To some, who said they could not read, he said, "You can; you must learn to read and study the Bible." Among the comers was the Hoja-bashi (head man) of the 1200 Armenians of the village, who promised to begin and learn; another promising to give him a daily lesson. He is notorious for drunkenness, profanity, and licentiousness, and the people were much pleased by his promise. One of them asked him, "Have you listened to those who reprove you for your wickedness?" "No," said he, "neither should you listen to those who deride and call you a 'prote' because you learn to read."

We were early aroused to admit a number of men who remained till we left, and most of whom had considerable knowledge of the truth, and listened with great interest to our exhortations. Passing through three Armenian villages, and in each conversing with those whom we met, we reached

HOOELI,

our next out-station, where the priests succeeded in keeping the people away from us. Hohannes, our native helper, has been visiting the surrounding villages, and we were exceedingly gratified at his report of Garmeuri, a village three miles distant, where he spent a day reading and conversing with the people in the streets; and where he sold fourteen volumes of the Scriptures or parts of them. My wish was to visit Choonkoosh, our most southern outstation, but finding the mountains impassable from snow, we turned on the plain at the foot of the range. On our right rose the mountains, white with snow from their summit nearly to their base, while on our left the plain was covered, as far as the eye could reach, with hundreds of men and women, some ploughing, some harrowing, and some sowing seed. Upon the road an incident occurred showing how the truth is spreading in villages yet unvisited by us. A horseman from Ghenefik, near which is a monastery, told me that during the winter the building had suffered such injury that the Vartabed had left it, and gone to a neighbouring village. Asking him when they would repair it, he in return asked, where will they get the money? The people will give it," I replied. "Oh, no,' "said he, "they know better." "From whom?" said I. "From you," was his answer. Yet that man could not read, nor had we before seen him or visited his village.

Arriving at Ichmeh at evening, I preached to an attentive audience of twelve persons, and leaving the next morning, reached

PALU,

at 3 P.M. As we rode through the market - place, the looks, words, and actions of the people showed that a change had taken place since our visit some months ago. Some Armenians, glaring at us like hungry wolves, refused to return our salutations; others returned them surlily; while here and there a Turk exclaimed, "The destroyers of our faith have come!" A few Armenians rose, and cheerfully returned our salutations. As we approached our chapel, several boys from our school came running to us with joyful faces, exclaiming, "The Badvelly is come!" A few men came immediately to bid us welcome-one, a merchant, instead of the usual welcome, exclaimed, "I don't know anything." Pointing to the Bible, I replied, "With that book in your hand, it is your own fault if you remain ignorant." "But I can't read it," said he. "You must learn," I replied. "Buy an ABC book, and I will give you the first five lessons in as many minutes." "No," he was too old to learn. But after half-an-hour's conversation, he said, "Give me a book, and I'll try to learn." He took it and paid for it, and in two-and-a-half minutes had learned six letters. The next day, which was the Sabbath, he requested me to give him another lesson, saying, jestingly, that he had forgotten his letters. "Oh, that we had been born later, and were now but boys!" said he. I read him the parable of the householder hiring labourers, and told him that, if faithful, though called at the eleventh hour, he might expect his reward. His wife also wishes to learn to read, and, if she does so, will be the first woman in the city who has ever learned to read.

Sabbath forenoon, fifty persons were present in the chapel, and listened with apparent interest to a sermon from the text, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate," &c. This was indeed remarkable in a city where, three months ago, during a stay of several days, fourteen men, and some only by night, dared to visit our chapel.

One feature here grieved me, and that was the prevalence of discussions, often angry and violent, upon the doctrines and ceremonies of the Armenian Church. These discussions were raging in the houses,

streets, and churches; and one cause of joy to the Bible readers on my coming, was the hope to find me their champion in debate. They were somewhat disheartened by my telling them that during my stay here I had not engaged once in discussion with the enemies of truth, nor did I intend to, as my first object was to persuade men to "search the Scriptures" because "they testify of Christ." At the end of the afternoon service, at which twenty were present, we went to one of the churches, where portions of a book lately published against the Protestants were to be read; but, though it had been commenced on a previous Sabbath, it was previous Sabbath, it was omitted, perhaps because of my presence. At the close of the service, we were informed that a teacher, with some of his friends, would call in the evening to discuss the question of the "real presence." He came, with ten or twelve excited men, eager to begin at once upon debate. I, however, reminded them that it was the hour for our evening service, and that, in the place of discussion about our Saviour's body, we must unite in prayer, and hear His teachings. We then spent an hour in religious exercises, and explaining the fifteenth chapter of Luke. They listened with patience, and when, at the close, liberty was given, the teacher, who, with his attendants, were evidently cooled by an hour's delay, inquired whether in the communion we really eat the body and drink the blood of Christ or not? To this I replied by reading several appropriate passages of Scripture, and explaining briefly our belief, and closed by telling him that discussion would benefit neither him nor us; and it was far more important to inquire whether we were the disciples of Christ. Mardiros, our native preacher at Kharpoot, arrived at Palu on Monday. Immediately he was surrounded by these "defenders of the faith," who promptly told him of my mistake in not answering the "fools according to their folly;" charitably attributing my forbearance to ignorance of the language, which prevented my understanding the foolish and wicked things that had been said. I was glad to hear him as promptly and kindly urging them to let alone discussion, and first decide the question of their own salvation.

HABOOSI.

On Tuesday we visited Haboosi; among those who visited us were two young men who were very anxious to come to Kharpoot and study, that they may labour for the spread of the Gospel. To one we gave the

privilege of attending one of the schools if he could support himself. His relatives are exceedingly bitter against him, and threatened to give his wife to another man if he came; and yet he did so, and is supporting himself by such work as he can find and devoting the rest of his time to study. The other young man is a son of the head priest of the village, about twenty-two years old, and also has a wife. For a year and a half he has suffered much persecution from his father and others, for his love of the Gospel. The determined efforts of his friends have generally succeeded in keeping him away from us, though Bedros, our helper, has frequently conversed with him. He desired to come and study; but as we are very cautious about receiving men, we have delayed permission till we could converse with him. Escaping from his keepers, he came, and we had a long conversation; in which I set before him the difficulties in his way. He must forsake father and mother-must study hard-and must support himself upon a very small sum-(we give such prospective helpers about three shillings per week for their support); and if ever he should be accepted as a helper, he must expect no honour, and but small pay in this world. To this he replied, "No matter, since it is for Christ's sake." Satisfied of his sincerity, I gave him leave to come, and remain as long as we should think best. The next day he came, having been twice beaten by his father, and once by an elder brother, to dissuade him from his purpose. His mother followed him to the city, and spent the whole night in the vain endeavour, by threats, promises, tears, and entreaties, to induce him to return. A few days afterwards she came again, accompanied by her husband, another priest, and four men from their village, hoping to intimidate him. Failing in this, they again resorted to tears and entreaties, begging him not to break their hearts, and offering, if he would return, to buy for him whatever books he might wish. To this he replied by appropriate quotations from Scripture. mother then took from her purse a large gold coin, and offering it to Mardiros, our native preacher, said, "Oh, sell me my son!" When he told her that her son was perfectly free to go or stay as he pleased, she begged Mardiros to persuade him to return, if only for two days, that they might not have the disgrace of coming so far in vain. Meanwhile the father came to me, begging that I would send his son home for a short

The

W. WHEELER, Missionary. Turkish Missions Aid,

At a time when the Church of Rome is putting forth all her power to enlarge her borders, it is well to know that, as of old, she often overreaches herself, and that to attempt fairly to combat with truth and right is but to ensure her defeat. Father Chiniquy is a talented and popular Roman Catholic priest, who, fourteen years ago, was the Father Mathew of Lower Canada; by his eloquent appeals he induced thousands to abandon habits which were fast leading them to ruin. It is now eight years since he went to Illinois and became the founder of a French-Canadian Colony at St. Ann's, there called Bombonnais, about sixty miles from Chicago. He built a church, a parsonage, a school-house, and invited his Lower Canadian friends to settle in his colony; numbers of them did so, and for a time all things seemed to go on well.

The Bishop of Chicago had dismissed a priest from his charge, much to the grief of the people, and without their being able to tell the reason why. It soon transpired that the church in which this priest officiated, which had been erected by the money and at the cost of many sacrifices by the French-Canadian population, was, with its dependencies, leased to a congregation of a different nationality; when remonstrated with in a respectful manner and urged to reverse his decision, the Bishop replied, "You French Canadians do not know your religion. If you did know it you would not do what you are doing, for you would be aware that I have the right to do whatever I please with your church." Against this M. Chiniquy remonstrated, saying that there was no law of the Catholic Church which justified such conduct; to which the Bishop replied that that was the law of the Church, and if it were not, he would pass such a law on the spot.

To question the lawfulness of a Bishop's actions is treason in Rome, and will always be punished, if the criminal can be reached. Father Chiniquy was shortly after visited by the Bishop, when the following dialogue took place :

Bishop: "M. Chiniquy, whose house is this?"-Chiniquy: "It is mine, my lord." B.: "And whose premises are these?"C.: "They are mine."

B.: "How did you get them?"-C.: "I built them with my own money." B.: "Where did you get the money?"C.: "I got the money honestly." B.: 'You must give me your house."C.: "I will not."

B.: "You are not a good priest; and if you do not give me the property, I will silence you; I will excommunicate you according to the law of the Church."-C.: "Well, if you will show me that law, will give you the deed of my property."

I

B. "If there is not such a law, I will pass one."-C.: "My lord, I think you are too young and too small in the old Catholic Church to pass such a law."

Had Father Chiniquy been a less prominent man, he would have been more summarily dealt with; but, aware of the great influence he possessed with the people, attempts were made, by coaxing and threatening, to induce him to submit to the Bishop. In one of these, says Father Chiniquy, "the Bishop promised to make his peace with me, provided I would acknowledge that he had done right to take away the church of my countrymen, the house of their priest, and that I had done wrong to complain about the matter. This I could not do." At another time he told the Bishop he was ready to obey him according to the laws of God and the laws of the Gospel. But these were limits which Rome never yet allowed her votaries

The individual trained from earliest childhood to believe that salvation is to be found only within the pale of the Romish Church, feels bitter distress and some misgivings when for the first time he sees himself fairly outside the sacred enclosure. Father Chiniquy's trial was great in this respect. He went to the New Testament for relief, and when he read, "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (1 Cor. vii. 23), the impression upon his mind was greater than he could tell. He felt that he had been too long the servant of men, and would now be the servant of the Saviour. He immediately laid the position of matters before the people of St. Anne's, who fully sustained him, and five thousand of them immediately left the communion of the Church and put themselves under his teaching. Various efforts have been put forth to induce the people of St. Anne's to return to the bosom of the Church, which have had no other effect than showing them more plainly the intolerance, unreasonableness, oppression, and injustice of Popery; they look on it that ecclesiastical tyranny has found a grave there.

Meanwhile Father Chiniquy has become more decided in his advocacy of the truth of the Bible and the right of all to read it. In his address at Quebec, an account of which follows, he said: "Any one who would forbid them to read the Word of God was the enemy of the people, and wished to keep them in ignorance and degradation. Then to say that the Scriptures could not be understood by honest minds was dishonouring to God. . . Suppose that Jesus Christ himself was on earth and wished to speak to you, even as I do; what would be thought of my rushing in between you and saying to the Saviour, when wish

VOL. XIII.-JUNE.

TRANSLATION OF FATHER CHINIQUY'S
LETTER.

Montreal, March 5, 1859.
To my Fellow-countrymen of the district of
Quebec.

Brethren and Friends,-The events of the 14th February are of a nature so serious, and the enemies of light and truth in Quebec are so much interested in perverting it, that I consider myself obliged to relate them to you such as they are.

Nearly a year ago, above 500 of the most respectable citizens of the suburbs of St. Roch invited me to come and visit the numerous friends who desired to see me again and hear me once more. In consequence of this invitation I came to St. Roch, on the 10th February, at ten o'clock, A.M. My friends had prepared for me there a house in Couronne-street, at a short distance from the parish church.

Every one knows that the clergy, on the preceding Sabbath, had forbidden all the Roman Catholics of Quebec and suburbs of St. Roch, St. John, and St. Vaher, to hear me, to speak to me, or even to salute me. They proclaimed, in the name of the holy infallible Roman Church, that whoever would infringe these prohibitions would commit a mortal sin, would be destined to eternal fire, and would find themselves excommunicated, &c., &c. But what happened from these puerile menaces, from all these ridiculous thunderbolts, good only to hold the people in slavery and ignorance? Therefore the people of St. Roch laughed at them and despised them.

Scarcely had I arrived, when a multitude of every age and of all conditions gathered around my dwelling, shook hands with me, expressing the pleasure they felt at seeing me again. The large chamber where I received my friends could not for the first three days contain the multitude who wished to express their sympathy, and to give me the most manifest marks of approbation, on account of the resistance which we had made against episcopal tyranny in Illinois. The street opposite my dwelling-place was full from morning to night with the crowds of

T

persons who waited in the open air, and amid the cold of February, until their turn arrived to come into the house . . . and frequently I was obliged to open the windows and address some friendly words to these generous friends, to bless and thank them for having continued their esteem to the proscribed of Illinois.

On the 11th I delivered a public discourse in the large Assembly-room in St. Anne-street. A long time before the appointed hour most of the seats were filled, and a great number could not get into the hall, and though so crowded, many were obliged to go away disappointed.

This address received the most unequivocal marks of approbation. I announced a second lecture for Sunday, at two o'clock in the afternoon, and told them the subject would be "The Mission of Jesus Christ to the World."

As at first, the greater part of the disposable places of the Assembly-room were all occupied before the time, and a crowd as compact as it is possible to imagine, pressed in, and were almost stifled in the passages and seats, and a very great number of persons still remained.

During my discourse, when I quoted the memorable words of John, where he says that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, one of the people lifted up his voice to insult me. I expected this, for in the morning service the priests had delivered discourses very much fitted to excite the bad passions. They had poured out their tears of grief and holy anger over the terrible defection which they had witnessed and the public contempt into which their authority had evidently fallen. Many very respectable persons had warned me that the priests would put everything in a train to excite an emeute, and hinder me from being heard. This gross interruption did not, therefore, at all surprise me. The indignation against the author of it was general, and they drove him immediately from the hall. The mayor, having given his cordial approbation to the zeal of my friends, hastened thus to re-establish order and silence, united his prayer with that of the audience, and begged me to go on, in these noble words: "Continue, M. Chiniquy; your discourse contains only the truth. I will pour forth the last drop of my blood rather than permit liberty of speech to be destroyed in Quebec."

I then, in the midst of the most perfect calm, and most fixed attention, continued to unfold the sublime and con

soling truths on which I had proposed to speak.

...

During the remainder of the Sabbath the crowd pressed more compactly around me than ever. I gave the Gospel of John. Every one wished to take the Divine Book home with him. I distributed in a very short time all the New Testaments I had.

In the evening some of my friends came to say that the priests were going very much about. "They are furious at seeing the people desirous to read the Gospel, and that you are distributing to them this holy book. . . Their partisans diminish rapidly, but with the few who remain with them, they are decided to make a last effort to produce an emeute, in which you will lose your life or be forced to leave the city, also to prevent you from preaching again to-morrow (according to your promise) or as you have promised."

I replied to my friends: "My life is in the hand of God, and I shall be very happy to lose it in the cause which I defend. I fear nothing from the enemies of the Gospel. He who inspired me with the thought of coming here, to cast into the hearts of the people the seed of the Divine Word, can easily protect me."

Nevertheless, a handful of brave young men, well-armed, decided to be upon guard during the remainder of the night. The news of their generous resolution spread around, and the priests understood that they were not able to do any injury except by efforts above the courage of their partisans. To attack an adversary when surrounded by his friends ready to defend him, appears to them too bold, too rash, and they find it more prudent, surer, more romance (Roman) to wait until he was alone and without defence.

The following morning, at eight o'clock, my young friend said to me, "We are going to get our breakfast at home, and shall return to our post in half an hour." "That is right, my friends," I said to them;

besides, I do not see that there is any danger." They then left, and left me only with two persons, who had the goodness to offer themselves to render to me any little services I might find needful.

A spy was at the door, waiting the favourable moment to give the signal to his accomplices. Scarcely were my friends out of sight, when a whistle was given, and about fifty men gathered, without noise, before my door, and deputed to me three of the most infamous among them-worthy ambassadors of the priests-to command me