PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 
comfortable general knowledge of it, he 
must be a great gainer in the whole by his 
benevolence, because thus he has a source 
of constant gratification in the perception of 
such a preponderance of happiness among 
those in whose happiness he has learned to 
rejoice in some measure as in his own. 
6b. It will confirm our belief that the 
cultivation of benevolence should be made 
a primary pursuit of life, if we recollect 
that its pleasures lie open to all kinds and 
degrees of men, since every man has it in 
his power to benefit others, and since we 
all stand in need of each others good offices. 
— Unlike the brute creation, we are de- 
pendent upon each other from the cradle 
to the grave, for life, for health, for conve- 
nience, for pleasure, for intellectual accom- 
plishments, and are unable to subsist with 
comfort singly, or even in very small soci- 
eties ; and this may be considered as a mark 
of the superior excellence of man’s social 
pleasures. All the tendencies of the events 
of life, ordinary and extraordinary, of the 
relations of life, of the various pleasures 
which have been enumerated, to connect 
us together, to connect accidental associ- 
ations, and those forced upon us by the 
common situation of man, and his situation 
in society, into permanent affections, prove 
the same thing; so great, indeed, is this 
tendency, that two men without claims to 
the title of benevolent, can scarcely be- 
come familiarly known to each other, with- 
out conceiving some good-will, complai- 
sance, compassion, and tenderness, for each 
other. — Further,we love, esteem, and assist 
the benevolent more than others : so that a 
benevolent action not only excites the re- 
ceiver to a grateful return, but also the by- 
stander to approve and reward; and be- 
nevolence receives a hundred-fold, even 
in this world. — “ But,” says the excellent 
Hartley, “ it would be endless to pursue 
this. Benevolence is, indeed, the grand 
design and purport of human life, of this 
probationary state ; and every circumstance 
of human life duly considered, must and 
does point to it directly or indirectly.” 
66. As it is now established that bene- 
volence is a primary pursuit, it follows, 
that all the pleasures of malevolence are 
excluded, as direct obstacles to our happi- 
ness. The lower pleasures may all be made 
consistent with, and even subservient to, 
benevolence, by the limitations and power 
of it : but those of malevolence are quite in- 
compatible with it. As far as malevolence 
is allowed, benevolence must be destroyed. 
— There is, however, this exception ; where 
wishing evil to some, disposes us to be more 
benevolent on the whole (as in the case of 
what is called a just indignation against the 
vicious), it may somewhat aid the moral 
progress in the lower stages of benevolence. 
But it is exceedingly dangerous to encou- 
rage such a disposition of mind, by satire, 
invective, or dispute, however unworthy 
the opponent may be ; for fostered, it will 
soon wear the features of ill-will, will soon 
totally become rank malevolence. 
67. We must not only forego the plea- 
sures of malevolence, but patiently and re- 
solutely endure the pains of benevolence, 
particularly those of compassion. But we 
shall not be losers on either of these ac- 
counts. The pleasures of the moral sense, 
which result from these virtues, will, in the 
first case, compensate for what we forego; 
in the last, overbalance what we endure. 
Besides, mercy and forgiveness are in them- 
selves pleasures, and in the event produc- 
tive of many others ; and compassion gene- 
rally leads us to such conduct as makes the 
afflicted to rejoice, and increases our dis- 
position to rejoice with them. 
68. As benevolence is thus supported by 
many direct arguments, there are many simi- 
lar and apposite arguments to prove that ma- 
levolence is the bane of human happiness ; 
that it occasions misery to the agent as well 
as the sufferer; that it is indefinitely in- 
consistent with itself, and with the course 
of nature ; and that, consequently, it is im- 
possible that it should subsist for ever. 
Now all these become so many indirect 
arguments for benevolence, and urge us to 
make the cultivation and exercise of it the 
supreme pleasure and end of our lives.— 
In order to make this appear more fully, 
we have only to take a survey of human 
life, the reverse of what we have already 
attended to. Injuries are increased by 
mutual injuries, till at last mutual sufferings 
oblige both parties to desist : the increase 
and constitution of human nature give num- 
berless admonitions to forbear; and the 
hand of every man, and the power of every 
thing, is against the malevolent. So that 
if we suppose a number of beings to be 
purely malevolent, and consequently to 
have an indefinite number of enemies, they 
would first cease from their enmity on ac- 
count of their mutual sufferings, and be- 
come purely selfish, each being his own sole 
friend and protector; and afterwards, by 
mutual good offices endear themselves to 
each other; so that at last each of them 
