Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/138

 must do something for them, for that he could by that means make them serviceable to him in extending his conquests.—This is genuine selfishhess, the essential principle of hell.—So long as the man who is ruled by this love, believes that his neighbor's interests harmonize with his own, and that by being outwardly honest and useful in society, he is obtaining more of the honors, wealth and other things that he loves, than he could in any other way so long as this is his belief, he may continue to manifest an outward respect for the rights of his neighbor, and his conduct may exhibit an apparent regard for social order and justice. And if it were possible for him to continue to be rationally selfish, there might be some hope that he would also continue to observe a strict regard for the rights of others, and hence that there would be external order and harmony even in hell itself—But the love of self is a raging fire; its constant tendency is to break away from the control of reason; it soon disdains all restraint. Each selfish man wishes to absorb to himself the wealth, honors, and other means of gratification that he sees around him. And hence though his real interests do not come into collision with those of his neighbor, yet his lusts and passions do come into direct conflict, not only with the interests, but with the rights of others. The desires of each selfish man must be gratified if possible, for the infernal fire of that lust that burns within him, demands their gratification; and hence come envy, hatred, malignity, revenge, and other infernal passions; which when brought out into external forms, produce slander, theft, adultery, murder, and all the other evils that fill up the dread catalogue of hell's miseries. Reader, ask yourself candidly and honestly,—is not this love of self, including the love of the world and all things in it, for the sake of self—is not this the source and origin, the very essential principle of hell?—

And yet these selfish affections appear to be closely interwoven with the inmost texture of our hearts. We have inherited them from our forefathers, as a part of our very life.