MR. CHINIQUY’S LECTURES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1857, 5 February 1880, Page 3

MR. CHINIQUY’S LECTURES.

The final lecture of the series advertised to be given in Christchurch was delivered last Wednesday bv Mr Cbiniquy. The subject was “ Rome and Liberty : or Dangers ahead to Great Britain and her Colonies by the Church of Rome.”

As on previous occasions tho ball was filled in every part, tho platform especially being crowded. The chair was taken by the Rev. J. Smalley. At the conclusion of the opening hymn, the chairman said he had a few remarks to make before Mr Cbiniquy commenced his lecture. In a report of the proceedings of the previous evening in one of the morning papers it was stated that the only representatives of the clergy were the ministers of the Dissenting denominations. He did not imagine that any insult had been intended by the expression, but he wished to correct what was a mistake. There were in Christchurch no Dissenting ministers—[cheers] —inasmuch as in the colony there was no State church. As a matter of fact, those who were comprehended by the term of Dissenters far out-numbered the Episcopalians. In 1851, by the direction of the English Government, a census was taken on a special Sunday morning of the worshippers of the several churches, the result giving to the Episcopalians 42 per cent, of the population, leaving 58 per cent, to the members of the other denominations. [Applause.] Father t hiniquy was no untried man, his name was spoken of twenty years ago with blessings. One of his greatest characteristics was his magnanimity towards his detractors, and those who would speak evil of him and shut him out from them would shut them out from Luther, Knox, and even Jesus Christ himself. [Applause.] Father Chiniquy’s attributes were loving kindness, forbearance, and patience. In spite of the assertions of lying priests and editors, he was one of the noblest Christian gentlemen of the age. [Loud applause.] Mr Cbiniquy commenced by referring to the period of English history when the Reformed Church repudiated the belief in purgatory and the supremacy of the Pope, quoting the New Testament to show that the creation of the Roman Pontiff was of human origin, and directly opposed to the precept given by Christ to his disciples when they disputed as to who should be the first amongst them. From this he went on to speak of tho blood which had been shed in Piedmont, Scotland, and England, and tho persecutions which had been undergone by the early martyrs in vindication of their faith. These persecutions were by command of the Pope of Rome, who encouraged the slaughter of the martyrs by public rejoicings, and caused a medal to be struck in perpetuation of them. Prom this time it was an increaiing conflict between their ancestors and the Church of Rome until, at the Battle of the Boyne, the sword of tho Pope was finally broken, and liberty of conscience became the law of the land. They might say, “ Cbiniquy, why do you come to revive these things, which we know as well as you, to raise discord amongst us ? The Church of Rome is changed, and no longer persecutes as in those old times.” This was a mistake. The Church of Rome was unchanged. Now, as then, her policy was one of extermination, and she would put to death all disbelievers for the glory of God. [Applause.] St. Thomas Aquinas said it was the law of the Church to exterminate all heretics, though it was not proclaimed from the pulpits. The time of slaughter was, nevertheless, coming, but that was preceded by little skirmishes. The lecturer here made reference to the recent disturbance in the city as an instance of what he raid was the policy of the Roman Catholic Church, and narrated the personal outrages which had been committed on himself when lecturing in Hobart Town. All these things he had known when he was a priest of Rome, but from the time of his conversion he had been ready to shed his blood for his faith. Mr Cbiniquy proceeded to narrate the particulars of the outrages and attempts upon his life and liberty, which he said had been made at the instigation of the priests of Rome in Canada and the United States. He said he had been accused of burning a church, of killing a man and throwing a man into a river, and in fact of committing all the crimes in the Decalogue, He had had to defend himself in courts of law against the most infamous and abominable accusations supported by false witnesses. By almost miraculous interposition he had been saved from the plots of the priests, but the same persecuting spirit which their forefathers had fought against in the days of old was just as rampant now. The Chairman, at the request of Mr Cbiniquy, read extracts from St. Thomas and Liguori on the practice of excommunicating heretics, and subsequently an extract from a newspaper, which the lecturer said was edited by ministers, warning their readers against giving him any welcome or encouragement as a firebrand.

The Chairman —It is not the “Wesleyan.” A Voice—Three groans for the writer of that article.

The lecturer chocked an impulse to applaud the suggestion, and counselled moderation, exhorting his hearers to pray for those who prompted such utterances. He warned all present against the Ritualists and certain Episcopalians, who were only Jesuits in disguise, and traitors to their Church—a Church bo had the highest respect for, and which had sent him £IO,OOO in the second year of his conversion. Days of trial were coming ; a hurricane wss arising in England ; cries of rage were heard from Ireland ; but it was not in the North of Ireland, where all were Protesiante, and loyal to Great Britain. [Cheers.] In the South they were taught by the priests to plot for the extermination and destruction of the Government. The lecturer spoke in strong terms of condemnation of the money that was being raised for the Irish distress fund, and said that if the Irish people were to till the land instead of listening to the priests, who were urging them to plot against Great Britain, there would be no famine. He had £SO to send to the inhabitants of the North of Ireland if a famine should arise there, but he thought the money would remain a long while in his pocket. [Applause.] After alluding to the imprisonment. of the late actors in the outrage on Boling Day, whose place he said ought to be occupied by those who had set them on to do what they were now suffering for, the lecturer concluded by condemning the Church of Rome, which ho stigmatised as instigating the victims of delusions to commit crime for which they suffered. The Chairman announced that although the lecture just delivered had been advertised as the lust of the series, Mr Chiniquy had consented to give three additional ones on the evenings of next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and after lecturing in Lyttelton and Kaiapoi, would return and preach next Sun day in the Colombo road and Durham street churches. He added that Mr Chiniquy was a disciple of temperance, and he hoped that he might be induced to give one lecture on total abstinence. Mr Chiniquy, after complimenting the audience on their numbers and respectability, which exceeded any place he had yet been to in the colony, called for a show of hands as to whether he should continue the series upon fresh questions. The appeal was responded to in the affirmative, and the proceedings terminated in the usual manner.