Secondly, the
short-sightedness of self-love, in magnifying the present, at the cost
of the distant future. And, Thirdly, the grossness of self-love, in
preferring of present goods the vulgar and the sensible, to the refined
and more exquisitely satisfactory. And there are three ways, in which
we may attempt the abatement of existing evils; or, there are three
agencies we may call in for this purpose.
In the first place, leaving individuals to the operation of the common
motives, we may labor at the social institutions, to adjust them to the
rule, that, each seeking his own, after the common apprehension of
present interests, may do so consistently with acting the part of a
good citizen--contributing something to the general welfare; or, at
least, not greatly detracting therefrom. Here, the agency employed,
the Greeks would have called by a name, from which we have derived the
word _politics_; which word, from abuse, has well nigh lost its
original sense, _The science of social welfare_. _Policy_, we might
say, for want of an exacter word.
The second way, in which we may seek the same result, is, to inculcate
juster apprehensions of present good--to inform and refine self-love;
to show, that the purest of present enjoyments, are like the loaves and
fishes distributed by divine hands, multiplying by division and
participation--the best of all being such as none can enjoy fully, till
they become the common property of the race.
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