New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-08-18
"The RappePs and Immortality.
r. he Edtfoys Of TIE N Y Tribune.


After all, seem to have said my say,
and the much which remains to be said" accord
ingly turns out, on inspection, to be simply illus
tatye and confrmatory of what has gone before.
Isaac Goodyear, my neighbor, lost very sweet
little boy year ago, and he expires ssd fear last
evening, that the letter he had just read in The
Tribune did not do justice to the demands of his
affection. He che,ishes the memory of the child
with extreme enthusiasm, so grateful was he
while living to the paternal heart and he assured
me that he shall hardly deem Heaven worthy of
its name unless be find the little one there to well
come him. replied, I" reverence your affection
tor your lost boy, my dear Isaac, and can duly
estimate its strength by the tenderness | feel
toward my own living ones. | utter no sylla.
BILE in depreciation Of the sentiment | simply
say that it should be ngidly subordinate to a
higher one. For, after ALL what did you love in your
boy! lie was fair to look upon; his voice was
music to your ear, and all his little ways endeared
MN to every eye that fell upon him. Did you
love then what was truly and eternally lovable in
MN, or did you love what was your own property
IN himl IL the former, the have no doubt that
you viii lind him again, whether under the came
features or not cannot pretend to say but at all
e'eh's'astly more lovable even than he was BEFORE
"'ne latter then lapPrehend my friend Isaac, that
you are destined to some correction. | do not
ihinS that you have an absolute property in anv
',e"'u'e OIL "od, whatever may be the nature
VI 'he property. You were doubtless the
la'ner oil your little boy according to the
nesh, or naturally but spiritu ally neither
you nor any other person is his father.
spiritually ne is the child of parentage quite
infinite; infinite goodness claimed him for its own
nom his conception, yea, before it, and long,
Therefore, before you knew him Consequently if
You alege the Isaac Goodyear paternity or pro-
ptrty as paramount as in fact any thing but trib-
utary 10 the other, you must inevitably reap dis
com6ture. The spiritual paternity OF the lad
simply made use OF you for its own purposes. lt
gave him basis in nature by means Of your pas
sional organizat ton, but it by no means endowed
you with his absolute possession or property.
Did YOU fancy that nature gave you TINS ioVey
child as n mere pendant and adornment OF your
statel Did it give him those eyes which kept
heavens own hyacinth unclouded under all SKIES
did it give bin that voice more meIodious
than the birds and above all, those graces oil
disposition which took every heart captive
at wIl-did it give him these things only
TO increase the lustre of Isaac Goodyear
DECIDEDLY not, except Isaac Goodyear turn
out something more than Isaac Goodyear that is
to say, unless Isaac cease to lo'e his perishaole
own " in the child, and love instead what is III
hhite and imperishable. Love the goodness, the
beauty, the grace, the innocence OF the boy, De-
cause these things are above moth and rust but
DO no: love him because OF his superiorties to
TINS, that, and the other child, or because he is
yours and not anothers, for all these things make
up the very realm of moth and rust. The Divine
not so poor but that lie daily sends to earth
more lovely children than him YOU have lost, and
u"'ess, therefore, you learn to transfer your at
'scninent from HIS comparative 10 his positive
goodness, it must be always imperilled. You
must remember that your child is intrinsically as
sosust a fact as Yourself. The Infinite does not
~ any means know him rs Charley Goodyear,
mat is, as defined by you. The acquaintance
'" The Infinite with him quite antedates his
SUMMARY existence in fact, antedates all time
snd space, attaching only to what is essential
instead Of phenomena in him. We shall in
k'"eef Justice to our own souls, eternity go
y" 10 lose our children unless learn