MR. CHINIQUY’S LECTUEES.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1863, 12 February 1880, Page 3

MR. CHINIQUY’S LECTUEES.

Mr Ohiniquy delivered the first of tho new series of leoturesWednesday in the Oddfellows’ Hall. As on previous occasions the building was densely crowded, the chair being occupied by the Rev Mr Glover, of the Primitive Methodist Church.

The first part of the lecture was devo'ed to an explanation of the cause of the existing distress in the south of Ireland. The lecturer went into considerable detail to prove that the Roman Catholic clergy were the primary cause of the miserable state of the Irish people. He contrasted the position of the north and south of Ireland, and said that if instead of plotting against England, they tilled the ground there would be no famine. The conditions were the same in the north and south. They were governed by the same laws, and were under the same Constitution, and equally owed allegiance to the Queen of England. More than this the land was mere fertile in the south than in ths north, but the people were different. In the north they were loyal. God-fearing,and industrious, while in the south they were precisely the reverse, and this was the cause of the famine. It was tho work of the priest, the Bishop, and the Rope. The lecturer here gave an historical account of the sale of Ireland to England by Pope Adrian IV. for money. Thus it was that Ireland belonged to England by Divine right through a Pope, who had sold the Irish people like cattle. They could not be prosperous, as when they had good crops they were more taxed by the priests, who reaptd the results of their industry. The lecturer cited instances which had come under his notice in support of his assertions. Amongst certain extracts in point read by the chairman, was one of a speech made at St. Mary’s College by a priest, calling on the Irish people to avenge the wrongs they had sustained at the hands of England. And these were the men they were called on to assist! It was only right his hearers should know tho character of the men they were called on to assist. Personally he would have no objection to assist if there was a real famine, but he placed very little reliance on the committee in Ireland, as they were under the influence of the priests. A greater famine existed where millions had need of their help and money—the poor Chinamen, who needed the bread of life, and the poor Islanders of tho South, who had never heard of the Gospel. It was there that the real famine existed, and to whom they should send missionaries and money. [Applause.] The lecturer then approached the subject proper ot his lecture—“ Rome and Education.” He dilated on the nature of the early training of their youth, and said that tho fact that no check was put on their aspirations for knowledge was the secret of the greatness of the Protestant nations, and he contrasted tho repressive measures of the Church of Rome on the question of education, which led to contrary results. It was true that there were eagles who soared upwards in spite of repression, but it was in spite of the Roman Catholic Church and not through its assistance. Galileo was a proof of this, and had to sign a blasphemous lie in order to save his life; but after he .had said on oath that the earth did not move round tho sun, he added, while still on his knees, “ that will not prevent the earth from moving,” and it had moved ever since. [Applause.] Lamennais was another giant, who found the great truth that liberty of conscience was of divine origin, and he died an excommunicated man from the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome instead of raising the mind work d to keep it down in subjection. Protestants held that God was the source of all inspiration, but the object of Rome was to instil into the mind of the pupil the knowledge of his superior and exact a blind obedience. Ignatius Loyola held that the highest virtue in a Roman Catholic was obedience. Education was not complete until the mind ard intell-'-ganoe became as a corpse. The object of this was the exaltation of the priests, the bishops, and the Pope of Romo. Quoting again from Ignatius Loyala, the lecturer said that a true Roman Catholic had to assume that black was white if his superior defined it so. The Chairman, at the request of the lecturer, road an extract from, St. Gregory on the virtues of blind obedience, where it was laid down that there was greater merit in obeying a religious superior than in obeying God.

The lecturer said St. Philip Neri and other ecclesiastical authorities inculcated tho same doctrines. These wore the reasons why the Roman Catholics hated the Prolestantschools. He then cited the case of a man in New South Wales, who was excommunicated and refused Christian burial, because he sent two of his children to the Government schools. The Church of Roma condemned the Protestant schools because they fostered the mind and intelligence of tho children, which did not suit them. Truth, light, strength, and power came from the Protestant schools, and so Romo hated them, and would destroy them. The liberty of conscience taught by them must be stifled even if they were all slaughtered. Tho Roman Catholic clergy and people had made use of the pretext of liberty of conscience to ask for State aid for their schools. This the Legislature had been compelled to refuse, and it had led to the exclusion of thcof the Bible from the State schools, end this again was used as a pretext by tho Roman Catholics to withdraw their children.

The concluding portion of the lecture was devoted to tho question of the advantages ot a religious education over a secular one. The Legislature had made a mistake which it was not too late to rectify, and a blessing would follow tho reintroduction of the Bible into the schools, which in the language of the Queen was the secret of England’s greatness The peroration was received with loud applause. The proceedings terminated by singing the Evening Hymn.