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 one 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 in this particular narrative of his life was first given in London. He lived to his ninetieth year, dying in Montreal, on January 16, 1899.

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                                                                    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 know 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 Devine 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 putsx 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 priest believe and preach everywhere. Here is the sermon I preached:

“My dear friends, when a man has rebelled against his King, l 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 might 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 h ave Mary the Mother of Jesus, our King, at his right hand, and is 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 hears 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 surly 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 tat 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 hear was full of joy because of the good sermon I had give 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 whoso ever 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 ;you 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