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

AND this is the reason why self-love is by nobody mistaken for true virtue. For tho' there be something of the general nature of virtue in this, here is love and good-will, yet the object is so private, the limits so narrow, that it by no means engrosses the view; unless it be of the person himself, who through' the greatness of his pride may imagine himself as it were all. The minds of men are large enough to take in a vastly greater extent: and tho' self-love is far from being useless in the world, yea, 'tis exceeding necessary to society, besides its directly and greatly seeking the good of one, yet every body sees that if it be not subordinate to, and regulated by, another more extensive principle, it may make a man a common enemy to the system he is related to. And tho' this is as true of any other private affection, notwithstanding its extent may be to a system that contains thousands of individuals, and those private systems bear no greater proportion to the whole of universal existence, than one alone, yet they bear a greater proportion to the extent to the view and comprehension of men's minds, and are more apt to be regarded as if they were all, or at least as some resemblance of the universal system.

AND this is the reason why self-love is by nobody mistaken for true virtue. For tho' there be something of the general nature of virtue in this, here is love and good-will, yet the object is so private, the limits so narrow, that it by no means engrosses the view; unless it be of the person himself, who thro' the greatness of his pride may imagine himself as it were all. The minds of men are large enough to take in a vastly greater extent: and tho' self-love is far from being useless in the world, yea, 'tis exceeding necessary to society, besides its directly and greatly seeking the good of one, yet every body sees that if it be not subordinate to, and regulated by, another more extensive principle, it may make a man a common enemy to the system he is related to. And tho' this is as true of any other private affection, notwithstanding its extent may be to a system that contains thousands of individuals, and those private systems bear no greater proportion to the whole of universal existence, than one alone, yet they bear a greater proportion to the extent to the view and comprehension of men's minds, and are more apt to be regarded as if they were all, or at least as some resemblance of the universal system.