1834.] 247 THE GAZETTEER.-No. 13. ISLE OF WIGHT. If our young readers will look at the little map of England which we gave in our number for May, (page 164) they will see the Isle of Wight at the bottom (or south) of the map. This island is opposite to Hampshire (No. 6,) and is considered to be in that county. The Isle of Wight measures about twenty-two miles from the eastern to the western angle, and about fourteen from the northern to the southern. A channel separates it from the coast of Hampshire, across which steam-packets and other vessels are constantly passing, so that there is a ready passage to this agreeable island; and in the summer and autumn, it is much frequented by visitors. The scenery near the back of the island, that is, the southern part, is bold and striking; the rocks are high and grand. The island contains many noble residences, and many picturesque cottages, with wood and water, and downs, and hill and dale, making a truly pleasing variety. On the left hand, or the western extremity of the island, the rocks are particularly striking. The Needles, as they are called, are here to be seen; they are rocks in the sea. These, though said to have been named from their resemblance to needles, are at present more of the shape of wedges set upon their bases. Till the year 1764, one remained, which in figure was not unlike a needle. This tapering column towered nearly one hundred and eighty feet above the surface of the sea: but being, in process of time, worn away at the bottom, it yielded at length to the fury of the storm one boisterous night, and sunk into the ocean with a tremendous crash, the shock of which is said to have been heard as far as Southampton. Large numbers of sea-birds are generally seen about these rocks. These shining white rocks make a fine contrast with the various colours of the sand rocks in Alum Bay, close by the Needles -Chiefly from Bullar's Guide to the Isle of Wight. 9 ON PSALM lxxxiv. 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. WE are here in darkness, but if God be our God, he will be to us a sun, to enlighten and enliven us, to guide and direct us. We are here in danger, but he will be to us a shield, to secure us from the fiery darts that fly thick about us; with his favour he will compass us, as with a shield. Let us always walk in the light of the Lord, and never throw ourselves out of his protection, and we shall find him a sun to supply us with all good, and a shield to shelter us from all evil. See what he bestows upon his people. If he gives us grace here, and glory hereafter, he will not withhold any thing truly good from us. Though he has not promised to give riches and dignities, he hath promised to give "grace and glory" to all that seek him in his appointed way. And what is grace, but heaven begun below in the knowledge, love, and service of God? What is glory, but the completion of this happiness in perfect conformity to, and in full enjoyment of him for ever? If he have begun to give us grace, his grace will be sufficient for us, and will assuredly ripen into glory. Both are God's gift, his free gift. And as, wherever God gives grace, he will give glory, (for grace is glory begun, and is an earnest of it,) so he will give glory hereafter to none to whom He does not give grace now, or who receive his grace in vain, 2 Corinthians vi. 1. This is a comprehensive promise, and is such an assurance of the present comfort of the saints, that, whatever they desire, and think they need, they may be sure, that either infinite wisdom sees it is not good for them, or infinite goodness will give it them in due time. Let it be our care to walk uprightly, and then let us trust God to give us every thing that is good for us. Let us then seek this true happiness, and desire to be fruitful under the blessed influences of the Sun of Righteousness; and to be safe and happy under the protection of the shield of salvation. Let us study to walk uprightly in his ways, to trust in His mercies, thankfully to receive what He gives, and cheerfully to be without what He withholds or takes 1834.] TAKE HEED HOW YE HEAR. 249 away, for we may be sure he sees that it would be evil for us, or we should not be without it. Let us hold it fast, as a principle that cannot be disputed, that the man is happy, really happy, whatever his outward circumstances be, who trusteth in the Lord of Hosts, the God of Jacob. Scott and Henry. Sent by M. J. D. HYMN BEFORE BAPTISM. Saviour, we bring our child to thee, Hear now, in mercy hear, we pray, Oh, let it never be asham'd For thee, its Lord, to fight, Under the cross,-until the crown It wears in realms of light. TAKE HEED HOW YE HEAR. F. M. K. It is common to suppose that men are benefited by the virtues and piety of their ministers. And so they are, if they are impressed by them to endeavour to conform their lives more nearly to the law of God as it is in Christ Jesus: but there is a prevalent notion, that the mere belonging to the congregation of a pious and zealous pastor will be, of itself, a kind of passport to Heaven, and, in a manner, dispense with your own efforts and exertions. This is a notion against which we would warn you, as one which, if persisted in, must be fatal. The more abundant the provisions made by God for your instruction, the more zealous the ministration under which you are, the more unwearied the efforts made for your salvation, the more powerful and convincing the sermons you are used to listen to,-the more abundant will be the proofs of righteousness that God will require at your hands. He will require more stedfast faith, greater manifestations of holiness, more diligent and earnest prayer. We say more diligent and earnest prayer, because many are apt to think that to listen to a sermon is the principal object of attending the house of God, and that the prayers are of comparatively little or no import ance. Many imagine that they cannot but be better for a good sermon, even though it be attended by no effort or prayer on their part, no confession of sin, no entreaties for forgiveness, no asking for the Spirit to convert and sanctify the heart. But this is not the spirit of the Bible. -Hughes's Pastoral Letter for 1834. Sent by D. I. E. THE COUNTRY CLERGY. A GET upon a hill (if you can find one) in Suffolk or Norfolk; and you may find plenty in Hampshire and Wiltshire, and Devonshire; look at the church-steeples, one in about every four miles, at the most, on an average. Imagine a man of some learning, at the least, to be living in a genteel and commodious house, by the side of every one of these steeples; almost always with a wife and family; always with servants, natives of the parish, gardener, groom, at the least, and all other servants. large farm-yard; barns, stables, threshers, a carter or two, more or less of glebe, and of farming. Imagine this gentleman having an interest in the productiveness of every field in his parish; more deeply interested than any other man can possibly be in the happiness, harmony, morals, industry, and sobriety, of the people of his parish. Imagine his innumerable occasions of doing acts of kindness, his immense power in preventing the strong from oppressing the weak. Imagine all this to exist close alongside of every one of those steeples: and you will at once say to yourself, "Hurricanes and earthquakes must destroy the island before that Church can be overset." And when you add to all this, that this gentleman, besides the example of good manners, of mildness, and of justice, that his life and conversation are constantly keeping before the eyes of his parishioners; when you add to all this, that, one day in every week, he has them assembled together, to sit in silence, to receive his advice, his admonitions, his interpretations of the will of God, as applicable to their conduct and their affairs, and that, too, in an edifice rendered sacred in their eyes from their knowing that their forefathers assembled there, in ages long passed, and from its being surrounded by the graves of their kindred; when this is added, and 1834.] SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS. 251 when it is also recollected, that the children pass through his hands at their baptism; that it is he who celebrates the marriages, and performs the last and sad service over the graves of the dead: when you think of all this, it is too much to believe it possible that such a Church can fall.-Cobbett's Register. SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS. SOME animals have horns, some have hoofs, some teeth, some talons, some claws, some spurs and beaks: man hath none of all these, but is weak and feeble, and sent unarmed into the world. Why? A hand, with reason to use it, supplies the use of all these.-Ray. (From Sir C. Bell on the Hand.) Life was not intended to be led inconsistently; one part in doing wrong, the other in being sorry for it. Uniform obedience is our Maker's demand; and whoever departs from it wilfully, though he may return, will assuredly be made to know and see, one way or another, that it is a thing evil and bitter, that he hath forsaken the Lord his God.-Archbishop Secker. Merely feeling the pressure of distress will do us no service, without attending properly to Him from whom it comes. On the contrary, when God saith, "In vain have I smitten your children, they received no correction," it implies that they were hardened in wickedness; whereas, when "the voice of the Lord crieth, the man of wisdom will hear the rod, and who hath appointed it." (Micah vi. 9.)—Archbishop Secker. Faith looks so stedfastly on its suffering Saviour, that the mind becomes that which it contemplates. It makes the soul like him, assimilates and conforms it to his death. (See Phil. iii. 10.) The soul of a believer takes the very print of his death, by beholding him, and "dies to sin;" and then takes his rising again, and "lives to righteousness.”—Archbishop Leighton. EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c. THE BLIND TAUGHT TO READ.-At the Institution in Paris, various portions of the Sacred Scriptures have been embossed for their use with the |