were "very well off;" but the second number of the Magazine that came into my hands told a different tale, for thus I read: "It will be most cheerfully admitted by all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, that His faithful ministers ought to be comfortably supported; nor will any but an iron-hearted wretch, unworthy of the name of a Christian, plead for the propriety of keeping them poor and miserable, that they may preach the better. It will also be readily allowed that their salaries are not in general sufficient for their comfortable and creditable support; nor by any means increased of late years in proportion to the increased expenses of maintaining a family." In these narratives, then, I became deeply interested; still more, John Van Rooy, Mary his wife, and Martha Arendse, had all visited England, and there were portraits of them and Mr. Kicherer, too, as a frontispiece to that very Magazine. How I wished that I had known this before; for, accustomed as I was, as a child, to go about by myself, I should certainly have tried earnestly to gain a glimpse of them; but the tidings of their visiting England, and even, to me, of their existence, were accompanied by others of their departure, for it was on the 21st of the preceding December that they embarked for Holland, on their way home. The only consolation I had was to copy or try to copy their portraits-for I thought I was to be an artist; and this Grattan had not long before enumeraI did repeatedly, but not with any Rem-ted the services of a curate in the Church brandt or Reynolds-like success. From that time, then, I became a diligent reader of the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE. With not only its Missionary intelligence, but its Essays, its Reviews, its Anecdotes, generally inculcating some important truth, and its accounts of the rise and progress of religious Institutions, I became intimately acquainted. I narrowly examined the book-cases of my friends, for volumes prior to 1804, and sometimes took home one of that date, a purchase at a book-stall, as a prize. When a preacher at the Tabernacle referred to Plato and Socrates, it is said that one old woman asked another, on coming out, who "those gentlemen" were, and that the reply was, "Oh, nobody of any consequence, for if they had been they would certainly have preached at Tab. ;" just so I thought an answer to many an interesting question was sure to be found in the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE; and I could even now recal instances in which my conjecture was right. It was, be it remembered, my only depository of such intelligence; and how largely I am indebted to it, it is impossible to tell. One part of the title-page struck me forcibly, even as a boy: "THE PROFITS OF THIS WORK ARE APPLIED ΤΟ THE RELIEF OF THE WIDOWS OF GOSPEL MINISTERS OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS." I had the notion that ministers | Establishment, and then asked, "For what immense income !-what riches are there to reward these inestimable services? Do not depend on the penury of the laity. Let his own order value his deserts; £50 a year; £50 for praying, for christening, for marrying, for churching, for burying, for following with Christian offices his fellow-creatures from the cradle to the grave! So frugal a thing is devotion-so cheap religion—so easy the terms on which man may worship his Maker- and so small the income, in the opinion of ecclesiastics, sufficient for the duties of a clergyman, so far as he is connected at all with the Christian religion!"' What, then, must be the condition of the widow and orphans of the poor Nonconformist minister, or of those of the poor-probably still poorer - Episcopalian curate? Sad-most sad indeed. Yet both were eligible for relief from the Magazine Fund, and my number for January, 1804, stated that more than £3,000 had already been so appropriated. Some years ago, between £20,000 and £30,000 had been devoted to the same benevolent and Christian object; and since that time the total must be far larger than this. I still read, and shall read as long as I live, the Old Magazine. The evangelical truths that have constantly pervaded it, The stars made by God. Gen. i. 16; therefore eminently calculated to inspire Ps. viii. 3, &c. feelings of adoration, confidence, and gratitude. The promises made by God. "The Lord God said, I will put enmity," &c. Gen. iii. 14, 15; xv. 18; xvii. 16, &c. II. Like the stars in multitude. The material firmament is richly spangled with these bright and beautiful objects; no part of it visible to the eye of man is without them. Hence, when God would give man some idea of the infinitude of His promises, He uses the similitude of stars. Gen. xv. 5; xxii. 17; xxvi. 4; Job xxii. 12; Ps. cxlvii. 4, 5; Heb. xi. 2, &c. In like manner is the spiritual firmament gemmed with promises, "exceeding great and precious." Look where we may, some star-like promise will beam forth from the inspired page. Take, for example, the chapter in which is the curse. Therein shines forth the promise which unfolds the remedy-the germ of that victory over the Destroyer which should be obtained by "the seed of the woman," even through Him whose prerogative it is to bring good out of evil, and turn the curse into a blessing. Gen. iii. 15. III. Like the stars in the conceptions So thought David (Ps. cxlvii. 4, 5); and Daniel, when he spake of them as the most appropriate images the visible creation afforded of durable brightness and glory. (Dan. xii. 3.) In like manner, when the eye of the believer rests upon the promises, and he remembers Him who hath said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Mark xiii. 31), how is his love kindled, his faith strengthened, and his hope revived! IV. Like the stars, the promises are brightest in darkness. The stars illumine the night of nature. Ps. cxxxvi. 9; Jer. xxxi. 35. The promises, the night of Christian experience. In the midnight of trial the star-like promises in the spiritual firmament shine most brightly; so that in a spiritual as truly as in a literal sense "Darkness shows us worlds of light Look, for example, at these stars in the night-Ps. xxx. 5, and Ps. xcvii. 11— | to be "a follower of those who, through Isa. xliii. 2; li. 11; lviii. 10; Mic. vii. 8; Rom. viii. 17, &c. V. The nightly appearance of the stars, The stars are preserved by an ordi- Who that is familiar with the Word of VIII. The stars sometimes appear one So with the promises; and in both Rom. viii. 32: 1 Cor. iii. 21 to 23 in- IX. The apparent twinkling and dis- So sure "to all the seed" is every VI. Like the stars in the wonderful So the promises have a set time in the Jer. xxxiii. 14; Isa. xxxiv. 16; Eccles. VII. The stars appear small and com- So with the stars of promise. To the So the doubts which the carnal mind and love; the temptations of the world, From the tops of high mountains these So from the Pisgah-heights of faith do It is only from the valleys of a weak X. The stars are sometimes concealed In like manner the promises are often concealed in righteous displeasure-| "sealed up," that men may not behold them till, humbled before God, they "arise and go to their Father" with the penitent's confession, faith, and love; or they are hidden by clouds of unbelief, unpardoned sin, and unsanctified sorrow, which can only be removed by washing in the "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness." Ps. lxxvii. 7-13; cv. 28; Eccles. xii. 2; Isa. lix. 1, 2, &c. XI. The stars, though still shining with undimmed lustre, are invisible in the daylight, when their existence is only thought of by such as know and believe. So with the promises in the sunshine of prosperity. Men see them not; and none realize their existence, or think how soon they may be in circumstances to need them, save the happy few who know and believe. XII. The stars, even when visible, must be looked at to be seen and distinguished one from another. To how many do they shine in vain! So with the promises. But both the stars and the promises are "sought out of them that have pleasure therein," while the filial heart exclaims with rapture concerning them," My Father made them all!" (To be continued.) Walks and Thoughts in Rome. I. THE FORUM. The moon was up, brilliant in an Italian sky. We walked under the shadow of old palaces and churches, our thoughts as dreamy as the scenes around; on and on, till we reached a street at the lower end of the Corso. We turned up the street, asking, Shall we find the desired steps? On and on, darkly and dreamily; a peasant, a citizen, a priest, crossing our path till we reached an open space. To the left there were the steps. There were Castor and Pollux-there were the lions WE had not been two hours in the city before we sought that memorable spot. We had come from Civita Vecchia in the morning, and had crossed the desolate Campagna, had seen St. Peter's in the distance, and had experienced those indescribable feelings, which an entrance into the Eternal City must inspire. Our apartments were in the Via Condotti, where, after a brief rest, at about nine o'clock in the evening we proposed a visit to the Forum. Having studied the topography from maps, we undertook to and there were the trophies of Mariusbe the guide of the little party, and set and there was the equestrian statue of out under the double excitement of hope Marcus Aurelius. An epitome all that and trembling, eager to see the spot so of Roman history, as Madame de Stael world-renowned, but fearful lest our so cleverly observes. Yes, an epitome of scanty knowledge should disgrace our Roman history. Castor and Pollux, cicerone-ship. Thus we planned the types of the heroic age-the lions, types course:-From our lodgings to the right, of the Republic-Marius, a type of the along the Via Condotti, into the Corso; Civil War-Marcus, a type of the Emto the left, down the Corso, near the bot-perors. Not far from the lions is a statue tom turn up a street to the right, that of Rome itself, headless, footless-only will bring us to the steps of the Capitolthe famous steps, with Castor and Pollux, and the lions, and the trophies of Marius, and the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius-ascend the steps, cross the square, pass on the right-hand side of the tower of the Capitol, and there will be found the Forum. That was our ideal route. drapery, covering antique beauty, and that a mere trunk-a master symbol in a city full of symbols. We climbed the old stairway-slipped softly over the darkened pavement of the open court of the Capitol-lamps twinkling among the shadows-plunged into the gloom of the opening beside the lofty tower, and then, with beating hearts, paced on a minute or two, till-there burst on our view, the Forum! There it lay open to the moon -fragments of classic buildings jutting out. Walls, arches, columns, their summits and edges silvered with light, the rest covered with a Rembrandt-like shade. It was all still as death. Not one person was seen in the far-reaching solitude. We had been reading of the temple of the Capitol, whose foundation-stone was laid by Tarquin the Proud-of the Temple of Concord-of the Temple of Jupiterof the Temple of Saturn-of the Arch of Severus, and the Arch of Titus ! Now we were among them. We were looking on the place once the centre of mightiest power-where the world's greatest heroes lived and acted-where battles were fought for freedom-where human lips spake mighty words-where things were done that men will never cease to talk of and never cease to feel. There are moments into which days, months, and years do crush themselves. Such a moment was that. We sat down on a stone, and looked at the moonlit scene, and at each other, but said nothing. The Forum, and the Seven Hills round it, make Old Rome. Modern Rome stands on what was formerly the Campus Martius. In gathering up memories, let us picture to ourselves what the Forum was. We picture it in the days of the Republic. It is an open space of unequal breadth, in oblong form, surrounded by buildings; the wider extremity is the Market-place. On the two sides are rows of shops, with lines of Poperino columns before them; there are also the temples of tutelary deities and heroes. At the west end is the Senate-house and the Temple of Concord, and the Temple of Jupiter. They rise with a lordly air, throwing their shadows on the plain beneath. Slightly elevated above the level of the Forum is the place of meeting for the Roman citizens, where stands the rostrum, around which the people gather to listen to their noble orators. In every part of this magnificent square some monument of valour, patriotism, or victory, meets the eye. In the open space of the Forum may be seen an altar, which marks the spot once occupied by the Curtian pool, the subject of such various traditions, where Curtius is said to have plunged into the chasm. Hard by grow the three sacred trees of the oldest known civilisation,-the fig, the vine, and the olive. Farther towards the Capitol, at the western extremity of the Forum, are the equestrian statues of C. Manius and L. Camillus, the conquerors of the Latins. Nor is the interior of the Comitium destitute of objects entitled to equal veneration. There is the black stone which marks, according to one tradition, the grave of Faustulus, the foster-father of Romulus; according to another, that of Romulus himself. Here is the statue of Attius Navius, the famous augur; here, too, is the sacred fig-tree, under whose shade the wolf and twins have been set up in this very place. There are the three sibyls, one of the oldest works of Roman art; there, also, are the small figures of the Roman ambassadors who had been slain by the Veientian king at Fidena; and there, too, at the edge of the Comitium, where it joins the Forum, are the statues which the Romans, at the command of the Delphian oracle, have erected in honour of the wisest and bravest of the Greeks, the statues of Pythagoras and Alcibiades.* The whole scene is animated by the groups which have gathered in the area, or within the colonnades which surround it. Here are the moneyed men, deeply engaged in their speculations. There are judges administering the laws, with lictors standing by to execute the sentence. In one direction may be seen candidates for place and power canvassing the votes of the people; while Roman citizens are passing to and fro, or reclining at their ease. What scenes kindled and rewarded military ambition, gathered admiring and rejoicing crowds, and filled with life and splendour the streets of the city! What grand processions once passed along the Sacred Highway here, when Rome decreed a triumph to some great conqueror! We have here largely made use of Dr. Arnold's description in his " History of Rome." |