PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 
cliildren in a very early period shew great 
marks of disinterestedness. Now this may 
easily occur, especially where there has 
been proper culture on the part of the 
parent. Where the approbation of tlie 
parent has been made the greatest good, 
by being uniformly given to that which 
will promote the real happiness of the child ; 
and where, consequently, prompt and cheer- 
ful obedience has been early and steadily 
cultivated, a tendency to obedience will 
soon become so habitual as to leave scarcely 
a wish to deviate even in cases where obe- 
dience requires real sacrifices, and in ge- 
neral to prompt to propriety of conduct, 
without any reference even to the increase 
of parental affection, or to the oceuiring of 
parental approbation. Obedience is then 
disinterested : and the affection on which 
it is founded — the desire of doing what- 
ever a parent directs, is become ultimate. 
Where this is confirmed by other worthy 
feelings, the highest effects may be reason- 
ably expected in the moral character ; and 
the foundation will have been laid for that 
regard to the will of God which is the be- 
ginning and the end of wisdom. — But we 
need not for this resort to any opinion of 
innate disinterestedness. Let us observe 
how it arose from firm but temperate deci- 
sion on the part of the parents, from an 
enlightened wish on their part to promote the 
happiness of their child, by making its pre- 
sent pleasure subordinate to its happiness on 
the whole, from checking their own irrregu- 
larities of disposition, so as to raise no sus- 
picion in its mind that their own pleasure 
was their object, and by aiming to connect, 
by all the rational means in their power, 
pleasurable feelings with obedience, painful 
feelings wit4 disobedience. We suppose 
there never was yet an instance, where all 
this was done, and done sufficiently early, 
where the effect did not follow. And the 
habit of disinterested obedience may be 
formed much easier in the earliest pe- 
riod of life than in those further advanc- 
ed. There are then no opposing habits 
which must be checked before obedience 
can be secured : little pains are quickly for- 
gotten though their effects remain; future 
pleasures are thought of but little, and the 
value of their sacrifice not falsely estimated ; 
above all, the constant connection is formed 
between good and obedience, by various 
methods of obedience, and between un- 
pleasant feeling and disobedience. — The de- 
sire of obeying parental directions is the 
feeling which we have been considering; 
but precisely the same observations may b« 
made with respect to tlie wish to increase 
parental happiness, and remove parental 
pains : and where parental influence has ac- 
quired such power, we need not go a step 
further to ascertain the cause of a disin- 
terested love of truth and other virtues. — 
We do not think that a child who has been 
thoroughly disciplined, so as to have formed 
the confirmed habit of prompt affectionate 
obedience, and who has had this feeling 
transferred to his heavenly parent, by the 
wise instructions of his earthly parents, will 
ever wander far and long from the road of 
duty ; but in other cases, where the habit is 
less confirmed, or not rightly directed, it 
often falls before the influence of erroneous 
views as to the efficacy of the means of pri- 
vate happiness, before the constant influ- 
ence of example, before the influence of 
disappointment, &c. ; but these effects our 
limits will not allow us to explain ; we 
merely wished to show how disinterested- 
ness might spring up very early in the mind. 
— These things, so far from giving any coun- 
tenance to the theory that the human mind 
is originally disinterested, confirms the 
theory that disinterestedness is the growth 
of custom; and point to various impor- 
tant practical conclusions, which parents 
will do well to lay to heart, to make the re- 
gulating principles of their conduct. 
45. We will now proceed to the two last 
objects which we had in contemplation, the 
formation of disinterested benevolence, and 
a disinterested love of duty. — Every human 
being receives his first pleasurable impres- 
sions in society. His appetites are grati- 
fied by the assistance of his kind ; and pro- 
bably there is no agreeable feeling vyhicli is 
not in some way or other associated w'ith 
those who attend him in the period of in- 
fancy and childhood. Hence arises soci- 
ality, or the pleasure derived from the mere 
company of others : and, as the child in- 
creases in years, the associated pleasure in- 
creases almost continually. In the innocent 
and generally happy period of childhood, 
he receives all his enjoyments in the com- 
pany of others ; most of his sports and 
amusements require a playfellow; and if by 
any untoward circumstances he is prevented 
from joining his companions, he feels an 
uneasiness which it is scarcely in his own 
power to remove, but which vanishes as soon 
as he can rejoin them. — But his happiness 
derived from others, depends greatly upon 
the happiness of others. He is happiest 
when those around him are happy ; partly 
