WHAT WE OWE TO ROME. 15 completed, consisting of chapel, school-rooms, missionary's house, and depôt for books. When finished it will form a magnificent and central position from which to attack the strongholds of Papal superstition and false practice. Mr. Wall says respecting it, "On the very spot where tradition places the residence of Peter, and where probably Paul spent some part of his time in Rome, the chapel walls are rising fast. The impression this is producing on priests and citizens, and on the thousands of pilgrims who flock to that spot from all parts of the world, is very profound." But But the site of the chapel has associated with it some other points of interests that ought to be remembered. It is close to the magnificent church, St. Maria Maggiore, where, as a priest of the Roman Church, Signor Grassi took part in the gorgeous but deluding rites of the Papal system. It is also near his birthplace. But what invests the spot with greater interest still is that it is the site of the ancient palace of Pudens, who is referred to by Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy (c. iv., v. 21), and who, with Claudia, afterwards his wife, was a friend of the great apostle and Timothy. There, where the General Baptist chapel now stands, we may believe that Paul, and Timothy, and others of the apostle's companions, often visited and held high converse on the lofty themes of Christian truth with the noble Roman and his friends. this is not all. By uniting evidence furnished from several sources, it has been shown that both Pudens and Claudia were closely associated with Britain. Pudens' name occurs in an ancient Latin inscription found at Chichester, and still preserved in Goodwood Gardens. He was the friend of the reigning king of Sussex, an ally of Rome. Claudia was the daughter of this British king. There seems to be strong probability in the supposition that Claudia went to Rome as the protegé of Pomponia, the wife of the late commander in Britain; and from independent testimony it is known she was a Christian. Educated in Rome, Claudia became an accomplished lady, and not unlikely took the name of her patroness and friend, Rufina. Pudens returning to Rome received the honours he was ambitious to gain, and renewed his friendship with Claudia, whom he ultimately wedded. With this British princess and her Roman husband Paul was on terms of friendship, and no doubt often visited them in the palace which stood where now the chapel stands erected by British Baptists. The cost of the site and buildings in Rome will be about £3,000, and I learn on good authority that such is the position and increasing value of property in that part of the city, that the chapel and house will be worth £5,000. Money flows in from the churches and from individual subscribers: but the whole amount has not yet been realised. Shall we not all long to share in this work? All can do somethingthe young and the old, the rich and the poor. We must not let a heavy debt remain on the property-it will injure the work so long as it does. We have a noble missionary, we have a splendid block of buildings, we have a great opportunity to discharge some of the obligation under which, as a people, we are laid to Rome-shall we fail to do our part? There is everything to encourage us. The signs of the times are favourable. Bibles and tracts and gospels are being sold and circulated by the tens and hundreds of thousands. Brighter days are dawning for Rome and Italy under a Liberal Government and a declining Papacy. We have only to wait and work. I remember one morning when in the the country being deeply interested in watching the sun rise. It was a dark, gloomy dawn. Behind a thick wood in the east dense banks of cloud, black and threatening, were piled against the morning sky. These for a long time hid every sign of the rising sun. Slowly the light dawned, and the shades of night passed away; but the light was yet dim and the horizon misty. By and bye the crest of the mountain of cloud was tipped with golden light. Its glow deepened and spread. The cloudy bank broke and dissolved, and high up in the heavens the circle of the sun's fiery globe shone out, filling the great concave with light and glory, and chasing the mists and darkness from the earth before the brightness of his rising. So is it with Rome and Italy. The dawn comes slowly, but it comes surely. Already the dark clouds of Papal wrath, gloom, and despotism are tipped with the glory of approaching day. Signs are not wanting that the clouds of supersition and error, which so long have hidden the sun of life and glory, are breaking and dissolving before the growing light and power of the rising Lord of day; and soon will the voice be heard speaking to the long-benighted Italians, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. W. BISHOP. The Passing of the Years. I. THE OLD YEAR. PASSING is another year, Youth and manhood stricken down, Crimes of nations, races, men; Burdens heavy borne in youth, II. THE NEW YEAR. Old quarrels quickly, surely heal, From laws corrupt the nations free, Hail, new born year! the joy be thine R. SMITH. A Gossip about Belvoir Castle. BY REV. DR. BUCKLEY. THIS famous place is one of the grandest castles in the kingdom, and only inferior to Windsor Castle-the abode of royalty. It is a rich treat to go over it, and one feels in doing so that our country has a marvellous history. The original castle was built shortly after the Norman Conquest; and the builder, Robert de Todeni, was standard-bearer to William I. One of his descendants took a prominent part in the affairs of the realm in the reign of the contemptible King John. He was one of the barons that compelled the King to sign Magna Charta, and was very active in the hostilities that followed. In the civil wars the then noble owner of the old castle was on the side of the Parliament against Charles the First; and at the time of the glorious revolution John, the ninth Earl of Rutland, was among the first nobles who ranged themselves under the standard of William III. Honour, I say, to those who nobly maintained our liberty against the bigotry and tyranny of a popish king; for the spirit of the wicked system is well expressed in the text from which Matthew Henry preached his famous sermon, "Popery a Spiritual Tyranny," "They have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over"-Isaiah li. 23. The Dukedom dates, I may add, from 1703. The late Duke died nearly twenty years ago, at the ripe age of eighty. In the early part of the century he began to rebuild the castle on a scale of the utmost magnificence, and when fifteen years had been employed in the work, and it was rapidly approaching completion, a calamitous fire broke out by which a considerable part was consumed. On March 10, 1817, the work of rebuilding was recommenced, and the document prepared on the occasion expressed the "due sense of the divine goodness" which the Duke entertained, and the "proper gratitude for the mercy of God which he cherished. It appropriately ended with Psalm cxxvii. 1. He did not take a prominent part in politics. I do not remember his ever speaking in the House; but his votes were always given on the Tory side; and those who are old enough as I am, to remember the exciting days of the Reform Bill debates of 1831 and 1832, will not require to be told that he was at that time far enough from being a favourite with the people. He was much esteemed by his tenantry; and the deep affection with which he cherished the memory of the Duchess, with whom he lived for twenty-six years (Lady Elizabeth Howard, second daughter of the Earl of Carlisle), was in a high degree creditable to him. The present Duke, when Marquis of Granby, was a frequent speaker in the House of Commons on the Conservative side when the question of Free Trade versus Protection was discussed; but he rarely opens his mouth in the House of Peers. His brother, Lord John Manners, is one of Her Majesty's present ministers. Time does not admit of my describing the various works of art that the Castle contains, and the magnificence of the rooms in which kings and queens have reposed during their temporary stay. George IV., when Prince Regent, visited the Duke at the Castle; but the less said of him the better. Another royal visitor was Queen Adelaide; and thirty-three years ago the best of English Queens and her Consort, Albert the great and the good, visited Belvoir. I must not forget either a noble visitor of an earlier date, especially as no guide-book is likely to mention her honoured name. Lady Rachel Russell, of whom I wrote in my last paper, occasionally visited Belvoir, as her younger daughter, Catherine, was married to Lord Roos, eldest son of the then Earl of Rutland; and a few years later Lady Roos became Marchioness of Granby. It is said that the letter of thanks which her mother wrote to King William on occasion of this elevation was found in his pocket when dead. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp, and the honours showered on the bridal party in their journey and in their reception at Belvoir were such that it was described by an eye-witness as looking more like that of a king and queen travelling through their country, than that of a bride and bridegroom going home to their father's house." Lady Russell excused herself from joining in the wedding festivities, but shortly after visited her daughter; and writing from the Castle, expressed in the true spirit of a Christian mother her earnest desire for the everlasting welfare of her children. "Above all," she said, "my prayer is, that the end of their faith may be the salvation of their souls; that they may be endowed with such graces here as may fit them for the glories of the state hereafter." As an Indian visitor, I was struck on entering the Guard Room with a Sikh gun, presented to the late Duke by Lord Hardinge, when commander-in-chief; and remembered the anxiety felt by many devout minds in India at the time of that fearful struggle, especially after the details of the battle of Chillianwallah were published. The Garden had attractions on which I must not dwell; but there was much in the hot houses that reminded us of India. A visit to the Mausoleum suggested the prayer always seasonable-"Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am." The last time it was opened was in September, 1874, to receive the remains of Lord George Manners. And now in taking my leave of the grand old Castle one thing I must not forget. I was as much interested with the matchless scenery beheld from one of the terraces as with anything I saw; nay, much more than with the most admired productions of human genius. "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all." The eye never tires in beholding the variety, beauty, and grandeur of the works of God. Returning from Knipton, viâ Grantham, we were much interested to see the statue of Sir Isaac Newton, and the grammar school in which he was trained. The great philosopher never said a wiser and better thing than when at the close of life he compared himself to a child gathering pebbles on the ocean shore; he had gathered here and there one, but the great ocean lay before him undiscovered. Great knowledge is always united with great humility. It is only the shallow and superficial who fancy that they have mastered all difficulties and acquired all knowledge. If they knew a little more, they would have a profound sense of their ignorance. The Angel Inn was pointed out, where King John-the worst of English kings-is said to have dined; but I am ashamed to write about a sovereign who confessed on his knees that he had received his kingdom from the Pope. The Silent Deacon. [This paper is sent to us by one of our deacons with a request for its appearance in our Magazine. It is from an American paper, and has such sterling merit that we are sure our readers will be grateful to the friend who has sent it.] WHEN the next summer comes with its heat, and dust, and languor, and the tired spirit, fainting by the way, cries out for the wings of a dove, go up to W-, among the hills made sacred to Nature, where the hurry and anxiety of commerce are unknown, and the silent Sabbaths are never broken by the whizzing of machinery, or defiled with its smoke and steam. You will see no Newport belles, no Belmont equipages, but you will be taken into a holy, calm rest, such as the pilgrim found in the chamber which was called "Peace." If you have toiled hard enough to deserve rest, you will find it in W-; if not, you will seek it anywhere in vain. W is the most silent place in the world; and were it not for the farmer turning his furrows or casting in his seed, you might imagine yourself already where "Sabbaths never end." Perhaps it is only because Nature reigns with such calm dignity, and echoes back every sound so lovingly, that W- seems silent in comparison with other places. Entering the neat, capacious church, fatherly and motherly faces meet your eye on every hand, and you will soon forget that you are a stranger. Yonder, in the square pew, sits Deacon Lee; you would know he was a deacon if he had not told you. Some men are born deacons—what a pity that any should enter the holy office who are not! Deacon Lee was not a native of W-, but went there to till a farm left him by an aged relative some twenty years ago-about the time Deacon Bell died, leaving a sad void in the church and the parsonage for he was a pillar in Zion, and a strong arm to his pastor. After seeking long to fill his place, the mind of the church united on the new-comer, who, by his solemnity, piety and zeal, seemed created for the place. He was a man of few words, rarely ever talking save in conference meeting; so that the boys called him at first "a grum old man." But they soon changed their opinion, for he set apart a tree of summer sweetings and one of bell-pears for their express benefit, as they went to and from school, and surprised them by a fine swing which he hung for them in his walnut grove. So the verdict of that and of each succeeding generation of boys was, that although the deacon never talked, he was a kind and genial man, and a lover of children. Every boy, for twenty years back, had been his shepherd, his watchman, or his assistant farmer; feeling it a high honour to hitch his horse on Sunday, or to drive his manure cart on a holiday, and all because they saw, through the thick veil of reserve, the love that burned and glowed in his heart. Deacon Lee's minister trusted in him, and the church felt her temporal affairs safe in his hands, and the world honoured his stern consistency. There was a serpent in Eden, and a Judas in that thrice-blessed band who walked and talked with our dear Redeemer on earth, and who saw His glory mingled with His humanity; why, then, need we wonder that one man, subtle and treacherous, hid himself in the calm verdure |