It was clearly never designed that man should regulate his
conduct for the good of others, for the first lesson taught to the first
of men, was to take care of himself; had it been intended that men
should study the good of each other, a number would surely have been
simultaneously created for the exercise of the principle, instead of
one, who, being alone, was essentially selfish. Adam was all the world
to himself. With the addition of Eve, human society commenced; and the
fault of our first mother furnishes a grand and terrible example of the
mischief of thinking of the benefit of another. Satan suggested to her
that Adam should partake of the fruit--an idea, having in it the taint
of benevolence, so generally mistaken--whence sin and death came into
the world. Had Eve been strictly selfish, she would wisely have kept the
apples to herself, and the evil would have been avoided. Had Adam helped
himself, he would have had no stomach for the helping of another--and
so, on his part, the evil temptation had been obviated.
The HELP YOURSELF principle has at no time been extinct in society,
while it is seen to be a universal law of Nature. The wolf _helps
himself_ to the lamb, and the lamb to the grass.
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