ilustrated, as in the allotments of the Righteous and the wicked. In a word, the Divine character will be glorified, here, in a manner unrivalled at any preceding period; and Christ, in his own person and office, will appear as God, with such splendor and majesty, as were never seen before, and will never be seen again."

4. "What a mighty change will this event produce in the Universe! Our Savior has taught us, that many who are last will be first, and that many who are first will be last. On this solemn Day, the declaration will begin to be wonderfully accomplished. On this day, those, who were wise men after the flesh, whose talents astonished mankind, and whose researches entailed on them the admiration and applause of a world, will descend from their envied elevation to contempt and infamy; and see, raised incalculably above them, the lowly,ignorant, and despised Christian, who believed, and obeyed, that preaching of the Cross; which, in this world, they esteemed the most despicable folly. The monarch, who, in the present life, was served, flattered, and idolized, by his courtiers, and regarded by the millions, whom he governed, only with awe and terror, will here find his power and splendor, the pride of distinction, and the incense of homage, vanished forever; and himself depressed lower, than was in this world the meanest wretch, who shrunk from his nod, or lived upon his smile: while that very wretch, perhaps, has now cast off all his former attire of debasement and suffering, and risen to distinction and glory inexpressible. Here the hero, the foster-child of fame, the conqueror of realms, the murderer of nations, and the plunderer of a world, will see himself poor beyond the poorest, low beneath the lowest, and despised more than the most despicable; powerless, sunk, and miserable, in a degree outrunni'g conception. His misery will be mightily enhanced, also, by the sight of multitudes, whom in this world he trampled in the mire, tortured, butchered, and gave to be food for the fowls of heaven, looking down upon him from a height, to which he never raised his imagination, and commencing the procession of dignity and enjoyment, to which no limit is prescribed. Generally, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, such as this world never saw, when the rich, the splendid, the polished, and the noble, behold the clown, the beggar, and the slave, sitting down in the Kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and themselves thrust out.

"At the same time, it is to be remembered, that these will not be the only disappointments undergone at this awful period. The rich, the learned, and the great, will not be condemned, because they possessed wealth, knowledge, or power; but for the measures, by which they acquired these possessions, or the unworthy use which they made of them. Nor will the poor and lowly be accepted on account of their poverty, their ignorance, or their rusticity; but for the disposition which they experienced, and the manner in which they conducted themselves, in these humble circumstances. Wherever this has not been their disposition, and their conduct, they too will be rejected. Virtue and sin exist in the heart, and are never necessarily connected with our external condition. Let the rich consider how dreadful a contrast it will be, to have been opulent in this world, and to be in want of all things beyond the grave. Let the poor remember, how

deplorable must be the condition of being poor, despised, and wretched, here; merely as a prelude to endless poverty, contempt, and misery, in the world to come.

"Nor will the changes be less affecting, which will exist among those, who in the present life, were found on the same level. Were we to select a single neighborhood, and go with our inquiries from house to house; what mighty alterations in their relative condition, what affecting terminations of their former friendly intercourse, would be presented to the eye even of the most expansive charity! In what an affecting manner would the wealth and poverty, the reputation and disgrace, the enjoyment and the suffering, be exchanged! To what a height would those, who are here in the most lowly circumstances, begin, in many instances, to rise, on this awful day! To what a depth, those, who are the most prosperous, begin to fall!

"Still more affecting, more full of disappointment and anguish, will be the distinctions made in families. There will be instances, in which the parents will ascend to glory inexpressible, accompanied sometimes by none, sometimes by one, sometimes by two, sometimes by three, and, it is to be hoped and believed, sometimes by all their happy offspring. At other times, the parents themselves will be left behind; and with failing eyes, and broken hearts, will follow their children rising to the heavens, and bidding them an everlasting farewell. Such will be, such in some respects has already been, the separation between Jeroboam and his son Abijah. Brethren and sisters also, mutually and unspeakably beloved here, and such of them as were devoted to sin, warned, reproved, and borne to heaven on the wings of prayer by those, who consecrated themselves to God, will be parted asunder, to meet no more. No longer brothers and sisters, but strangers and aliens, some of them will be vessels of mercy, usefulness, and honor, in the house of their Father; and others vessels of wrath in the mansions of woe.

"Most distressing of all; husbands and wives, here united in the nearest of all earthly relations, and in the tenderest of all human attachments, will there, not unfrequently be seated, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. One will ascend with the Judge to the world of glory; the other, lost in the host of evil beings, go down to the regions of despair. One will advance in wisdom, worth, and joy, throughout endless ages; the other make a dreadful and melancholy progress in guilt, and sorrow, for ever."

CLERGYMAN'S ALMANAC.

To the Editor of the Panoplist.

SIR, The commencement of another year is approaching, and the editors of Almanacs are beginning to offer their respective publications. Among the number of these almost necessary little manuals, I perceive that the Clergyman's is again advertised. Permit me, to suggest, through the medium of your useful work, a few thoughts respecting it.

The Clergyman's Almanac made its first appearance twelve years ago; and, so far as my knowledge extends, was received, especially by

the Christian part of the community, with a high degree of approbation. Its title warranted us in the belief, that it would be a religions publication, so far as it contained any thing more than what properly belonged to an astronomical diary; and so it has been. But, have not the expectations and hopes of those, who first patronized it, been disappointed? For one, I must say, that mine have been exceedingly,—so much so, that I have not, for two or three years, felt as if I could conscientiously encourage it. With the editor I am not personally ac quainted; but, if report be true, he is a man given to change; and indeed, if we had no other evidence of the truth of this fact, but what is exhibited in the publication under consideration, we must, I think, attach to the report considerable credit. For several years, the Clergyman's Almanac was a vehicle, for communicating that kind of religious instruction, which is interesting and agreeable to the pious heart. The religious doctrines brought to view, were those which have usually been denominated evangelical. This was particularly the fact, in regard to two or three of the first numbers. And, if I recollect right, Mr. Editor, a review of this publication appeared in your work, a few years since, in which it was highly approved and highly recommended. Now I do not wish to condemn the remarks, made in that review; for I think that, at the time they were made, they were just, in respect to the publication, so far as it had then appeared. But, has not the character of the work changed materially since that review was published? Can the terms of approbation be now used, in respect to it, which were then used? Would not a pious reviewer, now feel under obligation to speak as decidedly in disapprobation of it, as he would then in its praise? I am of opinion, and in this opinion, many concur with me, that this publication has forfeited its claims to public patronage. I am in favor of a religious Almanac; and think, that one calculated to disseminate sound doctrine and useful information, ought to be encouraged; but, I do not see how a man, who loves the truth, can encourage a publication of the kind, which is almost exclusively devoted, in its religious department, to a dissemination of the sentiments of modern latitudinarianism. Let me, then, solicit the attention of the patrons of this work, to the foregoing remarks. There is just ground for them, or there is not. If there is not, I am willing that they should pass by unheeded; but if there is, let me ask, at least the pious part of the community, to consider them, and to say, whether they can conscientiously patronize a work, that is calculated to unhinge all religious belief, and thus prepare the way for the spread of fatal relig ious errors! An almanac has extensive circulation. It goes into the dwellings of all classes. Multitudes, who purchase no other book, purchase an Almanac, and it is read, perhaps, by such persons, and by their families, because other books are wanting, a hundred times in a year. Of what importance is it, that such a publication should be stored with useful religious knowledge-with that knowledge which makes wise unto salvation, and that it should be sacredly guarded against every thing, which is calculated to produce levity of feeling, and which will be ruinous to the souls of men! A religious Almanac is in reality a religious tract. What Christian would purchase a tract filled with dangerous errors? What Christian would put such a tract into the

hands of his children, or into the hands of his neighbors? The decision of the question, then, whether the Clergyman's almanac, retaining its present character, ought to be patronized, is important; and I hope it will not fail to engage the attention, and interest the feelings, of every well-wisher to the cause of truth. O. D.

MR. ALLSTON'S PAINTING OF JACOB'S DREAM.

MANY of our readers are acquainted with the fact, that among the eminent painters of the present day Washington Allston, Esq. holds a conspicuous place. This gentleman is a native of South Carolina, was educated at Harvard University, resided for several years in different parts of Europe, principally at London, and is now at Boston, assiduously employed in his profession. One of his latest works, before leaving England, was Jacob's Dream, which is described in the following article, selected from one of the magazines of the British Metropolis. Judging from this description, we should suppose the painter's sublime representation of the Patriarch's Vision to be one of the grandest efforts of modern genius. We should think it particularly worthy of commendation, as tending to impress upon the mind a deep veneration for the Bible and for the character of the Patriarchs, and a lively view of the intercourse between earth and heaven, sustained by the ministry of the angels. Tue artist, considering the ladder mentioned in the text, in a figur-· ative view, has taken a license much in favor of this composition, and substituted three successive and immense flights of broad steps in its place. This ascent from earth to heaven occupies the centre, and its terminations, on each side, are concealed by clouds. Jacob is represented in the middle of the fore-ground, at the foot of the steps, asleep on his back, with his head resting on a stone. Ilis position is nearly horizontal, but with a very delicate foreshortening of his whole figure. An angel stands at his head; two more very beautiful figures stand on the lowest step, close to him, and three on the fore-ground near his feet. These angels are not infantine or cherubic forms, but of youthful stature and celestial grace; and their attitudes and gestures show that their attention is fixed upon Jacob. The top of the first flight of steps is a vast plain, on which a heavenly host is seen in the form of a crescent. The most distant figures are in the concavity of this bow, and those which stand near its points, rise in height, and are painted in stronger hues. In the centre of the front of this plain, the Holy Spirit rises gracefully, with wings extended and hands cros sed on the breast.* This part of the composition is painted in golden aerial hues, and connected with that which is on the fore-ground below, by two angels, half way up the flight of steps, one on the left side is ascending, and seen in a back view, just above the three angels near Jacob's feet; the other is descending, and near the angel who stands at Jacob's head.

Above the first flight of steps, behind the celestial host, a second flight rises to an immense height, on which another crescent of angels, clothed in the brightness of eternal day, is scarcely discernible. Behind this radiant choir the ascent continues, with forms angelic, dimin

We are informed that the critic here misapprehended the design of the figure, and that the painter did not intend it as a visible representation of the Holy Spirit, but as a prominent individual of the angelic host ED. PAN.

ished and melting into light. This flight rises to the throne of the Omnipotent, whose presence is veiled in ineffable glory, at an immeasurable height above. The flood of divine illumination is contrasted by the deep shadows of the fore-ground below, where the blackness of night overspreads the earth.-This impervious darkness rises, in dreary masses on each side, and round the top of the picture, so as to concentre the visionary lustre within, and give an idea of inconceivable distance from the spot on which Jacob sleeps, to the highest region of the heavens.

The delicacy of the execution in some of the details, betrays anxiety, which, in a perceptible degree, takes away their firmness; and there are a few inequalities in the heads and forms, although the artist's skill and fine taste, as a draughtsman, are evidenced by the general elegance and beauty of the naked parts. There is a sublimity in Mr. Allston's conception of the subject, which places it among the foremost of the first class of sacred compositions in our time. There are some touches of the finest sensibility in the disposition of Jacob; and the beauty of form and attitudes of the two angels on the lowest step, and of the one who is descending near the angel at Jacob's head, may well be termed Raphaelick,although perfectly original. The gentle action, and gliding motion of disembodied beings under a human seeming, their unaffected simplicity and undefinable grace, give a spiritual character to the messengers of God, with which the ascents are peopled; and notwithstanding the infinity comprehended in the scene, the whole is, at once, impressed upon the eye and mind with an imposing serenity and celestial grandeur.

Mr. Allston, who is a native of America, was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, last year. He possesses the classical mind of a poet, with the skill of a painter, and the manners of a gentleman, and is universally beloved by his brother artists; a proof that the eminent abilities of an artist, when accompanied by amenity and candor, are a recommendation to professional esteem in this country. This gentleman was not in England to canvass for himself, but his merits canvassed for him! What an honor to the electors and elected!

For the Panoplist.

ON THE ABUSE OF ANALOGICAL REASONING.

IN every case of analogical reasoning, there are two things compared, which are known to have a resemblance in certain points; and hence it is inferred, that they have a resemblance in other points. The question now arises, how far is such reasoning to be depended upon? The general rule is this: Analogical reasoning is safe, in proportion to the resemblance, which has already been ascertained to exist between the things compared. If this resemblance is exact and extensive, the reasoning is proportionally safe; if the resemblance is imperfect and limited, the reasoning is dangerous. Hence, in the science of anatomy the reasonings respecting the structure of the human body, which are founded on the dissection of human subjects,