Then, the sublime piety of Lady Montgomery, the blessings she had asked God to pour on me, his unprofitable servant, seemed, as so many coals of fire heaped upon my head by God, to punish me for having said so much evil of Protestants, and so often decried their religion.
A secret voice arose within me: “Seest thou not how these Protestants, whom thou wishest to crush with thy disdain, know how to pray, repent, and make amends for their faults, much more nobly than the unfortunate wretches whom thou holdest as so many slaves at thy feet by means of the confessional?
“Understandest thou not that the Spirit of God, the grace and love of Jesus Christ, produces effectually in the hearts and minds of these Protestants a work much more durable than thy auricular confession? Compare the miserable wiles of Mr. Parent, who makes false restitutions, to cast dust into the eyes of the unsuspecting multitude, with the straightforwardness, noble sincerity, and admirable wisdom of these Protestants, in making amends for their wrongs before God and men, and judge for thyself which of those two religions raise, in order to save, and which degrades, in order to destroy the guilty.
“Has ever auricular confession worked as efficiently on sinners as the Bible on these thieves to change their hearts?
“Judge, this day, by their fruits, which of the two religions is led by the spirit of darkness, or the Holy Ghost?”
Not wishing to condemn my religion, nor allow my heart to be attacked by Protestantism during the long hours of that restless night, I remained anxious, humiliated, and uneasy.
It is thus, O my God, that thou madest use of everything, even these thieves, to shake that wonderful fabric of errors, superstitions, and falsehoods that Rome had raised in my soul. May thy name be forever blessed for thy mercies towards me, thy unprofitable servant!
Chapter XXXI.
CHAMBERS AND HIS ACCOMPLICES CONDEMNED TO DEATH—ASKED ME TO PREPARE THEM TO MEET THEIR TERRIBLE FATE—A WEEK IN THEIR DUNGEON—THEIR SENTENCE OF DEATH CHANGED INTO DEPORTATION TO BOTANY BAY—THEIR DEPARTURE FOR EXILE—I MEET ONE OF THEM, A SINCERE CONVERT, VERY RICH, IN A HIGH AND HONORABLE POSITION IN AUSTRALIA IN 1878.
A few days after the strange and providential night spent with the repentant thieves, I received the following letter signed by Chambers and his unfortunate criminal friends: