much more intimate and indissoluble than any other. The child, in the view of the parent, is not so much a distinct and independent being as a reproduction and continuance of himself He sees not only the reflection of his person and dispositions in his offspring, but of his hopes, joys, and prospects; in a word, of his whole being. Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible that the parental affection should be less deeply seated, less near to the root and bottom of the soul, than any other which can be named.

(II.) Such an affection seems, in the second place, to be required in order to enable parents to discharge effectually the duties which are incumbent upon them. The cares and troubles necessarily incidental to the parental relation, the daily anxieties, the nights of wakeful solicitude, the misgivings, the fears, and the sorrows without number, it would be impossible for human nature to support without the aid of an implanted principle.--And hence it is, that, in the ordering and constitution of nature, this principle rises in such inexpressible beauty upon the parental heart. It diffuses its light upon it, like a star upon a tempestuous ocean, and guides it forward in comparative safety.

(III.) In the third place, the acknowledged fact that this affection has an instinctive as well as a voluntary action, is a strong circumstance in favour of its being regarded as implanted. A purely voluntary affection cannot, from the nature of the case, be implanted, because it depends upon the Will; and will either exist or not exist, in accordance with the mere volitive determination. An instinctive affection cannot be otherwise than implanted, because, as it does not depend upon the will, it has no other support than in nature. Now, although this affection has a voluntary action, based upon inquiry and reason, it has also, at its foundation, an instinctive action, which is to be regarded as the work of the author of the mind himself. So that, although it is proper to accompany the statement with the remark that it has a twofold action, the affection, regarded as a whole, may justly be looked upon as an criginal or implanted one.

(IV.) In the fourth place, its universality is a circum

stance in favour of the view which has been taken. We should naturally expect, in regard to any affection not implanted, and which depends exclusively upon the decisions of the reason and the will, that there would be frequent failures in its exercise. We may even be confident that this would be the result. But the parental affec tion, in a mind not actually disordered, never fails. In all climes and countries, and among all classes of men, however debased by ignorance or perverted by the prevalence of vice, we may find the traces, and with scarcely an exception, the marked and distinct traces of this ennobling principle. There is no portion of the human race so degraded that it would not turn with abhorrence from the man that did not love his offspring.

§ 358. Illustrations of the strength of the parental affection

(V.) Another circumstance in favour of regarding the principle as an implanted one is its great strength. Secondary affections, or those which, by a process of association, are built upon others, are sometimes, it is true, exceedingly strong; but this is found to be the case only in particular instances, and not as a general trait. In respect to the affection before us, it is not found to be strong in one mind and weak in another, but is strong, excedingly strong, as a general statement, in all minds alike. It might be interesting to give some illustrations of this statement, as, in truth, scarcely any of the facts illustrative of the mind's action in its various departments are wholly destitute of interest. But, on this subject, such is the universal intensity of this affection, that they multiply on every side. He who has not noticed them has voluntarily shut his eyes to some of the most interesting exhibitions of human nature. So that a single incident of this kind, which will not fail to find a corroborative testimony in every mother's heart, will suffice.

"When the Ajax man-of-war took fire in the straits of Bosphorus in the year 1807, an awful scene of distraction ensued. The ship was of great size, full of people, and under the attack of an enemy at the time; the mouths of destruction seemed to wage in contention for their prey. Many of those on board could entertain no hopes of de

liverance: striving to shun one devouring element, they were the victims of another. While the conflagration was raging furiously, and shrieks of terror rent the air, an unfortunate mother, regardless of herself, seemed solicitous only for the safety of her infant child. She never. attempted to escape; but she committed it to the charge of an officer, who, at her earnest request, endeavoured to secure it in his coat; and, following the tender deposite with her eyes as he retired, she calmly awaited that catastrophe in which the rest were about to be involved. Amid the exertions of the officer in such an emergency, the infant dropped into the sea, which was no sooner discovered by the unhappy parent, than, frantic, she plunged from the vessel's side as if to preserve it; she sunk, and was seen no more."*

§ 359. Of the filial affection.

As a counterpart to the interesting and important affection which has thus been briefly noticed, nature has instituted the filial affection, or that affection which children bear to their parents. The filial affection, although it agrees with the parental in the circumstance of its being implanted or connatural in the human mind, differs from it in some of its traits.-It is understood, among other things, to possess less strength. And it is undoubtedly the fact, that it does not, as a general thing, flow forth towards its object with the same burning, unmitigated intensity. And this is just what we might expect, on the supposition that the human mind comes from an Author who possesses all wisdom. The great practical object for which the parental affection is implanted in the bosoms of parents, is to secure to their offspring that close attention and care which are so indispensable in the incipient stages of life. The responsibility which rests upon them in the discharge of their duties to their children, is, in the variety of its applications and in the aggregate of its amount, obviously greater than that which rests upon children in the discharge of their duty to their parents. Nothing could answer, so far as we are able to judge, the requisitions which are constantly made on the parent to * Origin and Progress of the Passions, (Anonymous,) vol. i., p. 148

meet the child's condition of weakness, suffering, and want, and to avert is liabilities, both mental and bodily, to error, but the wakeful energy of a principle stronger even than the love of life. But it is different on the part of the children. As a general thing, no such calls of constant anxiety and watchfulness in the behalf of another are made upon them, at least in the early part of their life. Hence their love to their parents, although unquestionably strong enough for the intentions of nature, burns with a gentler ray.

§ 360. The filial affection original or implanted.

We took occasion, in the preceding section, to remark incidentally, that the filial affection, as well as the parental, is original or implanted, in distinction from the doc trine of its being of an associated or secondary formation It is not our purpose, however, to enter minutely into this inquiry; and yet there are one or two trains of thought having a bearing upon it which we are unwilling wholly to omit. Our first remark is, that if the filial affection were wholly voluntary and not implanted; in other words, if it were based wholly on reason and reflection, there is no question that it would be extinguished much more frequently than it is in point of fact. But that mere reason and reflection are not the entire basis of the affection, seems to be evident from the fact that we continue to love our parents under circumstances when reason, if we consulted that alone, would probably pronounce them unworthy of love. Our parents, as is sometimes the case, may treat us with great and unmerited neglect; they may plunge into the commission of crimes; they may become degraded and despised in the eyes of the community ; but they still have a pure and elevated place, which nature has furnished for them in their children's hearts.This train of thought (which, it is proper to remark in passing, is equally applicable to parental love, and tends to confirm the views brought forward under that head) goes with no small weight to show that the affection be fore us has an instinctive or natural basis.

Our second remark, which is also equally applicable to the parental affection, is, that men, with scarcely an ex-ep

tion, show, by their judgments and treatment of this affec tion, that they regard it as constitutional or implanted. It is evident that they expect us to treat our parents with great forbearance and kindness under all circumstances. If another person should insult and injure us, public sentiment would probably justify us in inflicting some sort of punishment. But it would not justify us, under precisely the same circumstances of provocation, in inflicting punishment upon, or even showing marked disrespect to a parent, because it would be a violation of nature. Not merely the disapprobation, but the contempt and abhorrence of mankind, inflicted with scarcely the possibility of a failure, is the fearful penalty which nature has attached to a want of parental love, even when the conduct of the parent himself has been reprehensible. This is evidently the work of nature. Men act in this case as their nature prompts them. But nature is never at variance with herself. If she in this way distinctly intimates that she requires us to love our parents at all times, in adversity and in prosperity, in honour and in degradation, in good and in evil report, it is obvious that she has not left the affection to mere reason and reflection, for it is impossible that love so unchangeable could be sustained in such a manner, but supports it upon an instinctive or constitutional basis.

We merely add, leaving it to the reader himself to make the application of the remark, that nearly all the considerations which were brought forward to show the connatural origin of the parental affection, might be properly adduced to show the same thing in the case of the filial affection.

361. Illustrations of the filial affection.

Interesting instances of the results of the filial affection e to be found wherever there are men. And while it is admitted that there are some unfavourable tendencies in human nature, it is pleasant to contemplate it in an aspect so amiable and honourable. It is the fact, indeed, that children, as a general thing, do not appear to be willing to labour and suffer so much for parents as the parents do for the children. There are more frequent instances of ‹