[8]

Ap. 9th 71 New paragraph. (Remorse)

(The force which repentance or remorse sometimes rises to, sometimes leading a criminal to make the only expiation possible viz to give himself up to justice, is one the most admirable elements in human nature. Several Reviews. (Cobbe Times &c) urge in strongest manner, that no instinct cd lead to such feeling they speak as if regret or a feeling of disapprobation could only thus arise  But the love of a mother for her & new-born infant, as of an animal for its offspring, is considered by Cobbe as in instinct & what can be stronger: what will it not lead a mother to brave or endure? Or again look at the migratory instinct, which is known in some cases to conquer even the maternal instinct: it assumes that this instinct was a permanent, instead of temporary one, & if we can let us imagine the animal to

[9]

(2)

neglect following how strong would be its misery when the instinct reappeared & it remembered that it had failed to follow it  no word wd be too strong to express that state of mind (a) We must also never forget that the actions propagated by the social instincts have likewise been the subject of praise & the brunt of dispraise during our whole lives, & it is, as we shall see when we consider broken rules of decorum the law of honour, hardly possible to overrate the strength of feeling thus acquired. It is indeed impossible to determine how much wd each case of repentance is due to the sense that you have merited the reproval of your fellows & how much the simple act of having broken through the social instincts. Lastly with all races of all civilised we have to add the important element of the disapprobation of the one God, or

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(a)

It wd be begging the question to assume that savages who will sacrifice their lives rather than betray their comrades, are impelled by their social instincts. Anyhow they assuredly their conscience is not like ours & they are not impelled by a belief in God

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(3)

Gods, believed in. I am inclined to believe that the feeling called Remorse generally implies a sense of the disapprobation of supernatural beings; whilst shame implies the disapprobation of ones fellow-men; but I observe [illeg] Miss Cobbe whose natural tendency wd be to attribute Remorse largely or wholly to the consciousness of the disapprobation of God, is forced to doubt this, & think rather that Remorse is one element in the belief of God.