New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-08-02

finds father and mother. wife and Oh ID lover and
friend, awaiting him on the further Stygian shcss,
ard ready to renew, under skies permanently fair,
the old famssar co.partnery. The savage gaes
further, and believes that the dumb animals VITO
have shared his affection, shall not be- severed
from him nv death, but that, admitted 10 that
equal sky, his faithful dog shall bear him CON-
pany." 1t is pleasant and touchn. Plagiarism,
juicy with the immature poetry Of the heart, but
you and | ought by this time to see something
more than the best Paganism in Christianity, that
is to say, something more divinely poetic than
any heart or any head of man has yet conceived.
Christianity does not import the mere sterotyp-
ing OF our natural affections, does not imply the
mere translation Of them OUT Of perilOus circum-
stances into secure ones. Ii promises the giorif-
cation OF them, that is to cay, such a revelation
OF Their spiritual or substantial splendor as shall
make their best literal luster comparatively COM
monplace and tawdry. To be sure, il manhood
be exhausted in the categOries Of paternity and
friendship, and NO manhood involve no other ideas
than those Of maternity and conjugalty, this pre-
tension is idle and Christianity cheat.
But manhood is Infinitely more than all the ties
which fatten upon il. To be man is to he infinitely
more than father or friend and to be woman is to
be infinitely more than wife or mother. Chris
tiaDity, consequently is no cheat. 1t reyela-
t on, 10 those pho hare eyes, I'm the words of its
Founder Of the pTOioundest life of man. And that
life is not the lie of nature is not the life OF ths
mere patWal affections 1t IS life of desotion to
Hf"ie goodness md truth OF course, Chris
rauity is Of too absolute genius, is TOO r1sgnan
imOus Il tiuth to quarrel witt any Interior fact
or dt ude any tie Of nature. WHAT it does is 70
trsn-fsu'e these facts and ties, with human or
universal light, 80 that they incontnently drop
hom fountains into ueams, and instead Of claim
ing any longer the MASTERY Of ma0, confess them
selves his unlimited and cordial servants. la
short, Christianity discloses the truly Infinite
subsistence which underIIes every finite FORM and
teaches us to value the latter, only as a mcdu
OF the former. Thus, it bids us prize only what is
permanent, uDitsry and essential in man. not
what is transient, diiierentia and phenomenal.
1t bids me cherish only womanhood in my wife,
and only childhood, which is innocence, in my
child. Ones happiness in ones wife, or child
grows solid and Tranquil only in so far as he feels
his legal tenure Of them abatng, and discharges
them from all obligation to himself, which is not
entirely subsequent to their obligation to God, or
their own souls. Every father, every wife, and
every child in the land has positive worth,
worth prior to all paternd, copjugaI, or filial
claims; and to make this original worth consp-
cuous is the sole function and justification Of
these finite ties.
Accordingly, every day makes the truth more
radiant to the soul, that what one lawfully loves
in wife or child is no private good of theis, is not
ANYTHING which dstiD ,uishes them above Others,
but exclusively something which very broadly
unites them with others One does not love his
wife for any superiority which she exhibits to
other women; in other words, his regard for her
e1acts, and even tOleratss, DO contempt for any
one else nor does one love his children because
they seem superior to other chiifr~n Quite the
contrary. One women and children every day,
who in all comparative finite regards greatly
surpass his own wife and Children. But the happy
husband knows no woman who in all positive or
infinite regards, in all those features which let in
the light OF essential wOmanOod, more satisfies
him than his wife and toe happy f,tlser gees no
Children in whoa childhood, with its garnered and
hJinmI = Innocence, looks forth more uns peakably
than in his own. He calls his wifs SD chld.er
his to he sure because the laws give hi'n aproper
tv in them But let him attempt TO enforce this
property, or make it absolute let bin attempt
make them bis in any sense which denies Gods
supreme property in them, that ia TO say, which
desecrates the ideal charm of either, by pr,fanng
the native purity Of the woman, or cerrdptng the
sacred innsc ence Of the chld, and the universe
voice pronOunces him Accursed
Such il Christianity, and ouch the immortality
it decloses for man, an immortality which he has
not in his nature, but exclusively in God. And
accordingly the reason why deny that the crap
pers " shed any true light on that problem lies
Just here, that they make immortality natural
fact or Represent it consisting in the inviola-
bity by death OF our natural ties. But If this be
immortality, what upon earth is mortality II
Immortality mean nothing more than the eternal
and unchecked SWING Of our natural affections,
what does mortality mean Does it mean simply
the wing aside the proper particles Of our bodily
| inteeunent And does the great mission ofJesus
consist aft all ia the anticipation of fact of phys
ioloey1 If John Smith be nm immortal by natu-
raj eei Grafton if he triumph over death and cor
mpiicn by virtue simply of his relations to old
Mr.. and Mrp. Smith, his parents and young Mrs
Smith, his wife, and the lawful progeny descend
ing from her body and If this be the immortality
Jesus Christ contemplated for man. then it seem;
70 me that the latter took ludicrously obscure
and toilsome method Of bringing it 10 light. No
only that he took extremely contradictory
method. Fer he expressly denied that immortal
ity came by nature, eve the most favored, and bI
si,apit const,ney 10 that denial insured his owl
lifelong death, and final bartarous murder, at tn
hands OF the Jew. And he invariably made tn
cruc6xion of the natural affections tbs test of hi
disciple.hip end of participation cons -quently
the Immortality which he revealed. Clearly it
absurd therefore to suppose that the mmortalit
brought TO light bv Jesus Christ. and that brough
70 light by our modern chairs and tables, are iden