The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1859-11-09
: Y. NJ. M. Il. Lectures-Rev. Thomas
starr King Oh the Laws of DisOr-

Y. NJ. M. Il. Lectures-Rev. Thomas
starr King Oh the Laws of DisOr-
der.
The first regular lecture of the v;ntor eourse
before the Y. M, M, l.. Association was de-
livered last. evening at the Onera. bcuse. by
Rev. Thomas Starr King. of Bo,ton. 10 n largo
and cultivated audience.
This gentleman, who has appeared here be.
fore, has Justly acquired A hioh roputation "a
q pulpit orator and lecturer. and ia reputed
as one of the most promising of our youthful
ministers. He has quite a boyish se1ablance.
though over thirty wears Of ACE. with notbiny
remarkable or striking in his appearance or
manner.
His face Is intelligent, benevolent and amia. 1.
BILE, and though his profile ia not good. his
soft brown hair and blue ewes are prone to
PROPOSES one in bis favor. His f3gurs ia near
the medium hight and rather sl0hf, ereot and
graceful; while his voice, rich. sweet and thor.
oughly cultivated, soon finds its way through
the auricular portals to the heart. He Is often
eloquent, and always interesting or impressive.
having o felictous command Of language. thai
not unfrequentiy rises to the altitude Of poetio
prose.
He began his lecture bysavinp that he had not
chosen his theme for its paradoxicel seemipo.
but because it appeared to express the lead.
ing idea of his mind when he had made bis
composition. We heard constantly of the
regularity and harmony Of Nature, butrarely
was it intimated that as evident q law ruled
its disorder. The planets never made ex
actly the same orbits about the sun. but thew
were always accomplished in precisely the
same time: vary as they might, the law held
and controlled them to the end. The mate
rial world was influenced and fulfilled its
purposes as much by disorder as by order
the same results were p.oduced by one as the
other, evincing their necessity as two forces
acting rsciprocally to an ultimate.
The human family and the moral sphere
manifested the same thing; vice and crime,
sickness and death, were governed by laws as
uuvary ing and fixed, though uncompreheuded.
as goodness and virtue and health and life,
The world could be reduced to figures. and
deeds that dazzled the world to formulas and
facts. There was something chilling perbans
and prosaic In applying statistics to God like
man, to the deeds Of the great and good; but
morlifying as 1t might be to the romantic and
ideal mind, 1t was nevertheless true. The
loftiest passions and aspirations could be meas
ured by tho arithmetie aud let those who
would preach and toll in the cause of righteous.
ness, stern calculators could tell to a certainty
almost, the robberies and assassinations and
suicides the next twelve months would educe.
Every man was an individual, being dif
ferent from each and all Of his fellows. of
whom no one could safely predict glory or
shame; but of any given number, Of an ap.
gregated mass, all who knew simple mathe y
mates could be prophets This proved the OK
istence Of a power we could not reach, secret
We could not penetrate, which, while It puz.
zled, should make us humble in the faith that
q wise Father ruled over the vast household Of
earth's wayward children, and directed them
In tho appointed paths.
The laws of disorder were everywhere visible