of abuse could the rational faculty of man have fallen into, to bring him into such horrid depths of evil as we see now existing in the world. For it might be justly said, that the instance, just now adduced of abuse of reason in an excessive indulgence of the appetite,—though affording a plain illustration of the nature of such abuse,—yet is hardly sufficient to give an idea of the manner in which evil could originate,—such evil, as could lead to the sins and crimes of theft, revenge, blasphemy, murder. We will then go deeper, and strive to get at the first principle and root of all evil, and, so, seize the serpent by the head.
The root of all evil is simply Selfishness, self-love. ("The love of money," which the Apostle calls "the root of all evil," is one form of selfishness.) This principle, Self-love, is at the bottom of every evil of the human heart,—of every sin, and of every crime. Take any evil you will, and trace it to its source, and you will find it to be self-love,—the preferring of one's self to others. Let us examine a few of them. Envy, for instance—how plainly is it the effect of thinking unduly of ourselves, and wishing for ourselves what we see others have. Jealousy is of a kindred character. And observe, that envy includes anger and malice. It is not merely that the envious person would like to possess the supposed good, but he entertains a secret ill feeling towards another for having the good fortune which he has not; and this is often carried so far that he would gladly dash the cup of joy from the other's lips, though, it were broken in so doing, and the pleasant draught were enjoyed by no one. Here we see ill-will, bitterness, anger, even proceeding to violence,—all the effects of an undue and disordered
