Two dissertations, I. Concerning the end for which God created the world. II. The…

YEA, pity may not only be without benevolence, but may consist with true malevolence, or with such ill-will as shall cause men not only not to desire the positive happiness of another, but even to desire his calamity. They may pity such an one when his calamity goes beyond their hatred. A man may have true malevolence towards another, desiring no positive good for him, but evil: and yet his hatred not be infinite, but only to a certain degree. And when he sees the person whom he thus hates, in misery far beyond his ill-will, he may then pity him: because then the natural instinct begins to operate. For malevolence will not overcome the natural instinct, inclining to pity others in extreme calamity, any further than it goes, or to the ⟨p. 174⟩limits of the degree of misery it wishes to its object. Men may pity others under exquisite torment, when yet they would have been grieved if they had seen their prosperity. And some men have such a grudge against one or another, that they would be far from being uneasy at their very death, nay, would even be glad of it. And when this is the case with them, 'tis manifest that their heart is void of benevolence towards such persons, and under the power of malevolence. Yet at the same time they are capable of pitying even these very persons, if they should see them under a degree of misery very much disproportioned to their ill-will.

THESE things may convince us that natural pity is of a nature very different from true virtue, and not arising from a disposition of heart to general benevolence: but is owing to a particular instinct, which the creator has implanted in mankind, for the same purposes as most other instincts, viz. chiefly for the preservation of mankind, though not exclusive of their well-being. The giving of this instinct is the fruit of God's mercy, and an instance of his love of the world of mankind, & an evidence that though the world be so sinful, 'tis not God's design to make it a world of punishment: and therefore has many ways made a merciful provision for men's relief in extreme calamities: and among others has given mankind in general a disposition to pity; the natural exercises whereof extend beyond those whom we are in a near connection with, especially in case of great calamity; because commonly in such cases men stand in need of the help of others beside their near friends, and because commonly those calamities which are extreme, without relief, tend to men's destruction. This may be given as the reason why men are so made by the author of nature, that they have no instinct inclining as much to rejoice at the sight of others great prosperity and pleasure, as to be grieved at their extreme calamity, viz. because they don't stand in equal necessity of such an instinct as that in order to their preservation. But if pure benevolence were the source of natural pity, doubtless it would operate to as great a degree in congratulation, in cases of others great prosperity, as in compassion towards them in great misery.