The generally allowed breach of any rule anywhere must be held to prove that it is not innate.

If there be any rule having a fair claim to be imprinted by nature, it is the rule that Parents should preserve and cherish their children.

If such a principle be innate, it must be found regulating practice everywhere; or, at the lowest, it must be known and assented to.

But it is very far from having been uniformly practised, even among enlightened nations.

And as to its being an innate truth, known to all men, that also is untrue.
Indeed, the terms of it are not intelligible without other knowledge.
The statement, 'it is the duty of parents to preserve their children,' cannot be understood without a Law; a Law requires a Lawmaker, and Reward or Punishment.