CHAPTER SEVENTH.

THE BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS.

§. 165. Of the nature of love or benevolence in general. WE proceed now to the consideration of the other great division of the Affections. As the original principle of Resentment is the basis of the Malevolent affections; so Love, in its more general form, appears to be at the foundation, as a general thing at least, of those, which are termed, by way of distinction, Benevolent. The affection of Love, like the other affections, is a complex state of mind, embracing, FIRST, a pleasant emotion in view of the object, and, SECOND, a desire of good to that object.Hence there will always be found in the object some quality, either some excellence in the form, or in the relations sustained, or in the intellect, or in the moral traits, or in all combined, which is capable of exciting a pleasurable emotion. This emotion is the basis of the subsequent desire; but it is the strict and indissoluble combination of the two, that constitutes the Affection properly so called.

It is proper to remark here, that there are many modifications or degrees of this affection; such as the unimpassioned preference of friendly regard and esteem, the warmer glow of friendship in the more usual acceptation of the term, and the increased feeling of devoted attachment. There are not only differences in degree, but the affection itself, considered in respect to its nature simply, seems to be modified, and to be invested with a different aspect, according to the circumstances, in which it is found to operate. The love, which children feel for their parents, is different in some respects

from that, which they feel for their brothers and sisters. The love of parents for their children possesses traits, difficult to be described in language but recognizable by Consciousness, which distinguish it from their love to mankind generally, or their love to their country or their friends. Hence we are enabled, in consistency with what is the fact in respect to them, to consider the Affections under different forms or heads, viz, the Parental affection, the Filial affection, the Fraternal affection, Humanity or the love of the human race, Patriotism or the love of country, Friendship, Gratitude, and Sympathy or Pity.

§. 166. Love, in its various forms, characterized by a two-fold action.

Love, not only in its more general form, but in all the varieties, which, in consequence of our situation and of the relations we sustain, it is made to assume, is characterized, like the opposite principle of resentment, by its two-fold action. It is sometimes seen, particularly in parents and children, to operate INSTINCTIVELY; that is to say, without deliberation or forethought. At other times it is subjected to more or less of regulation, being either stimulated or repressed in its exercise, by the facts and reflections which are furnished by reasoning; and then it is said to possess a deliberate or vOLUNTARY exercise.- -This trait or characteristic, which pervades the whole series of the Natural or Pathematic sensibilities, has been so often referred to, that it is unnecessary to delay upon it here.

§. 167. Of the parental affection.

The principle of benevolence, love, or good-will, which in its general form has thus been made the subject of a brief notice, is susceptible, like the malevolent affection of Resentment, of various modifications. One of the most interesting and important of these modifications is the Parental Affection. The view which we propose to take of this modification of benevolence or love is, that it is an original or implanted principle. In support of this view, a number of things may be said.

I. It is supported, in the first place, by the consideration, that the relation between the parent and child is 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 favor 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. though it is proper to accompany the statement mark that it has a twofold action, the affection, regarded as a whole, may justly be looked upon as an original or implanted one.

So that, alwith the re

IV. In the fourth place, its universality is a circumstance, in favor 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 affection, 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.

§. 168. Illustrations of the strength of the parental affection. V. Another circumstance in favor 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, exceedingly 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 deliverance: 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, endeavored to secure it in his coat; and following the tender deposit with her eyes as he retired, she calmly awaited that catastrophe in which the rest were about to be involved. Amidst 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."*

§. 169. 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 meet the child's condition of weakness, suffering, and want, and to avert its 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

Origin and Progress of the Passions, (Anonymous,) Vol. I, p. 148.