“But if my first reading of the Gospel did not do me much good, I cannot say the same thing of the second. I remember that, when handing to us that holy book, you had told us never to read it except after a fervent prayer to God for help and light to understand it. I was really tired of my former life. In giving up the fear and the love of God, I had fallen into the deepest abyss of human depravity and misery, till I had come very near ending my life on the scaffold. I felt the need of a change. You had often repeated to us the words of our Saviour, ‘Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest;’ but, with all the other priests, you had always mixed those admirable and saving words with the invocation of Mary, the confidence in our medals, scapulars, signs of the cross, holy waters, indulgences, auricular confessions, that the sublime appeal of Christ had always been, as it always will be, drowned in the Church of Rome by those absurd and impious superstitions and practices.
“One morning, after I had spent a sleepless night, and feeling as pressed down under the weight of my sins, I opened my gospel book, after an ardent prayer for light and guidance, and my eyes fell on these words of John, ‘Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!’ These words fell upon my poor guilty soul with a divine, irresistible power. With tears and cries of an unspeakable desolation, I spent the day in crying, ‘O Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me! Take away my sins!’ The day was not over, when I felt and knew that my cries had been heard at the mercy-seat. The Lamb of God had taken away my sins! He had changed my heart and made quite a new man of me. From that day, the reading of the Gospel was to my soul what bread is to the poor, hungry man, and what pure and refreshing waters are to the thirsty traveler. My joy, my unspeakable joy, was to read the holy book, and speak with my companions in chains of the dear Saviour’s love for the poor sinners; and, thanks be to God, a good number of them have found Him altogether precious, and have been sincerely converted in the dark holds of that ship. When working hard at Sydney with the other culprits, I felt my chains to be as light as feathers when I was sure that the heavy chains of my sins were gone; and though working hard under a burning sun from morning till night, I felt happy, and my heart was full of joy when I was sure that my Saviour had prepared a throne for me in His kingdom, and that He had brought a crown of eternal glory for me by dying on the cross to redeem my guilty soul.
“I had hardly spent a year in Australia, in the midst of the convicts, when a minister of the Gospel, accompanied by another gentleman, came to me and said: ‘Your perfectly good behavior and your Christian life has attracted the attention and admiration of the authorities, and the governor sends us to hand you this document, which says you are no more a criminal before the law, but that you have your pardon, and you can live the life of an honorable citizen, by continuing to walk in the ways of God.’ After speaking so, the gentlemen put one hundred dollars in my hands, and added: ‘Go and be a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus, and God Almighty will bless you and make you prosper in all your ways.’ All this seemed to me as a dream or vision from heaven. I would hardly believe my ears and my eyes. But it was not a dream, it was a reality. My merciful Heavenly Father had again heard my humble supplications; after having taken away the heavy chains of my sins, He had mercifully taken away the chains which wounded my feet and my hands. I spent several days and nights in weeping and crying for joy, and in blessing the God of my salvation, Jesus the redeemer of my soul and my body.
“Some years after that, we heard of the discoveries of the rich gold mines in several parts of Australia.
“After having prayed God to guide me, I bought a bag of hard crackers, a ham and cheese, and started for the mines in company with several who were going, like myself, in search of gold. But I soon preferred to be alone. For I wanted to pray and to be united to my God, even when walking. After a long march, I reached a beautiful spot, between three small hills, at the foot of which a little brook was running down toward the plain below. The sun was scorching, there was no shade, and I was much tired, I sat on a flat stone to take my dinner, and quenched my thirst with the water of the brook. I was eating and blessing my God at the same time for His mercies, when suddenly my eyes fell on a stone by the brook, which was about the size of a goose egg. But the rays of the sun were dancing on the stone, as if it had been a mirror. I went and picked it up. The stone was almost all gold of the purest kind! It was almost enough to make me rich. I knelt to thank and bless God for this new token of his mercy toward me, and I began to look around to see if I could not find some new pieces of the precious metal, and you may imagine my joy, when I found that the ground was not only literally covered with pieces of gold of every size, from half an inch to the smallest dimensions, but that the very sand, in great part, was composed of gold. In a very short time, it was the will of God that I could carry to the bank particles of gold to the value of several thousand pounds. I continued to cover myself with rags and have old boots on, in order not to excite the suspicion of any one on the fortune which I was accumulating so rapidly. When I had about £80,000 deposited in the banks, a gentleman offered me £80,000 more for my claim, and I sold it. The money was invested by me on a piece of land which soon became the site of an important city, and I soon became one of the wealthy men of Australia. I then began to study hard and improve the little education I had received in Canada. I married, and my God has made me father of several children. The people where I settled with my fortune and wife, not knowing my antecedents, have raised me to the first dignities of the place. Please, dear Mr. Chiniquy, come and take dinner with me, to-morrow, that I may show you my house and some of my other properties, and also that I may introduce you to my wife and children. But let me ask the favor not to make them suspect that you have known me in Canada, for they think I am an European.” When telling me his marvellous adventures, which I am obliged to condense and abridge, his voice was, many times, choked by his emotion his tears and his sobs, and more than once he had to stop. As for me, I was absolutely beside myself with admiration at the mysterious ways through which God leads his elect, in all ages. Now, I understand why my God had given me such a marvellous power over the governor of Canada, when I wrenched your pardon from his hands almost in spite of himself, I said: “That merciful God wanted to save you, and you are saved! May his name be forever blessed.”
The next day, it was my privilege to be with his family, at dinner. And never have I seen a more happy mother, and a more interesting family. The long table was actually surrounded by them. After dinner, he showed me his beautiful garden and his rich palace, after which, throwing himself into my arms, he said: “Dear Father Chiniquy, all those things belong to you. It is to you, after God, that I owe my life, all the blessings of a large and Christian family, and the honor of the high position I have in this country. May the God of Heaven for ever bless you for what you have done for me.” I answered him: “Dear friend, you owe me nothing, I have been nothing but a feeble instrument of the mercies of God toward you. To that great and merciful God alone be the praise and the glory. Please ask your family to come here and join with us in singing to the praise of God the 103d Psalm.” And we sang together: “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me praise His holy name.
“He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.”