There are, however, many priests in Canada who think it less evil to keep those large sums of money in their own hands, than to give them to the bishops to traffic with the merchants of Paris. At the end of one of the ecclesiastical retreats in the seminary of St. Sulpice in 1850, Bishop Bourget told us that one of the priests who had lately died, had requested him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to ask every priest to take a share in the $4,000 which he had received for masses he had never said. We refused to grant him that favor, and those $4,000 received by that priest, like the millions put into the hands of other priests and the bishops, turned to be nothing less than an infamous swindling operation under the mask of religion.
To understand what the priests of Rome are, let the readers note what is said in the Roman Catholic Bible, of the priest of Babylon:
“And King Astyges was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus, of Persia, received his kingdom, and Daniel conversed with the king, and was honored above all his friends. Now the Babylonians had an idol, called Bel, and there were spent upon him, every day, twelve measures of fine flour, and forty sheep and six vessels of wine. And the king worshipped it and went daily to adore: but Daniel worshipped his own God, and the king said unto him: ‘Why dost thou not worship Bel?’ who answered and said: ‘because I may not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who hath created the heavens and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh.’ Then the king said: ‘Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living God! Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?’
“Then Daniel smiled and said: ‘Oh, king! be not deceived; for this is but clay within and brass without, and did never eat or drink anything.’
“So the king was wroth, and called for his priests and said: ‘If ye tell me not who this is that devoureth these expenses, ye shall die; but if ye can certify me that Bel devoureth them, then Daniel shall die, for he has spoken blasphemy against Bel.’ And Daniel said unto the king: ‘Let it be according to thy word.’
“Now the priests of Bel were three score and ten, besides their wives and children.
“And the king went with Daniel to the temple of Bel—so Bel’s priests said: ‘Lo! we got out, but thou, O king, set on the meat, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thine own signet; and to-morrow when thou comest in, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death; or else, Daniel, that speaketh falsely against Bel shall die—and they little regarded it, for under the table they had made a privy entrance, whereby they entered continually and consumed those things.’
“So when they were gone forth, the king set meats before Bel.
“Now Daniel had commanded his servants to bring ashes, and those they strewed throughout all the temple, in the presence of the king alone: then they went out, and shut the door, and sealed it with the king’s signet, and so departed.
“Now in the night came the priests, with their wives and children, as they were wont to do, and did eat and drink up all.