ject. After our native annuals,—which are generally expensive and beautiful volumes-we know of no specimens of the arts more desirable to Americans, in point of permanent literary interest, than the fine series of the National Portrait Gallery. The portraits of distinguished Americans, are the very best specimens of the art in this country; and the fine letter-press Illustrations which accompany them, are important as authentic histories or biographies. Next to this valuable work, we rank, as blending lasting interest with beauty, the splendid numbers, executed by eminent English artists, entitled 'Illustrations to the Poetical works of Sir Walter Scott,' 'Portraits of the principal Female Characters in the Waverly Novels,' and 'Landscape Illustrations' of the same. Who, in perusing the deathless works of the Great Departed, but would find satisfaction in turning, as he read, to spirited representations of the personages and scenes described? The living pictures, through the skill of the best masters of the art, are before him; time and space are annihilated—and the present lives in the past. As a source of enduring gratification, as accompaniments to works which are of course in every li brary, they are invaluable. When Finden, Eggleton, Cooke, Fisher, etc, engrave the efforts of Turner, Bentley, Chalon, and others equally eminent in the arts-and when the subjects are connected with the treasured memories of every reader-the inducements to purchase their labors can scarcely be wanting. They may be seen at Disturnell's, 155 Broadway..

HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN, IN THE UNITED STATES. The author of this work has permitted us to peruse portions of the volumes in anticipation of their publication. Should the second volume prove half as attractive as the first, already printed, and we have reason to believe that it will be even more so-it will be one of the most entertaining works issued from the American press for many years. Like the History of the American Theatre, by the same author, it is replete with entertaining anecdotes, and interesting information. It is a faithful history, too, of the Arts in this country, from the earliest period, down to the present time. The style is so simple and pleasing, that the reader almost fancies himself talking face to face with an aged, familar friend, whose memory is a store-house of delightful story and valuable intelligence. In addition to the records and reminiscences from the pen of the author, we learn that he has received important assistance from many literary gentlemen; among others, from WASHINGTON IRVING. The work will commend itself, not to artists merely, but to every general reader. We regret that want of space has prevented the insertion of several highly interesting extracts, which we had pencilled for that purpose. We shall endeavor to make amends to our readers, by a more elaborate notice, when the volumes shall have appeared,

THE NEW-YORK MIRROR, a choice repository of Literature and the Fine Arts, well deserves the extensive circulation and wide reputation which it has acquired. Its literary contentsindependent of its popular foreign correspondence-are varied, and of the best description; and its frequent and expensive embellishments are certainly unrivalled. Its typographical execution will compare with any publication at home or abroad. The editors are Messrs. GEORGE P. MORRIS, THEODORE S. FAY, and NATHANIEL P. WILLIS. The Mirror is published weekly at the corner of Nassau and Ann streets, at four dollars per annum, payable in advance.

DEATHS,

AND BRIEF OBITUARY RECORDS OF PERSONS RECENTLY DECEASED.

esteemed and much lamented, in the 70th year of his age.

On the 6th ultimo, at his residence in the village of Adrian, Lenawee county, Michigan Territory, in the 23d year of his age, JOSEPH At his residence near Charlotte, N.C., on CHITTENDEN, Jr., Counsellor at Law, the the 26th September, JONATHAN WILMARTH, son of Joseph Chittenden, Esq., of Cayuga of the firm of WILMARTH, MOFFAT AND county in this State. He received his educa- CURTIS, New-York, aged 41. His disorder tion at Hamden Sidney College, Virginia, and was the bilious fever, contracted while ensubsequently commenced the practice of law gaged in the superintendence of a gold-mine, in in that State, whence, in 1832, he removed to which he was largely interested. As a man Michigan. Talents of the first order, great of business, he was esteemed for his perseenergy of character, and the highest moral verance, intelligence, and strict probity. In purity, combined with engaging manners, and his manners, he was frank, open, and conciliall those qualities that render their possessorating. He was benevolent to the needy-a lovely in private life, characterized this estimable young gentleman, who already enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence of the people among whom he had so recently settled, and who bade fair to act a distinguished part in the affairs of that rising territory. His death, though triumphant in the Christian's hope, and ardently longed for by himself, as a transition from protracted agonies to the fruition of immortal joys, is an irreparable loss to a large circle of friends.

kind husband-an affectionate father-a firm friend. His loss to his wife and amiable family, and to society, is irreparable.

At London, on the 27th of September, GEORGE CLYMER, Esq., aged 85 years, late of Philadelphia, the inventor of the Columbian Printing Press. He was a man of very upright and amiable character.

At her residence, in Washington, Mrs. MARTHA STRAS, a niece of Patrick Henry, and formerly and for many years a resident of the city of Baltimore.

In Portsmouth, N. H., Miss COMFORT LEWIS, at the advanced age of 105 years. On the 1st of January, 1773, being then about 44 years of age, she was removed by the overseers of the poor from the house she occupied in South-street, to the Alms-house, of which, for sixty-one years and nine months, she had been a constant inmate. She retained her faculties to the last-and within a few hours of her death, in a feeling manner expressed her gratitude to the keeper of the house and the overseers for the kind attention she had re

Of cholera, at Guynne's farm, about 22 miles from Columbus, in Ohio, on Saturday the 11th inst., Hon. THOMAS S. GRIMKE, of South Carolina. He was on his way from Cincinnati to Columbus, when he was attacked by that disease in the stage; and before physicians could arrive was in a state of collapse, from which all efforts to raise him were ineffectual. His object in visiting Ohio, was in part to meet his brother, the Hon. Frederick Grimke, a judge of that State, and in part to contribute to the success of its literary and benevolent institutions. He had delivered an address to the Erodelphian Society of the Miami Uni-ceived. versity, and attended the annual Convention of teachers on the 6th ult. On the Wednesday previous to his death, he attended a Temperance meeting at Cincinnati, and spoke for the last time in a public assembly. His remains were conveyed to Columbus, where he was buried on the evening of his death, by moonlight. The last sad offices were performed by the Rev. Dr. Preston of the Episcopal church, and a large concourse of citizens testified their respect for his memory by attending his funeral obsequies. The death of Mr. Grimke will be deeply felt, and widely deplored by the literary and religious communities of our country. He was a fine scholar, of accomplished manners and address, and of sincere and unaffected piety.

On the 1st ultimo, in Charleston, South Carolina, THOMAS W. BACOT, Esq., highly

In Shaftsbury, Vt., the Hon. JONAS GALUSHA, aged 83 years. Mr. Galusha was for many years Governor of Vermont, a member of the Council for nearly twenty years, Judge of the Supreme Court, and Sheriff-all of which he filled with honor to himself and the State. He was a veteran of the Revolution, and was in the battle of Bennington..

In Detroit, on the 14th ult. Lieut. Col. JOHN ANDERSON, of the United States Topographical Engineers, Col. Anderson was a subaltern in the army at the time General Hull made his campaign in that quarter. When, during the war of 1812, the Topographical Corps of Engineers was formed, he was appointed a Major in it, and remained the senior officer of it from the year 1813 to the time of his death.

At Philadelphia, Hon. LEWIS KERR, Attorney General of the Bahama Islands.

THE KNICKERBOCKER.

VOL. IV.

DECEMBER, 1834.

No. 6.

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.

We know of no enquiry more deeply interesting to society, than that which analyzes the character of its Pulpit Eloquence,-connected as it is with the present and future destiny of man. The eloquence which shook the Areopagite hill, and reverberated through the halls of the Roman Forum-the wonderful exhibition of its power displayed in sustaining the expiring liberties of Greece and Rome-the oratory of republics and of empires--sink into nothing when contrasted with its important influence in giving effect to the sublime doctrines of the Christian Church. It may be termed the moral lever on which to move the world. Its importance is equally apparent among the followers of Mahomet-the worshippers of Brahma-the disciples of Jesus. The Hindoo devotee, expiring in the flames of her husband's funeral pile-the self immolated victim, crushed beneath the wheels of Juggernaut-are, morally, hurried on to these blood-stained sacrifices by the eloquence of the Asiatic priesthood. If such be the power which it exerts in the unenlightened nations of the eastern hemisphere-those darkened regions where the sun of Christianity is yet in obscurity-what may it not produce, when controled by the superior influence of Reason and Revelation? The pulpit orator, beyond all others, is placed in an awful and responsible situation. He stands on earth-the vicegerent of heaven. His duties lead him to appeal to the passions, the reason, the affections of mankind; to enlighten the understanding, while acting upon the feelings, and to encircle within his grasp all the mental powers of his hearers, not only by presenting truth in a shape so clear as to gain their fixed attention, but also by touching those secret springs of the heart which rivet its affections, and call into action all its noble qualities. To accomplish objects so important, he must frequently quit the narrow boundaries of scholastic doctrine, and survey the christian family as one great congregation-differing on minor points, but united in the fundamental principles of a general faith. He must be imbued with the spirit and the pathos of nature, and at times dare to advance beyond the bounds of critical theology, and pause before he deprives religion of the support which she derives from the emotions-those auxiliaries by which she holds her empire in the human heart. In the ardour of his pursuit, he must call around him all his latent powers of eloquence. Religion has but little connection with the formal logic of man, beyond the power with

which it furnishes him to trace her origin, her progress and effects. The rigid theories of the schools exert but a trifling influence in subserv. ing her purposes. She does not call on her ministers to declare themselves the exclusive disciples of Paul, or of Apollos, or of Cephas,-to drink of her waters from any particular vessel, but to approach the grand reservoir in which all her streams are united, and to drink until they thirst no more. While, however, we would wish to discard from our pulpit eloquence those doctrinal disputations in which the substance of religion is obscured by the shadow, we would desire to see it more intimately con nected with general literature and with science. If its object be to lighten truth from that load of rubbish which the lapse of ages has heaped upon her to display her elements-to separate her from that gross mixture of Judaism and Paganism with which she was formerly invested, and to display her in that simple, beautiful, and chaste form with which the gospel dispensation clothed her, it must be encircled by a knowl. edge of ancient literature: we say a knowledge-not in the letter but the spirit of learning. It must embrace a full analysis of the philosophy of the Jewish dispensation, and its connexion with the New Testament, of which it was the type and fore-runner: be able to contrast the present blessings of the Church with the trials of its early disciples; its condition when writhing under the tortures of heathenism; its exaltation to the throne of the Ceasars-its degradation after the fall of imperial Rome; the sufferings of its martyrs amid the flames issuing from the Vatican, to that period when it rose from the darkness of abject superstition and bigotry, guided by the genius and impressed with the spirit of Luther. The ages immediately preceding and subsequent, on the Christian era, present an unbounded field for the display of sacred eloquence. A world sunk in ignorance and idolatry-polluted by violence, rapine and bloodshed-a solemn and humble advent ushered in amid scenes of desolation and horror equalled only by the greatness of the subsequent sacrificethe flood-gates of divine wrath forced open by human crime and pollution, closing in the death of the Redeemer of mankind-the star which guided the shepherds to Bethlehem in Judea, rising in mercy and setting in blood-the subsequent trials of christianity under Nero and Domitian the crucifixion of its early propagators-their tortures by the beasts of the forests-the persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses by the crown of Spain-their stranglings and burnings by the order of its court -their history, written amid flames and traced in blood-the contrast afforded by its present condition! Here are materials by which, if properly presented, the coldest heart might be melted. If pulpit eloquence is thus intimately united with Literature, its connection with Science is equally susceptible of demonstration. For the truth of this proposition, we may appeal to the early institutions of the latter: to the theocracy of the East; to its commencement amid the mystic superstitions of Persia and the mental darkness of Egypt; first, in the adoration of nature's works; subsequently, in their examination. But this connection rests on a firmer basis than the traditions of the magii, or the chronicles of the priests on the display of power, of intelligence, of contrivance which the revelations of science have exhibited, in their analysis of the works

of nature. To the genius of sacred eloquence, Astronomy opens a storehouse of intellectual riches, bright and beautiful as the shining orbs which it has exposed to the field of vision. The revolutions of the planets around a common centre, and within their respective orbits the power which balances their attractive forces, and prevents their too near approach-the revolution of our earth on its axis, producing day and night-its movements around the sun-the succession of seasons-are materials, which, heated in the mental furnace of another Chalmers, might transform the scoffer to the disciple, and drive the infidel to despair. Optics, too, the great auxiliary of astronomy, with her telescopic researches-Chemistry, with her minute analysis-Botany, with her vegetable physiology-Geology, with her proofs to establish the truth of the Mosaic history-are so many means by which to judge of the attributes of Omnipotence, from the magnificence and grandeur of his works. Physiology, or the science of human life, is not among the least of those, by which the pulpit orator might display the wisdom and intelligence of the Creator, from the functions of organic life. The various textures and tissue by which the latter is supported, each having different properties,-the number of organs constituted by the union of these in a common centre,-the multitudinous actions which must be performed, before sensation and motion, thought and happiness, can result, the power of resistance which vitality presents, within certain limits, to the common laws of matter, the invisible principles by which we become acquainted with the materials of our animal existence, and hold communion with beings like ourselves,-the display of intellec. tual power, its sudden cessation, as in the maniac-and lastly, the eternal prostration of the vital functions,—are effects by which pulpit eloquence might lead the mind irresistibly to the contemplation of that Cause, which created, regulated, and controls the whole.

It is thus, that the Genius of Science might be found dispensing her gifts in the temple of religion,—and her altars, which the hands of Infidelity have attempted to desecrate and deface, become illumined by the beams of a true philosophy, taking their stand among the visible monuments of supernatural power. The legitimate object of science, is the investigation of the works of God. And where, we would ask, can there be a more proper sphere for such investigation, than in the pulpit? It is from thence we are to be directed to that light which enables us to perceive a cause for every phenomenon, which transforms the material universe into a paradise of light and beauty, and human existence into a continued act of adoration. It is a matter of deep regret that the eloquence of our pulpits does not more frequently make the discoveries of science auxiliaries in unfolding the perfections of the Deity. The great Newton acknowledged and avowed, that scientific investigation afforded the firmest basis for religious belief, and Robinson,-whose philosophic researches filled Europe with astonishment and wonder,-when describ. ing the various nebulæ in the distant concave of the heavens, observes: "When the soul is filled with conceptions of the extent of created nature, we can hardly avoid exclaiming, Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him!'