step is to set a high value upon himself, for what he conceives great or considerable belonging to him; and he proceeds to demand respect and deference from others, suitable to the opinion and esteem which he has of himself. Thus commences pride, haughtiness, and arrogance. Within a while envy, hatred, animosity, and revenge ensue against all that stand in his way. He must depress others, in order the more to aggrandize himself; and must endeavour to obstruct his neighbour's happiness, lest it should prove in any measure prejudicial to his own. Thus the unhappy man, for the pleasure only of a fond thought at first, runs himself by degrees into innumerable irregularities, and withal anxieties. He gives up the most divine and transporting pleasure of this life, and entirely forfeits all just pretences to a better. So blind is self-love, in some instances, so inconsiderate is selfishness, that it most effectually baffles and defeats its own designs. 2. Another instance of inordinate, ill-conducted self-love is sensuality. This belongs to the body more than to the mind; is of a gross taste, and of the coarser kind, aiming only at pleasing sensations. It so far agrees with pride, that it makes men pursue the present gratification at the expense of the public peace, and to their own future misery and ruin. The happiness which it pretends to is in itself mean and disparaging; and inevitably draws after it innumerable mischiefs, either in this world or the other. 3. A third instance of blind and inordinate self-love is avarice, or self-interestedness. This is of larger and more diffusive influence than either of the former. So great a part of temporal felicity is conceived to depend upon riches, that the men of this world lie under the strongest temptations to this vice of any. If the case be such, that treachery and fraud, guile and hypocrisy, rapine and violence, may be serviceable to the end proposed; the blind self-lover will charge through all, rather than be defeated of his covetous designs, or bear the uneasiness of a disappointment. Thus he comes to prefer his own private, present interest, before virtue, honour, conscience, or humanity. With respect to himself and his own real happiness, he runs into the same fallacy and misconduct which I before mentioned. He considers not what would be good for him upon the whole, and in the last result; but lives extempore, contrives only for a few days, or years at most, looking no further. The height of his ambition reaches not beyond temporal felicity; and he mis calculates even in that. He divests himself of all the soft and good-natured passions of humanity, kindness, pity, and tenderness; in the exercise whereof consists the most refined and delicate pleasure of life. He considers not that generosity, friendliness, honesty, &c. are qualities very agreeable to a rational nature, and come recommended by their own sweetness; that they are apt to attract the eyes and hearts of men, create reverence and esteem, and tend to render any person, who is remarkable for them, the delight and darling of mankind. Upon a just balancing the account, the self-lover will be found no gainer, in respect even of worldly happiness; and yet that is but a trifle and a shadow, mere emptiness and vanity, in comparison to joys eternal. These instances may be sufficient to shew both the nature of self-love, in the bad sense, and the folly of it. I have insisted more upon the hurt which such self-lovers do to themselves, than upon the mischief they bring to others: because the former is indeed the most considerable; and yet, being less open and visible, is the least taken notice of. They are enemies to all mankind: but still they are the greatest enemies to their own selves. They hinder and obstruct the happiness of many, for a time; but they entirely defeat and destroy their own; and that to all eternity. The Apostle has observed, and all men know, that times are perilous, where such persons abound. For what a world of savages should we soon find, if the narrow, selfish principles prevailed; if beneficence, love, and kindness, which hold the world together, were to be banished from among men! The truly noble and generous principle for which every man is designed, and in which his own particular happiness is contained, is that of an universal benevolence and good-will towards all. And any affections or inclinations deviating from thence, or opposite thereto, are so many degrees of selfishness, or approaches towards it. From whence we may remark, that if any be lovers of their own country, and that only, regardless of the rules of humanity, justice, and equity with other nations, they are so far selfish, and are, in a loose or large sense, "lovers of their own selves" only. If any, still more straitened in their affections, instead of seeking the common good of their country, confine their good wishes, services, and endeavours to their own tribe, sect, or party, regardless of the common rules of equity, justice, or charity towards others; they are self-lovers in a stricter sense than the former; and indeed in as strict a sense as men commonly can be. Even thieves and robbers, however narrow and selfish in their principles and practices, yet are usually true, just, and kind to their partners and associates. The very persons whom the Apostle condemns as lovers of themselves only, extended their affections and services respectively, beyond their own proper persons. They were linked together for mutual defence; and while they were fierce, cruel, and implacable towards all besides, yet they respected, valued, and loved one another. Let men be ever so selfish, they do not pretend to be entirely independent, as it were detached from their kind. They can carry on but few designs without confederates and assistants. But they are nevertheless self-lovers for this, while they have not a true principle of benevolence, love, and goodness towards the rest of mankind. There is indeed a semblance of social virtues, and of Christian charity, kept up among the members of the same faction or party. They love one another at first sight; are kind, open, and affable: they see no faults, or else kindly excuse them: they have a compassionate tenderness for each other in case of any disaster; or in case of good fortune they rejoice in common. All this is right; and it might pass for Christian charity, did not their partiality and disaffection, their hatred and rancour against others, betray the leanness of a party principle, instead of the large and generous spirit of true Christianity. But to return having hitherto traced the grounds and causes of inordinate self-love, and pursued it through its most remarkable acts and instances wherein it usually discovers itself, it remains now only III. To offer a few brief considerations, proper to prevent or cure it. It is very evident, from what hath been observed above, that the self-lovers are not greater enemies to others in intention, than they are in effect to themselves. Yet it is not less evident, that they love themselves passionately all the time; and whatever hurt they do to their own selves, they certainly mean none. They run upon it " as a horse rushes into the battle," as an 66 OX "goeth to the slaughter, and as a bird hasteth to the snare, and "know not that it is for their life." This is not owing to mere stupidity, or to the dulness of their intellectual faculties. Men of parts, penetration, and judgment, as to other matters, often fall into it, while the plain, simple man keeps to the right way. It is not so much want of thought, as thinking in a wrong channel, which first occasions it. A very little compass of thought will suffice to convince any man of the difference between time and eternity; nor can any one so mistake in his judgment, as to think that this poor pittance of happiness to be found here, can be any thing comparable to the joys of heaven and eternal glories. The contrary is so plain, that even the dullest man alive can easily apprehend it; and many who have no extraordinary quickness, nor reach above other men, but are of much inferior understanding and abilities, readily receive it. Why is it then, that men of parts and wit do not see what lies so open and visible to common apprehensions? The case is this: they are constantly taken up with other things, and so never attend to it. Their thoughts are employed another way; the world has taken early possession of them, and has laid such a train of pursuits in their way, that they are entangled with them ever after. This is really the case of all those who, mistaking the true felicity of man, pursue a shadow and a phantom to their own destruction. It is for want of thinking in a right way that men fall into this fatal misconduct; and nothing but serious and sober thought can bring them out of it. I shall just suggest two or three useful considerations, and then conclude. 1. We should endeavour to fix in our minds this great and plain truth, that there can be no such thing as true happiness, separate from the love of God and the love of our neighbour. It is a firm, unalterable maxim, riveted in the very frame and constitution of things. To seek for happiness in any other way is as absurd as to expect "grapes from thorns," or "figs from "thistles." What happiness can any thinking man propose separate from God, the centre of all happiness? and if man be made a sociable creature, it is as vain for him to propose any separate independent happiness from the rest of the kind. Men are designed to live in consort, and to be happy, if so at all, in the mutual friendship and enjoyment of each other. It is the law of their creation, the condition of their being: and therefore any pretended happiness, separate from the common good of mankind, is a mere dream and a delusion, a contradiction to the reason and nature of things. 2. A second consideration, proper to be hinted, is, that man is made for eternity, and not for this life only. No happiness can be true and solid, which is not lasting and durable as ourselves. And what if the self-lover could secure the greatest worldly felicity, still it is confined within the circle of a few years, may die before him, and must however with him, and leave him empty and destitute to all eternity. Is this all that his extreme love and fondness for himself amounts to? Is it not like feasting for a day, to starve ever after; or rejoicing for an hour, only to lament and mourn for endless ages? Is this the kindness they pretend to have for their own selves? The bitterest enemies could not hurt them worse, or be really more severe and cruel than they are to themselves. : To conclude the way to arrive at true happiness is, to take into consideration the whole extent and compass of our being; to enlarge our views beyond our little selves to the whole creation round us, whereof we are but a slender part; and to extend our prospect beyond this life to remote and distant glories. Make things future appear as if they were now present, and things distant as if they were near and sensible. This, with the help of God's grace, may cure us of our narrow thoughts, and shew us the necessity of enlarging our hearts and affections. As to selflovers, they are not advised to love themselves at all the less, but only to love themselves more judiciously, and to better purpose; not to lay aside their concern for happiness, for that is impossible; but to mix something more of discretion and judgment with it; that instead of pretending to be in any degree happy in opposition both to God and man, (a thing utterly impossible,) they may study and endeavour constantly to love God and to love their neighbours, that is, all mankind; and then they will the most wisely and the most effectually love their own selves. |