The women of England, their social duties, and domestic habits / by Mrs. Ellis.

  • Ellis, Sarah Stickney, 1799-1872.
Date:
[1838]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The women of England, their social duties, and domestic habits / by Mrs. Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    332/352 (page 326)
    It may be said, that we dwell too much in cities, and lead too artificial a life, to be able to perceive the instrumentality of Divine Wisdom in all the events that pass beneath our observation. If this be the case, there is the more need that we should rouse ourselves by fresh efforts, to penetrate beyond the polished surface of the world in which we live, into the deeper mysteries that lie beyond—there is the more need that we should endeavour to per¬ ceive, in the practical affairs of busy life, those great principles by which the laws of nature are governed, and the system of the universe upheld. If, for instance, we live in the heart of a thickly- peopled city, with the rush of its busy multitudes around us, and the labour of man’s hand, and the efforts of his ingenuity, perpetually before our eyes, there is no reason why we should look only at the splendour of its manufactured articles, amuse our fancy with the outward aspect of its varied exhi¬ bitions of art, or regard with disgust the occupa¬ tions of the mechanic, because he handles the raw material, and touches what is gross. Would it not be more consistent with the exercise of an enlightened mind, to contemplate the wonders of that power which the Creator has entrusted to the use of man, so that he lays hold, as it were, of the elements of nature, and makes them submit to bis will. Night falls not with stillness and repose