Fifty Years in the Church of Rome

by Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy

THE HAND OF GOD IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY IN BEAUPORT AND VICINITY.

“My thoughts are not your thoughts,” saith the Lord. And, we may add, His works are not like the works of man. This great truth has never been better exemplified than in the marvellous rapidity with which the great temperance reformation grew in Canada, in spite of the most formidable obstacles. To praise any man for such work seems to me a kind of blasphemy, when it is so visibly the work of the Lord.

I had hardly finished reading the letter of Ireland’s Apostle of Temperance, when I fell on my knees and said: “Thou knowest, O my God, that I am nothing but a sinner. There is no light, no strength, in thy poor, unprofitable servant. Therefore come down into my heart and soul, to direct me in that temperance reform which thou hast put into my mind to establish. Without thee, I can do nothing, but with thee, I can do all things.”

This was on Saturday night, March 20th, 1839. The next morning was the first Sabbath of Lent. I said to the people after the sermon: “I have told you, many times, that I sincerely believe it is my mission from God to put an end to the unspeakable miseries and crimes engendered every day, here and in our whole country, by the use of intoxicating drinks. Alcohol is the greatest enemy of your souls and your bodies. It is the most implacable enemy of your husbands, your wives and your children. It is the most formidable enemy of our dear country and our holy religion. I must destroy that enemy. But I cannot fight alone. I must form an army and raise a banner in your midst, around which all the soldiers of the gospel will rally. Jesus Christ himself will be our general. He will bless and sanctify us—He will lead us to victory. The next three days will be consecrated by you and by me in preparing to raise that army. Let all those who wish to fill its ranks, come and pass these three days with me in prayer and meditation at the feet of our sacred altars. Let even those who do not want to be soldiers of Christ, or to fight the great and glorious battles which are to be fought, come, through curiosity, to see a most marvellous spectacle. I invite every one of you, in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom alcohol nails anew to the cross every day. I invite you in the name of the holy Virgin Mary, and of all the saints and angels of God, who are weeping in heaven for the crimes committed every day by the use of intoxicating drinks. I invite you in the names of the wives, whom I see here in your midst, weeping because they have drunkard husbands. I invite you to come in the names of the fathers whose hearts are broken by drunkard children. I invite you to come in the name of so many children who are starving, naked and made desolate by their drunkard parents. I invite you to come in the name of your immortal souls, which are to be eternally damned if the giant destroyer, Alcohol, be not driven from our midst.”

The next morning, at eight o’clock, my church was crammed by the people. My first address was at half-past eight o’clock, the second at 10.30 A. M., the third at 2 P. M., and the fourth at five. The intervals between the addresses were filled by beautiful hymns selected for the occasion.

Many times during my discourse, the sobs and the cries of the people were such that I had to stop speaking, to mix my sobs and my tears with those of my people. The first day seventy-five men, from among the most desperate drunkards, enrolled themselves under the banner of Temperance. The second day I gave again four addresses, the effects of which were still more blessed in their result. Two hundred of my dear parishioners were enrolled in the grand army which was to fight against their implacable enemy.

But it would require the hand of an angel to write the history of the third day, at the end of which, in the midst of tears, sobs, and cries of joy, three hundred more of that noble people swore, in the presence of their God, never to touch, taste, nor handle the cursed drinks with which Satan inundates the earth with desolation, and fills hell with eternal cries of despair.

During these three days, more than two-thirds of my people had publicly taken the pledge of temperance, and had solemnly said, in the presence of God, at the feet of their altars, “For the love of Jesus Christ, and by the grace of God, I promise that I will never take any intoxicating drink, except as a medicine. I also pledge myself to do all in my power, by my words and example, to persuade others to make the same sacrifice.”

The majority of my people, among whom we counted the most degraded drunkards, were changed and reformed, not by me surely, but by the visible, direct work of the great and merciful God, who alone can change the heart of man.

As a great number of people from the surrounding parishes, and even from Quebec, had come to hear me the third day, through curiosity, the news of that marvellous work spread very quickly throughout the whole country. The press, both French and English, were unanimous in their praises and felicitations. But when the Protestants of Quebec were blessing God for that reform, the French Canadians, at the example of their priests, denounced me as a fool and heretic.