childhood, as it were, of our being, when our powers and faculties are beginning to expand,-where our opening knowledge is necessarily imperfect, and our enjoyments are limited. But this "mortal shall put on immortality," and "when that which is perfect shall come, that which is in part shall be done “When I was a child,” away. says an apostle, following out this illustration, "I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”*

There is something exceedingly sublime and glorious in this view of the eternal world. There the film which obscures our vision shall fall from our eyes. Every thing shall appear in its true light and due proportions. We shall obtain a nearer and clearer view of all that is noble, and excellent, and interesting in the universe,-of Him especially who is the Author of all, and of Him who is the Redeemer of our souls.

Let us consider this subject a little more particularly. Reason is the faculty which distinguishes man from the lower animals; but, in many respects, even in him, it is extremely limited and defective. By cultivation, indeed, it expands, and becomes more vigorous; but that very expansion only enables us to see more clearly the immeasurable distance at which we are placed from perfection; that very vigor, repressed as it is, only leads to the discovery, that any attempt to attain perfection in our present state, is utterly hopeless.

The greatest philosopher, perhaps, the world ever saw, —he whose rational powers penetrated further into the mysteries of Nature, and whose gifted eye traced the hand of God more extensively in his works than any human being had ever done before,-expressed on his death-bed an opinion of the emptiness of his own attainments, which may well be extended to all that are human, in remarkable words to this effect: "It appears to me as if I had all

* 1 Cor. xiii. 11, 12.

my life long been amusing myself like a child, in gathering a few useless pebbles and shells on the shore, while a boundless ocean lay unexplored before me. On that ocean I am now about to embark. Amidst the discoveries of that untried voyage, how utterly inadequate must my present knowledge appear.

Indeed, even if our mental powers were much stronger and more efficient than they actually are, we are not placed in circumstances capable of calling them into full exercise, or of affording them complete gratification. We cannot leave the shore, and have only "pebbles and shells" to gather. While we remain here, there are many things, of the greatest importance, which it is impossible for the acutest genius to unravel, or the highest human faculties to understand. I do not now speak of the natural objects with which we are surrounded, and yet mystery is inscribed on them all; but I particularly allude to the nature of God, and the operations of his providence. It were delightful and ennobling to feed our souls with a knowledge of the Divine perfections, but such knowledge is too vast for our feeble grasp," it is high, we cannot attain unto it." The very conception of an infinite, and eternal, and self-existent Being, overpowers our faculties, and shows the mind its own littleness. It were a glorious privilege to trace God in his works, and to behold his moral attributes, filling the world with perfection and happiness. But in such an employment we are, at every step, discouraged by marks of apparent disorder. Our ears are appalled with sounds of sorrow and suffering; our eyes are horrified by scenes of guilt and madness, of desolation and death. Even revealed religion gives us but a partial relief from these horrors. While it affords us the assurance that all will be well, it leaves us still in a land of darkness, and directs us to another world for light, and knowledge, and intellectual enjoyment.

It is in a future state, alone, that our reason shall be sufficiently enlarged to comprehend, and sufficiently instructed to enjoy, the attributes of God, and the operations of his providence. In the world of spirits, our views shall be more accurate, our intellect more vigorous, our

The necessities of this mor

knowledge more extensive. tal life shall no longer distract, nor its fleeting pleasures allure. No more pain, nor languor, nor bodily decay shall intervene to interrupt the contemplation of Divine things. The soul, emerging from its corporeal prison, shall no longer see and feel through the medium of the senses. It shall perceive more clearly, and know more certainly. Rejoicing in its new being, it shall dive into the mysteries of Nature, and remove the obscurities which perplexed, the difficulties which harassed, and the terrors which beset its earthly career. Then shall we experience the unspeakable pleasure arising from the consciousness of enlarging faculties, and from a full perception of Divine wisdom and glory. In one word, we shall know even as also we are known."

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Turning from the rational to the moral faculties of man, we find equal cause to anticipate with delight the prospect of an eternal world. It has been the complaint of devout men, in every age, that the heart is prone to wickedness, that temptations betray it, that passions subdue it, that evil communications corrupt it, that unrestrained indulgence weakens, and blinds, and brutalizes it. Yet there is nothing more certain, than that the pleasures of a good conscience form the highest of all enjoyments; and although these pleasures are not fully developed amidst the corruptions of the world, yet we are assured that they shall form the chief happiness of the celestial state.

Some good qualities of the heart, indeed, are only exercised in a state of imperfection and suffering. The personal virtues of fortitude, patience, and resignation, for example, are of this nature, as well as the social affections of sympathy and compassion. But there are other excellences which belong, not exclusively indeed, but peculiarly, to a better world. Purity and holiness, goodness and truth, while they are debased by imperfection among the children of earth, adorn with untarnished loveliness the inhabitants of heaven. The exercise of these graces in a future state must be unspeakably delightful. If, even in this world, where they are alloyed with so much imper

fection and guilt, they attract universal admiration, and afford the noblest gratification of which the heart is susceptible, what must be their fruit in heaven, where they are without sin and remorse; where they raise man to the dignity of angels, and cause him to resemble Him who is the personification of all human perfection,-nay, to partake of the attributes, and receive an emanation from the happiness, of the Eternal, Himself!

EIGHTH WEEK-MONDAY.

CLOTHING.-THE COTTON MANUFACTURE-ITS BRITISH HIS

TORY.

PASSING Over the history of the cotton manufacture on the European continent, in which there appears to be little to interest the general reader, I shall devote this, and some subsequent papers, to a short sketch of the art in England, which may be considered its modern birthplace, as India seems to have had the honor of its original invention.

Not more than a century ago, the cotton fabrics of India were so beautiful and cheap, that nearly all the governments of Europe thought it necessary to prohibit them, or to load them with heavy taxes, in order to protect their own manufactures. How surprising a revolution has since taken place! The Indians have not lost their former skill; but a power has arisen in England, which has robbed them of their ancient ascendency, turned back the tide of commerce, and made it run more rapidly against the Orientals, than it ever ran against the inhabitants of Europe. I have now to trace the history of this remarkable revolution.

England was among the latest of all civilized countries to receive the cotton manufacture. That a nation which started last in the race, should have so far outstripped every competitor, may appear surprising, but admits of satisfactory explanation. Three things may be regarded

as of primary importance, for the successful prosecution of manufactures; water-power, fuel, and iron. In one or other of these, various parts of England abound, and in some places they are nearly concentrated. This is the case with the southern part of Lancashire, and the southwestern part of Yorkshire, the former of which has become the principal seat of the cotton manufacture. In the hundreds of Blackburn and Salford, lies a tract of hills, from which issue numerous streams. In the early part of their course, these streams, descending rapidly from their sources towards the level tract on the west, form water-power adequate to turn many hundred mills, while they supply the essential element, for scouring, bleaching, printing, dyeing, and other processes of manufacture; and, when collected in their larger channels, or employed to feed canals, they afford a superior inland navigation, so important for the transit of raw materials and merchandise. These very same hills, and the adjoining more level district, contain an almost inexhaustible supply of coal, that equally essential material, which animates the thousand arms of the steam-engine, and furnishes the most powerful agent in all chemical and mechanical operations. Of the other requisite, that of iron, Lancashire, indeed, is nearly destitute, but the neighboring districts of Staf fordshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Furness, and Wales, with all which it has ready communication, abundantly compensate for this deficiency. Add to all this, the neighborhood of the sea, by means of its well-situated port of Liverpool, whose commerce at once supplies its crowded inhabitants with food, and brings from distant shores the raw materials of its manufactures, while it again distributes them, converted into useful and elegant clothing, among all the nations of the earth. These advantages pointed out this district, nearly in the centre of Britain, as the peculiar seat of manufacturing enterprise. Nor must I omit to mention another convenience possessed by this locality, in the levelness of the surface, prevalent over a great extent, which affords such facilities for the canals, wherewith it is already intersected, and the more recent and more important invention of railways for loco

IV.

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