MR CHINIQUY'S LECTURES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1856, 3 February 1880, Page 3

MR CHINIQUY'S LECTURES.

The first of a series of lectures was delivered lust night at the Oddfellows' Hall by Mr Ohiniqny. The hall was completely filled, and on the platform were—The RevsJ. Elmslie, Richardson, Baumber, Horner' Blake, Cairns, Smaller, and Dallaston, and a large number of sympathisers in Mr Cbiniquy's mission. The chair was taken by the Rev. J. Elmalie, of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. The proceedings commenced by the choir singing a hymn, after which prayer was offered up by the Rev. J. Smalley. The Chairman said he deemed it a high honor to occupy the chair, as they had met in the cause of gospel truth and civil and religious liberty. They had to fight over again the battles which had been fought by the reformers of old, and none bad fought more bravely than the champion who had come to address them. Therefore he esteemed it an honor to stand beside him. He inculcated the truth that while goodwill and peace should be preached to all men, still it was neoessary to draw the Bword sometimes in the cause of truth. While raising his voice against the errors of the Church of Rome, Pastor Chiniquy cherished nothing but feelings of peace and goodwill towards those from whom he differed in religious belief. The chairman then read a credential from the Presbyterian Church of Canada, with which Mr Chiniquy was furnished, by way of introducing the lecturer. Mr Chiniquy commenced by reciting a verse of the 66th Psalm, and then gave p. brief exposition of the feelings which animated him in the step he had taken in delivering his lectures. He deprecated the notion that he merely came to satisfy an idle cuaiosity; he was actuated by a higher aim, for which he would have to render a solemn account. The lecturer then entered into his early career as a priest of the Church of Rome, of his exertions on behalf of that church, and his earnest desire to spread what he believed to be its truths abroad through all ranks of Protestantism. He referred to the period when for the first time a doubt entered into his mind as to whether he was following the Word of God or the lying traditions of men. Step by step he analysed the mental struggles he had gone through before he finally resolved to withdraw himself from the Romish Church, and after a ministry of twenty-five years plaoa himself in an antagonistic position towards it. He then cited those occasions which might be considered distinct epochs in the gradual process of his conversion to the Reformed Church. Notably onoe when after preaching in the cathedral at Montreal the doubt suggested itself as to the efficacy of the advocacy of the Virgin Mary as opposed to the intercession of the Redeemer. This doubt led to a closer investigation of the Scriptures, which had the effect ef enlightening him as to the truth, or, in his own words, " That he had been preaching a blasphemous, diabolical lie" to the people. An inward voice said to him, " You have not followed the Word of God, but the lying traditions of men, when you have plaoed the intercession of the "Virgin over that of Jesus Christ." At this point Mr Chiniquy asked the chairman to read a v.-rse of the New Testament bearing on the point. The chairman complied, and the lecturer resumed by further quotation from the New Testament to prove that the Saviour by his own action and teaching had not justified the Church of Rome in laying down the dogma that the Virgin Mary occupied a position of mediation between God and humanity. The words of the Saviour, as recorded by the Evangelists, were distinctly positive upon the point, and the further he sought for confirmation of tho Romish dogma he bad hitherto preached, the more his eyes were opened to the light of truth. In connection with this, the lecturer deprecated any vindictiveness to the priests of the Church. He pitied them as the victims of ignorance and superstition. Mary, as all Protestants believed, was, among all women blessed, purified and sanctified ; but when she asked Christ to perform a miraole to please her, He answered her with a stern rebuke. He worked the miracle not to please her, but to show His power. All His actions went to show that He alone was the Saviour of the world, and not His mother. He was allsufficient in Himself for man's salvation. These scruples, the lecturer said, were agents for his gradual conversion, but he still had strong misgivings in relinquishing the Church of Rome, as he saw that the various denominations of Protestants the Episcopalians, the Weßleyans, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists—were all fighting like wild cats; that it was a Tower of Babel for confusion. But as the branches ot the vine spread in all directions and were all different, so, as long as they were connected with the vine they gave good fruit. So with the dissenting Churches; they were all united to the Church of Christ, though apparently dissevered, but only as the right hand is from the left, both being portions of the body. Still he remained a Catholic, but determined that for the future he would not preach the lie referinig to the Virgin Mary any more. He expressed this determination to his Bishop ; he (the lecturer) was shaken in his belief, but not yet converted. He oould speak further, choosing the theme of auricular confession, but this his hearers would find in one of his books. These books he did not sell as a matter of speculation for his own profit. Those who oould afford to purchase would have to pay for them, but such as could not afford to buy, be would give them to. They had cost him £BOO in Australia. The lecturer then gave an exposure of " The terrible mystery of iniquity," involved in the adoration of the " real presence" by the followers of the Church of Rome. The conviction of its falsity was a further agent in the process of his conversion. That day was, however, coming fast. At this period he was deputed by his Church to go and settle a Catholic community at Chicago, in the Valley of the Mississippi. There was a great exodus from France, Belgium, and Canada of Catholics, and in a few years there was a population of 75,000 b'oulb, professing the tenets of the Churoh of Rome. The first step he took with his co-religionists was to obtain the removal of the first Bishop, who led a notoriously scandalous life. The vacancy was filled by a Bishop of piety and exemplary life, and his (Father Chiniquy's) services were warmly recognised, and this led him to write a letter of submission to the Bishop, with a view of removing the impression that he had become a Proteßtant. He wished to live in peace with God and man, and his letter of submission was so worded as to express his real sentiments of relianoe on the authority of the Word of God and not on the lying traditions of men. This letter was accepted with joy by the Bishop, but at a subsequent interview, when its true meaning had been pointed out to the Bishop, the latter demanded it back and burnt it in his presence, repudiating it as an act of submission to the Church of Rome. The Bishop required from him an act of submission, so worded as to be in fact an act of adoration. This document he refused to give. From the Church of Rome he had got the terrible truth at last, which he had only euspi c'.ed previously, that she was nDt the Church of Christ, whose authority she asked him to deny. He was now in the position that he had given up everything that was dear to him. and he was standing alone to fight his battle without help from any one. He foresaw that the Church of Rome would attack him in every way, and even attempt to take his life. He was an outcast, one whom it was the duty of all men, according to the authority of the Church of Rome, to curse, and in his extremity he even contemplated suicide. Then a ray of light came to him when he read in the Bible thut he was saved by the blood of Jesus, shed on the Cross for him. At last he had put his feet on the rook of his salvation, and was ready to fight and die if necessary for his newborn faith. With his own conversion arose the desire for the conversion of all who had believed with him, and he then formally resigned his connection with the Church of Rome, and by his instrumentality his example was followed by his congregation, numbering a thousand souts. In Bix months there were four thousand converts, in another year six thousand, and now there were twenty-five thousand converts, and amongst them were eighteen prießts. The lecturer concluderl by inviting all present to come the following evening, when he had still more interesting revelations to impart. He exhorted them to fight the Church of Rome, bat not by insulting the Roman Catholics. They were to be prayed for as the victims ot idolatrous deception. He urged them to purchase the books he had written, not to make money by, but as an opportunity of fur nishing themselves with a spiritual weapon for the conversion of the Roman Catholics. The choir having sung another hymn, the proceedings terminated in the usual manner.