I answered: “How can you say that I deceived you? The document I presented you, is written in good, plain English. It is there, on your table, I see it: you read it twice, and understood it well. If you were deceived by its contents, you deceived yourself. You are, then, a self-deceiver and you cannot accuse me of having deceived you.”
He then took the document, read it slowly: and when at the words, “we submit ourselves to your authority, according to the Word of God as we find it in the Gospel of Christ,” he stopped and said: “What do you mean by this?”
I answered, “I mean what you see there. I mean that neither I nor my people will ever submit ourselves to anybody, except according to the eternal laws of truth, justice and holiness of God, as we find them expressed in the Bible.”
He angrily answered, “Such language on your part is sheer Protestantism. I cannot accept such a conditional submission from any priest.”
Then, again, I seemed to hear the mysterious voice, “Do you not see that in your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions of men?”
Thanks be to God, I did not silence that voice in that solemn hour.
An ardent, though silent prayer, went from the bottom of my heart to the mercy seat. With all the fervor of my soul I said: “Oh my God! speak, speak again to thy poor servant, and grant me the grace to follow thy Holy Word!” I then said to the bishop:
“You distress me by rejecting this act of submission, and asking another. Please explain yourself more clearly, and tell me the nature of the new one you require from me and my people.”
Taking then a more subdued and polite tone, the bishop said:
“I hope, Mr. Chiniquy, that, as a good priest, you do not want to rebel against your bishop, and that you will give me the act of submission I ask from you. Take away these ‘Words of God,’ ‘Gospel of Christ,’ and ‘Bible,’ from your present document, and I will be satisfied.”