Canada, had left the Church of Rome, at
the head of a noble band of men. And wherever it was said, the name of Jesus was
blessed, and I hope you will bless the merciful and adorable Saviour today with
me, when it is my privilege to have told you what he has done for my soul.
Pray for the Roman Catholics of America and every where, that I may be the
instrument of the mercies of God toward them; that they may all receive, with
you, the unspeakable Gift; ;may love and glorify the Gift during the few days of
our pilgrimage here, and throughout eternity. Amen.
Book - 50 Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chiniquy
Chick Publications, www.chick.com,
orderdesk@chick.com
