Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-11-19
Gitg ann County SnteIIleente.

LECTURE BY REV. THOMAS STARR KING.--
There was a large and appreciatiye audience
present at Mechanics Hall last evening" to
hear Mr.. Kings lecture on property"
One of the prime distinctions of man, said
the lecturer, is that he is property holder or
maker; beasts and birds leave no lasting i'm
press on the world-they live from paw to
mouth, and leave no inheritance. There is a
road open from all sources of intelligence TO
the human body by the different senses. Man
is born naked and tender into the world, and
this it is that enables him to make conquest
of the planet by industry, force and skill and
the only way in which we subdue the forces
of Gatu7e is by health. The body is the basis
of property a man is not well off, if he is not
well, no matter how much of material property
he may have.
The beast lives on a few staple necessities,
but man is endowed with palate that holds
dominion over all the zones, and his compre.
hensive and lordly appetite draws tribute from
numberless sources. The lecturer spoke Sc
verely of those who would restrict these
SSNANNS5 SifihS5 llO liloIC W IHS hluo-
Giles than potatoes and other vegetables would
supply.
The first step upward in civilization is own
ership in the soil race that only loafs on its
surface can hardly be called its proprietors--it
must be TILED and used all rights of property
have their duties, and the soil demands con-
stand care and fidelity to make it profitable.
In order to be kept it must be mastered by in
telect. 1t requires more genius to understand
the necessities Of the soil than to tear the sods
with the cannon of Austerlitz The welfare Of
the nation depends on it--as the pillow ceases
to strike down the roots OF the nation strike
up.
The lecturer then spoke of property as an
intellectual and spiritual power. The rocky
leaves of the earth are crowded with thoughts;
every elm is a combination of cell words. The
earth and all the starry globes are single
verses in the mighty epic of law and beauty
which God has expressed to us. Material
property is developed out of thought; man
must combine all its various elements by gent
u.s. the Quickening power that changes matter
to new forms.
The mind that can appreciate good work
is, after all, its owner, for our deepest power
grows out of appreciation. Property belongs
to the moral realm also, and by moral faculty
we incorporate part of the spiritual substance
of the infinite.
The best property of nation is its great
men. Mr.. Buckles assertion as to the supe-
riority of intellectual over the moral faculties
was disputed. Moral truth organizes itself as
a perpetual power in history. The history of
the Pilgrims was an illustration of this. Moral
truth may not advance, but every great man
that is saturated with it ennobles and enriches
the world. Men there are who do not die, but
whose virtue and heroism becomes incorporat
ed into the world for all time. There is i'm
mense meaning in the words, ga rich man
it incorporates more than full purse. The
truth Of the world is more real than its lands
The lecture, to which this sketch gives but
slight justice, abounded in humorous and apt
Illustrations, and was listened to attontively to
its close.
The next and last lecture of the course will
be given by Geo. VIM. Curtis, on Monday eve.
ming, Dec. 9th.