Ten persons were, in consequence, selected to assist the chairman. The preliminary arrangements were thereupon completed.

Mr. Chiniquy then rose and spoke, as follows:

Mr. Chairman - This is an event which you have long desired in this parish -- a circumstance for which I, too, have offered up my most fervent prayers. Certain men have come here proclaiming that we are idolaters; that our religion is nothing but a mass of error. They state publicly that Catholic priests are nothing but false prophets who deceive the people. And one of these men is today amongst us to prove, so he says, all these assertions. Well, I am glad to meet him. With God's grace, nothing will be easier for me than to confound him, and to show on which side are the false prophets, ignorance and falsehood.

But before entering into the discussion, I have one proposition to make to you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Roussy and I have agreed to abide by your decisions on questions of form that may arise between us; therefore in regard to the proposition I am about to submit to you, I wish to abide by your decision. Out of respect for this large gathering, it seems to me but right that Mr. Roussy and myself should both inform you who we are, where we come from, and in what degree we deserve the respect and attention of those before whom we have the honor of speaking.

MR. ROUSSY (rising hastily): Mr. Chairman, I protest against Mr. Chiniquy's proposition. Before coming here, I agreed with this gentleman that during our discussion, there should be no personal questions raised between us, and Mr. Chiniquy cannot make this proposition without violating his word of honor which he has pledged to me.

MR. CHINIQUY: Mr. Chairman, it is certain that Mr. Roussy did not understand me, if he believed that the arrangement made between him and myself, in your presence, as well as in the presence of more than fifty witnesses this morning, deprives me of the right of politely asking him who he is, where he comes from, to what religion he belongs, and who has authorized him to preach. Europe is casting every day thousands of strangers on our shores. Amongst these emigrants, there are some who come here with a character not only equivocal but entirely lost; in a word, there are some who arrive, after having a thousand times deserved the rigors of the law.

I do not mean to say that Mr. Roussy should necessarily be of this number. No, certainly not, but it seems to me, that we, Canadians, would deserve the contempt that many Europeans have for us, if we should be forever ready to bestow our respect on the first adventurer who, decked out with a title, taken I don't know where, comes posing as an apostle of a new religion.

MR. ROUSSY (taking up his cap and overcoat): I am going; this is a carefully prepared trap for me. Mr. Chiniquy violates the word of honor which he has given me, and he insults me by giving it to be understood that I am an unprincipled adventurer.

MR.CHINIQUY: Mr. Roussy is strangely mistaken, if he believes that I wish to insult him. I had not the faintest idea of doing so � but it seems to me that every man who respects himself has a right to know to whom he speaks, with what kind of man he argues. It is to enable me to fulfill the promise that I have made, to avoid all personalities during the discussion, that I ask Mr. Roussy at the present time: who he is, where he comes from, to what religion he belongs; who has given him a mission to preach and explain the Gospel; or by what right he poses as an apostle amongst us, if no one has given him the power to preach. The discussion is not yet commenced. The proposition that I make is not, then in violation of the word of honor I have pledged � not to bring in questions of personality during the discussion.

When Mr. Roussy asked to name a chairman, assisted by ten other persons, to decide personal or formal questions which might arise between us two, he supposed necessarily that during the discussion, some such questions were likely to crop up. The surprise which this gentleman pretends to manifest, appears to me to be nothing but a miserable pretext to escape us and back out of a discussion in which he has more than one reason to fear that the advantage will not be on his side. Besides, Mr. Chairman, it is neither Mr. Roussy nor myself, but you and you alone, who ought to decide this question; and Mr. Roussy is bound to abide by your judgment, if he has any respect for the word of honor which he gave to submit to your decision.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Roussy, it seems to me that the request of Mr. Chiniquy is fair. A man of honor ought never to be afraid or ashamed to declare what claim he has to the respect and consideration of those before whom he appears, particularly for the first time. Although we wish to suppose that you are a gentleman, the greater number of those who form this assembly, and myself in particular, would like to know, for certain, who you are, where you come from, and from whom you hold the mission to preach the Gospel.

These words were heartily applauded by the entire audience. Mr. Chiniquy then arose and handed the Secretaries the following document, saying:

"This, Mr. Chairman, will tell you who I am:

"IGNATIUS BOURGET, by the mercy of God and the grace of the Holy Apostolic See, the Bishop of Ville Marie (Montreal). We certify and we wish to make known to all those who may read this letter, that the Reverend Charles Chiniquy, Priest, Apostle of Temperance, of our Diocese, is well known to us, and that, after diligent examination, we declare that he leads a life worthy of the Ecclesiastical state, and that he is not, to our knowledge, bound by any Ecclesiastical censure. For these reasons we pray by the mercy of God, all the Archbishops, Bishops, or other Ecclesiastical dignitaries upon whom he may call to receive him well, for the love of Jesus Christ and in case he should desire it, to permit him to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice and to exercise other Ecclesiastical functions declaring that we are, Ourselves, ready to confer upon him these privileges, and others even greater.

In faith of which, we have given the present letter under our hand and seal and the countersign of our Secretary, in our Episcopal city and place, the 6th of June, 1850.

� IGNATIUS, Bishop of Montreal
J.O. PARE, Chancellery Sec."

MR. CHINIQUY: Mr. Chairman, I have just shown you who I am. Let Mr. Roussy do as much; let him tell us what kind of a character he had on leaving Europe; let him tell us by what authority he preaches the Gospel; to what religion he belongs; yes, let him have the condescension to inform us if he belongs to the Episcopal Church of England or the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, or whether he is a Methodist, Juniper or Mormon. These are certainly things it is important we should know, and which we have a right to ask from a wise man who poses as a prophet amongst us.

MR. ROUSSY (rising hastily and taking his overcoat to leave): I cannot consent to remain here any longer. I refuse to give the explanations that Mr. Chiniquy demands, for I would not have come here to meet him, if I had believed he would try to deprive me of my character of a gentleman and a minister of the Gospel. I consider his request a downright insult. If I were not a minister of the Gospel, His Excellency the Governor would not have given me diplomas to bury the dead, to marry and to keep a register of such events.

MR. CHINIQUY: Really, Mr. Chairman, a singular manner to prove that one is a minister of the Gospel. Mr. Roussy assures us that the Governor has given him permission to bury, to marry and to keep a register of such events! To speak to us of a diploma from the Governor, in order to prove that one is a minister of the Gospel, is the most ridiculous and absurd thing, Mr. Chairman, that you and this respectable assembly have ever heard of. A governor may certainly name a justice of the peace, a captain of the militia, a civil magistrate, but he cannot go any further.

When Mr. Roussy assures us that he expected to be treated by me as a true minister of the Gospel, he was laboring under a great delusion. Strangers arriving in this country must take us, doubtless, for imbeciles, when they believe that on their simple word, we are going to give them the titles, the confidence and the respect that they demand -- that we are going, in a word, to bow humbly before their ipse dixit. If Mr. Roussy has, up to this moment met people who were good enough to act in this manner in regard to him, he is greatly mistaken, I can assure him, if he believes that you, Mr. Chairman, and this respectable assembly, are ready to look upon him as a true and worthy minister of the Gospel, before he has given us his credentials. As regards myself, this morning, before more than fifty men, I did something which should have opened Mr. Roussy's eyes, as to what I thought about him. You were present Mr. Chairman, and the circumstance did not, I am certain, escape your notice. I shook hands with everybody except Mr. Roussy.

Mr. Roussy is the first man whom, I believed it my duty, to treat in such a manner. I am only waiting to shake hands with him, but first let him prove to us that his titles are not a usurpation. I shall be pleased and happy to give him my hand at that moment. But to enable me to do so he must show us that he is not imposing on us when he announces himself as a new apostle and a successor of those to whom Jesus Christ has said: "Go teach all nations; I am with you all days even to the end of the world."

MR. ROUSSY (wishing to leave): Mr. Chiniquy insults me, and I will not hold a discussion with the gentleman unless he makes me an apology.

MR. CHINIQUY: Mr. Chairman, if it be an insult to ask a person to whom one has never spoken, whom one has never seen before, and who comes, God knows from where; "Who are you sir? where do you come from? and what do you want?" If it be an insult to ask such questions, I am ready to make every apology (smiling). Yes, I am ready even to throw myself on my knees before Mr. Roussy to beg his pardon if you deem it right. But it seems to me that it is not I who insult Mr. Roussy; it is he who insults us when he tells me, that we have not the right in Canada to demand of the foreigners that Europe is constantly casting upon our shores, "who are you? where do you come from? and what do you want?" Especially when these foreigners pose in our presence as ambassadors of Christ upon earth. Decide, Mr. Chairman. Is it an insult to a man who comes in the name of God, asking us to change our religion; who comes preaching to us a new doctrine; and who announces himself as a minister from heaven, to say to him: "Who are you, and who has given you a mission to preach the Gospel? What proof have you to give us that you know how to interpret the Sacred Scriptures better than the Catholic Church? Prove to us that the Holy Spirit enlightens you more, you alone, than He enlightens the two hundred millions of Catholics who people the world."

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Roussy, I do not think that Mr. Chiniquy insults you in asking who you are and who has given you a mission to preach.

Mr. Roussy, being still anxious to leave, Mr. Chiniquy thereupon demanded of the ten gentlemen named to assist the Chairman with their advice: Decide, gentlemen, if it be an insult to ask a stranger who he is, where he comes from, and, what he wants. I appeal to your honor and your good sense. If you decide that it is an insult I am ready to do whatever you deem right to repair it. I am determined, however, that Mr. Roussy shall not escape us. For a long time, I have desired to show this good parish the ignorance of all these makers of new religions, and this opportunity is too fine a one to let slip. I wish therefore to do all in my power to force Mr. Roussy to argue before you. But as I think Mr. Roussy will never consent, for good reasons of his own, to show us what titles he has to our respect as a minister of the Gospel, I withdraw my motion. And without knowing what kind of man I have to deal with, I consent to discuss with him.

Mr. Roussy wished to leave at once, but was stopped, in order that the ten judges named at this gentleman's express wish should give a decision.

Upon which one of the ten, a Protestant named Auger, on behalf of all, said: "Mr. Roussy, as Mr. Chiniquy declares he had no intention of insulting you, in asking you who you are, you ought to accept his explanation. The more so as the gentleman declares himself ready to offer you any kind of apology that we may deem proper to demand of him. Besides as Mr. Chiniquy withdraws his motion and consents to discuss with you without knowing who you are, you cannot under the circumstances honorably refuse the discussion."

This decision elicited great applause, and Mr. Roussy resumed his seat.

MR. CHINIQUY: Mr. Chairman, I would have liked to have known with whom I was going to enter this discussion, and it still seems to me that we have the right to know, but since this knowledge is denied us, let us open the discussion without any further delay. Mr. Roussy travels through the country telling us that the Bible, and the Bible alone, interpreted by each individual, ought to be the sole rule of our faith. He asserts that the Bible is the only authority that can possibly be our guide in the darkest hours of life. He has said that we ought to reject everything which is not proved by a clear text from the Bible. He says that we ought not to take any notice of the Holy Traditions, nor of the authority of the Church. Well, Mr. Chairman, I defy Mr. Roussy to prove these assertions, and I bind myself to demonstrate that each of these propositions is an absurdity.

MR. ROUSSY: Mr. Chairman � Nothing is easier for me to prove than that the Bible, and the Bible alone, and not tradition, is the rule for every man who desires to work out his salvation.

Moses says expressly in the book of Deuteronomy (Chap. 4: 2, 5): "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it."

This is very precise: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it." Is it not a fact, Mr. Chairman, that this passage is directly opposed to the doctrine of tradition?

In the book of Joshua (Chap. 1:7-8), God speaking to this leader of His people, says to Him: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses, My servant, commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein."

We also read the following words in the book of Nehemiah (Chap. 8: 2-3, 8): "And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning till mid-day, before the men and women, and all those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading."

The 119th Psalm, which is the longest as well as the most beautiful of all the Psalms, is nothing but a repetition of the great advantage of constant meditation on the law of the Lord.

What does God tell us by the voice of the Prophet Isaiah, if not to have His holy law constantly before our eyes and in our heart. These are the exact words of the holy Prophet (Chap. 8:19-20): "And when they shall say unto you, 'Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter'; should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them."

But let us leave the Old Testament and the prophets; we have seen that they are unanimous in inviting us to meditate upon and constantly study the law of the Lord. They do not speak in the manner of Tradition.

Let us come then to Our Lord Jesus Christ and to His Holy Gospel. We shall see that they are still more emphatic in urging us to study the law of the Lord, and to avoid the traditions of men.

In St. Matthew (Chap. 15:3), Jesus Christ answers the Pharisees: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" Is not the doctrine of Tradition condemned here by the mouth of Christ Himself?

In St. John (Chap. 5:39) does not our Lord positively say: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me."

And what can more positively show us the necessity and utility of reading and constantly meditating on the holy scriptures, than this text from the Acts of the Apostles (chap. 17:11-12): "These [Jews of Berea] were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks and of men, not a few."

You can see by all this what we ought to think of a church which deprives its followers of the holy scripture to amuse them with its traditions! And St. John in the Revelation (Chap. 22:18-19), does he not say that those are cursed by God who add to or take away one word of the book of this prophecy. Is not this a striking proof that God wishes us to be guided by nothing but the written words in His Holy Gospel, and that He has a horror for the traditions of men?

MR. CHINIQUY: Mr. Chairman � It was the custom of our dear old grandmothers to frighten little children by childish tales. It seems that it is also the custom amongst reformers of religion to imagine dark and dismal stories with which they horrify and amuse their dupes. Amongst these alarming histories, with which every echo from the so-called reformed countries resounds, the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most false, is without contradiction, the one with which Mr. Roussy has appeared engrossed during the reading of the long list of texts which we have just heard, I don't really know for what purpose. Mr. Roussy has so many times heard his old grandmother tell the story that we Catholics are the enemies of the word of God, and that we abhor the Holy Bible, that he firmly believes it. But in reality this is one of those ancient tales for which educated Protestants blush.

Who preserved intact the sacred trust of the Holy Scriptures during the fifteen hundred years preceding the appearance of the lewd apostates, Luther and Calvin, if it was not the Catholic Church? Before these two monsters of impurity had troubled the peace of the world, deceiving people by their sophisms and errors of every sort; before there was even one single Protestant in the world, the Catholic Church not only preserved the sacred writings as her most precious treasure, but she neglected no possible means of spreading their knowledge amongst all nations.

During the short space of time which had elapsed between the wonderful invention of printing and the day that Luther published his first Bible, from seventy-five to eighty editions of the Bible, translated into the different languages of Europe, and forming not less than two hundred thousand copies, had been circulated amongst the people, with the authorization, and often at the expense, of the Catholic ecclesiastical authorities. If the Church, during a few years, was obliged to put certain restrictions on the diffusion and reading of the Bible in modern languages, Protestants alone were the cause of it. These sects had so changed the text in their false translations; they had by their ignorance, or rather by the corruption of their minds and hearts so poisoned this source of life, that those coming to drink of it found in it the death rather than the life of their souls.

Europe was for some time inundated with bibles in which the true text, as acknowledged by well-educated Protestants, had disappeared to give place to the senseless and impious dreams of the sects. Then, but then alone, the Church, rightly fearing, or rather, seeing that those falsified bibles were being taken for the true word of God, put some restrictions for a time on the reading of the Bible in modern languages. She did then what wise and able physicians do in times of epidemics; they forbid us certain foods which are excellent in other times, but which become dangerous on account of the impure disposition of the air, or of our temperaments. But never has the Church shackled the diffusion of the Holy Bible in the Greek or Latin text. Now, at that time, nearly everybody who knew how to read at all understood Greek or Latin; for these two languages were then taught far more universally than they are today in all the principal schools of Europe. But the unhappy epoch when a deplorable epidemic forced the Church of Jesus Christ to take this extreme measure in order to prevent the contagion of evil attacking the very heart of the nations, was not of long duration. The devouring fever which Satan had, by the hands of Luther and Calvin, infused into the veins of Europe, had scarcely lost its intensity and contagion, when the Church once more invited her children to nourish their souls by the reading of the Holy Bible, and put it within the reach of all by the numerous authorized translations, which She recommended everywhere by the voice of Her chief pastor.

Certain Protestants still repeat that the Church forbids the reading of the Holy Bible by the people; this is a cowardly and absurd lie, and it is only the ignorant or the silly amongst Protestants, who at the present day believe this ancient fabrication of heresy; some unscrupulous ministers, however, are constantly bringing it up before the eyes of their dupes to impose upon them and to keep them in a holy horror of what they call Popery.

Let Protestants make the tour of Europe and America; let them go into the numerous Catholic book stores they will come across at every step; let them, for instance, go to Montreal, to Mr. Fabre's or to Mr. Sadlier's book stores; and everywhere they will find on their shelves thousands of Bibles in all modern languages, printed with the permission of the Ecclesiastical authorities.

I hold in my hand a New Testament, printed less than five years ago, at Quebec. On the first page I read the following approbation of the Archbishop of Quebec:

"We approve and recommend to the faithful of our Diocese this translation of the New Testament, with commentaries on the text and notes at the foot of the pages.

� JOSEPH, Archbishop of Quebec."

Every one of those Catholic Bibles, to be found on sale at every bookseller in Europe or America in like manner bears irrefutable witness to the fact that Protestantism is fed on lies, when day by day it listens with complacency to its ministers and its newspapers, telling it in various strains, that we Catholics are the enemies of the Bible.

Mr. Roussy has told us that the reading of the Bible was the sole means employed by Christ and His Apostles for the conversion of the world. Mr. Roussy obtains, probably, as all Protestants do, this new idea from his good old grandmother. But, Mr. Chairman, you must see that never has a greater absurdity issued from the mouth of man. It is incredible that men, who are continually talking to us of Bibles and Bibles, do not know that Jesus Christ has said to His Apostles: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (St. Mark, Chapt. 16:15-16). And in St. Matthew (Chap. 28:18-20) Jesus, speaking to his eleven disciples, says to them: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world."

It is not, we see, a book that the Apostles are charged to write, to be read to the people to the end of the world. But their mission is to take the form of verbal preaching, in which mission the Divine Saviour promises to assist and guide them, not during thirty, forty or sixty years, but to the end of the world. It is by the preaching of the Apostles to the people, and not merely by the reading of the Gospel by the people that Jesus Christ wishes men to be enlightened and saved, to the end of the world. And this is why the Catholic priesthood, sole possessors of the mission given to the first Apostles, teaches, preaches and explains the Gospel to the people.

Jesus Christ has not said: "He that does not read the Gospel shall be condemned." That is an absurdity and a falsehood: which can have only issued from Hell itself; but Jesus Christ has said to his Apostles for all time: "Preach the Gospel; teach all nations; I shall be with you; he that heareth you, heareth Me; He that despiseth you, despiseth Me; he that believeth on your preaching shall be saved, he that does not believeth it shall be lost." Jesus Christ has not said: "If you do not read the Bible you shall be regarded as the heathen and the publican", but He has said: "If you do not hear the Church you shall be as the heathen and the publican" (St. Matthew, 18:17).

It is then a Church that Jesus Christ came on earth to found, not a book that he came to have written and read. The Gospel is the property of the Church, it is one of its sacred trusts; it is one of its greatest treasures. She it is who is charged to preserve it and to explain its pages to the people. For it is to her alone and not to each individual that the promise was made and the mission given.

To say that Jesus Christ and his Apostles wished the nations to be converted by reading the Bible, interpreted by each individual, is so great an absurdity that I have the greatest difficulty in conceiving how a self-respecting man can possibly allow it to fall from his lips.

Everybody knows that before the invention of printing, books were just as scarce and expensive, as they are nowadays common and cheap. For 1400 years after Jesus Christ, every word had to be written by hand. Now to write out a whole Bible would require a great deal of time. Amongst many nations, almost constantly at war, very few persons knew how to write.

History records the names of even several powerful kings, who did not know how to sign their names. To have so large a book written, therefore, it was necessary to have an enormous sum of money. It was therefore absolutely impossible for the great majority of Christians for the space of 1400 years to either own Bibles or to read them. We also learn from history that previous to the invention of printing it was the custom for people to tax themselves in order to obtain a Bible, which was then deposited in the Church, where the priest would read some part of it every Sunday, and explain it to the people.

It was not by the reading of the Bible, but by the preaching of Apostles, commissioned by the Church of Jesus Christ that the French, the English, the Germans, the Spanish, the Irish, the Greeks, the Romans, and all other nations were converted to Christianity; for amongst these different nations very few persons knew how to read, and a very much smaller number, indeed, had the means with which to procure a Bible. Let Mr. Roussy deny these facts, if he dares.

Well, since it is admitted as an ascertained fact that it was the will of Jesus Christ that His Church should march on to the conquest of souls by means of preaching for 1500 years, it devolves on Mr. Roussy to show us a single text in his Bible, which informs us that Jesus Christ decided that the reading of the Bible by each individual, should, at any period whatever during the life of the Church, take the place of this preaching.

It is clear that if Mr. Roussy's system were based on the truth, Jesus Christ would have commanded his Apostles not to preach the Gospel till the end of the world, but to teach the nations how to read and to give them Bibles. And instead of Apostles, it would have been school-masters that he would have promised and sent to the nations sitting in the darkness of the shadow of death.

Mr. Roussy tells us that Our Lord was opposed to the false traditions of men, but is the Church less opposed to these false human traditions, or does she condemn them less than Her Lord and Master did? When Mr. Roussy says, all that is necessary to be believed and practiced is written in the Gospel, and that it is not necessary to believe in those truths taught by tradition; when, in a word, Mr. Roussy says the Catholic dogma of Tradition is not to be found in Holy Scripture, he simply shows either his bad faith or his ignorance.

Here is a Bible which comes from Mr. Roussy himself. Well, in the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, listen to what the Holy Apostle writes (Chap. 2:15): "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold to the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle." Here St. Paul tells us that what comes to us by means of the unwritten word, that is to say, by tradition, has the same authority as what he wrote in his epistle. Is it not, then, something more than effrontery on Mr. Roussy's part to dare to tell us to our face that Tradition is not spoken of in the Holy Scriptures?

Again, in Chapter 3, verse 6, of the same Epistle, St. Paul says: "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us."

In the second Epistle to St. Timothy (Chap. 2: 1-2), St. Paul contradicts, in advance, the absurd assertion of Mr. Roussy which maintains that all the truths and doctrines of Jesus Christ are written, and that there are none which reach us by tradition. His words are clear and precise: "Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."

Really, Mr. Chairman, when Mr. Roussy told us that everything was written in the sacred books, and that they have nothing to say about tradition, he had either lost his memory or supposed us so ignorant as to be incapable of reading the Epistles of St. Paul. Mr. Roussy has been truly unhappy in the choice he has made of his texts, for the purpose of proving that each individual is obliged to read Sacred Scripture, and has a right to interpret it in his own way.

He has cited the text in which Moses directs that we should observe the law of God. And that is precisely what we wish all to do. Yes, would that all the world meditated on the law of God. Now one of His laws, one of His Commandments, the most absolute is this: "Hear the Church, and he that will not hear the Church must be regarded as a heathen and a publican" (Matt. 18:17).

He next cited Joshua. Now, Joshua was the leader, the great chieftain of his people; he was a man visibly chosen and inspired by God to conduct his brethren into the promised land; nothing could be more natural than the obligation that he should read and meditate on the Sacred Writings, in order to instruct himself and teach others. And exactly in the same manner the Catholic Church obliges all those whom God has chosen as leaders of His people. She commands them to study and to frequently read the Sacred Scriptures.

The good Mr. Roussy has cited against us the Book of Nehemiah; but I believe it must have been absence of mind on his part. For the text which he has quoted proves exactly the opposite of what he had promised us.

Mr. Roussy had promised us, you all know, to show that each individual person ought to have his Bible and read it for himself. To do so, he quotes a text which informs us that not one single man or woman had a Bible, except the priests. "And Ezra the priest brought the law .... and he read therein before all people."

You see, Mr.Chairman, that this Ezra was no better than a Popish priest. Instead of distributing Bibles around by thousands to everybody, as does the cheeky Mr. Roussy, he keeps the sacred volume in his own hands, and contents himself with reading and explaining it to the people, exactly as Mr. Girouard, your pastor, does every Sunday.

As to the extract from Isaiah; it proves that there is something else besides the written law, for God wishes that we should observe the testimony as well.

Our Lord advises the unbelieving Jews to search the Scriptures; but He certainly did not mean this as the only -- or even as the best means of knowing Him, for these Jews would have done better according to Jesus Christ Himself, to have believed His word and his works (John, 5: 24, 36, 38).

The reading of the Bible, wrongly interpreted, was perdition to the Jews, as it is to the Protestants of today. It was with the Bible in hand, that these Jews declared that Jesus Christ was an impostor, and according to the law, he ought to be crucified (John 19:7).

But, Mr. Chairman, I wish to refute Mr. Roussy of his own mouth, and by his own word, prove to him that he is astray and misleads others, when he tells them that in questions of religion they should only admit such doctrines as can be proved by a precise text from the Bible. I wish to make him admit the absolute necessity of having recourse to tradition, and even an infallible tradition, under pain of not being a Christian. I shall therefore request Mr. Roussy to reply to my questions. And you, gentlemen, the secretaries, please write down the gentleman's exact answers; and you my good friends (speaking to the people) listen with great attention to the avowals I am about to draw from him.

Since you say, Mr. Roussy, that we ought to admit nothing in religious matters, except what can be clearly proved by a text from the Bible, will you show us the text that proves that St. Mark wrote the Gospel, and that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost, when he wrote his Gospel?