Father Chiniquy in Montreal.
FATHER CHINIQUY’S recent visit to Canada was productive of much good. At a meeting of all the Protestant ministers of Montreal, strong resolutions depreciating the violence of the Roman Catholic mob were adopted. Father Chiniquy’s farewell meeting is thus reported in the Montreal papers of Dec. 17, 1884:— The meeting was opened with religious exercises, after which the Rev. Mr. Chiniquy was called upon to speak on “The Rome of the Emperors and the Rome of the Popes.” In the opening he spoke briefly of the trials and persecutions of the Christians under the early heathen emperors. “But,” said he, “I have compared the two Romes and I tell you that the Rome of the Cæsars was infinitely better than the Rome of the popes. There have been more infamy, more crimes, more tyranny, more ungodliness in the Rome of the popes than in the Rome of the Cæsars. I do not say that to insult the Roman Catholics. The pope of Rome is a fraud in every sense. He is the greatest fraud the world has ever seen. He pretends to derive his power from Peter, but we do not find a single word in the Bible to substantiate this doctrine or to show that Peter ever went to Rome. And even if Peter had been in Rome it does not prove that he had been a ruler over the other apostles. When the disciples disputed among themselves who should be the first, did Christ say at any time that one of them would be the first? The honest writers of the Roman Catholic Church tell us that the supremacy of the pope was not spoken of for the first six or seven centuries, and the first bishop who took upon himself the title of ‘Supreme Pontiff,’ was rebuked by Gregory the Great, who said that any man who called himself the supreme pontiff is Antichrist.” “What have they done to show the spiritual power of the pope? They had a man named Isidore, who wrote a book on this subject, nine-tenths of which is simply lies. He used the names of saints, councils, and countries that never existed, in support of his statements. This book was sent to the pope, who began to adopt its teachings little by little through the church. And here I stand ready to prove this thing, before the priests and bishop of Montreal, from their own books and records. Then as to the temporal power of the pope. How is it that the popes became the masters of Rome? They have forged a title which they said was written by Constantine the Great, in which he gave to the pope the greatest part of Italy. If all the popes were to be dealt with as they deserved, they would all be sent to the penitentiary.” He then read the testimony of St. Catharine, Erasmus (the great opponent of Luther), Chancellor Gerson, Baronius, St. Bonaventure, and other respected members of the church of Rome, speaking in the plainest terms against the degradation of some of the popes. Continuing, he said: “When I had been a Roman Catholic priest for fifteen years, I wanted to take a rest and visit Rome, but the bishop, who had just returned from Rome, said to me: ‘No, Chiniquy, you must not go to Rome; your eyes are too sharp.’ A writer of the church of Rome has said that if, after a second admonition, heretics shall remain obstinate, they must be excommunicated and exterminated. And why do they not do so to us now? Archbishop Lynch said the other day that they do not do it because they are not strong enough! The pope has not converted any nation. The priests have preached their religion, but the Christ they preach is an idol, a wafer. The pope hates the Bible, but he makes the people think he loves it. When I became a priest I swore that I would read the Bible, but I had also to swear not to interpret it according to my intelligence, but according to the ‘Holy Father’s’ interpretation. “The pope has concealed the Bible, but some of the rays of light make their way out of the prison in which they are held, and some souls take hold of them; and it is in this way, by the mercy of Christ, that many people have received light, not from the pope, but from the gospel which he had tried to conceal. Some of you will think that I am very hard on the church of Rome, but you are mistaken. The Roman Catholics have no better friend than I am. The man who tells the people to leave a ship when it is going to sink is their friend. I saw that the Romish ship would surely perish, and I jumped on a rock and cried to the sailors, ‘Come out; the ship is rotten!’ For the last five weeks my room has been filled with people from all ranks of life, saying: ‘We are tired of the tyranny of the church of Rome; we want to come to Christ; we want a religion that will not make us slaves of the priest.’ Help them by your prayers, and by sending missionaries to them.”—Converted Catholic.