there is one idea of moral obligation; the decree of nature mud force upon every thinking being, and upon every feeling heart, the conviction that honour, affection, and gratitude are due from children, to thoſe who gave them birth, nurture, and education. The ſentiments and affecftions which naturally ariſe, from reflecting on the love, the cares, and the bleſſings of parents, abſtracted from the conſideration of duty, are ſome of the moſt forcible and mod univerſal. When religion, law, morals, affection, and even faſhion, thus conſpire to fill every mind with attachment to parents, and to ſtamp deep upon the heart their impreſſions, is it to be expected that men ſhould reverence their parents while they live, and begin to deſpiſe or neglect their memories as ſoon as they are dead? This is in nature impoſſible; on the contrary, every little unkindneſs and ſeverity is forgotten, and nothing but endearments remembered with pleaſure.
The ſon of a wiſe and virtuous father, finds the world about him ſometimes as much diſpoſed as he himſelf is, to honour the memory of his father; to congratulate him as the ſucceſſor to his eſtate; and frequently, to compliment him with elections to the offices he held. A ſenſe of duty, his paſſions and his intereſt, thus conſpiring to prevail upon him to avail himſelf of this advantage, he finds a few others in ſimilar circumſtances with himſelf; they naturally aſſociate together, and aid each other. This is a faint ſketch of the ſource and riſe of the family ſpirit: very often the diſpoſition to favour the family is as ſtrong, in the town, county, province, or kingdom, as it is in the houſe itſelf. The enthuſiaſm is indeed ſometimes wilder, and carries away, like a torrent, all before it.
