Raising again my mind to God, I said: “O my God, let me know thy holy will, and grant me the grace to do it. Do the voices I have just heard come from thee? Hast thou really sent one of the angels of thy mercy, under the form of my beloved mother? or is all this nothing but the vain dreams of my distressed mind?
“Is it thy will, O my God, that I should go and tell my country what thou hast so providentially taught me of the horrible and unsuspected injuries which wine and strong drink cause to the bodies as well as to the souls of men? Or is it thy will that I should conceal from the eyes of the world the wonderful things thou hast made known to me, and that I might bury them with me in my grave?”
As quick as lightning the answer was suggested to me. “What I have taught thee in secret, go and tell it on the housetops!” Overwhelmed with an unspeakable emotion, and my heart filled with a power which was not mine, I raised my hands toward heaven, and said to my God:
“For my dear Saviour Jesus’ sake, and for the good of my country, O my God, I promise that I will never make any use of intoxicating drinks; I will, moreover, do all in my power to persuade the other priests and the people to make the same sacrifice!”
Fifty years have passed since I took that pledge, and, thanks be to God, I have kept it.
For the next two years, I was the only priest in Canada who abstained from the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks; and God only knows what I had to suffer all that time—what sneers, and rebukes and insults, of every kind, I had silently to bear! How many times the epithets of fanatic, hypocrite, reformer, half-heretic, have been whispered into my ear, not only by the priests, but also by the bishops.
But I was sure that my God knew the motives of my actions, and, by His grace, I remained calm and patient. In His infinite mercy, He has looked down upon His unprofitable servant and has taken his part. He had himself chosen the day when my humiliations were to be turned into great joy. The day came when I saw those same priests and bishops, at the head of their people, receiving the pledge and blessing of temperance from my hands. Those very bishops who had unanimously, at first, condemned me, soon invited the first citizens of their cities to present me with a golden medal, as a token of their esteem, after giving me, officially, the title of “Apostle of Temperance of Canada.” The Governor and the two Chambers of Parliament of Canada voted me public thanks in 1851, and presented me £500 as a public testimony of their kind feelings for what had been done in the cause of temperance. It was the will of my God, that I should see, with my own eyes, my dear Canada taking the pledge of temperance and giving up the use of intoxicating drinks. How many tears were dried in those days! Thousands and thousands of broken hearts were consoled and filled with joy. Happiness and abundance reigned in many once desolate homes, and the name of our merciful God was blessed everywhere in my beloved country. Surely this was not the work of poor Chiniquy!
It was the Lord’s work, for the Lord, who is wonderful in all His doings, had once more chosen the weakest instrument to show His mercy towards the children of men. He had called the most unprofitable of His servants to do the greatest work of reform, Canada has ever seen, that the praise and glory might be given to Him, and Him alone!
Chapter XXIX.
CONVERSIONS OF PROTESTANTS TO THE CHURCH OF ROME—REV. ANTHONY PARENT, SUPERIOR OF THE SEMINARY OF QUEBEC: HIS PECULIAR WAY OF FINDING ACCESS TO THE PROTESTANTS AND BRINGING THEM TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH—HOW HE SPIES THE PROTESTANTS THROUGH THE CONFESSIONAL—I PERSUADE NINETY-THREE FAMILIES TO BECOME CATHOLICS.