benevolence shows that Butler is quite conscious of the duality of his treatment, and that the position taken in Sermon XII, the second on "Love of our Neighbour," is not added as an after-thought but is the completion of his discussion on man as a social being, and presents a view of benevolence toward which the treatment in the earlier sermons has frequently and consistently pointed.[1]
The purpose of this second discourse upon the "Love of our Neighbour" is to give "the particular explanation" of the precept which furnishes the text[2] and here we find an emphatic recognition of benevolence as a general and rational principle. Butler first considers "the objects and due extent of this affection." Theoretically and in its highest form, benevolence embraces love for the whole universe and all mankind; practically it must take the form of promoting the welfare of those with whom we come into contact.[3] He next argues that we should "have the same kind of affection to our fellow-creatures, as to ourselves: that, as every man has the principle of self-love, … so we should cultivate the affection of good-will to our neighbour, and that it should influence us to have the same kind of regard to him." Real benevolence gives us, in the strictest sense, "the notion of a common interest," and teaches us that we should have "a real share" in our neighbor's happiness and should "appropriate to ourselves his good and welfare."[4] And since "the obligation is to a general course of behaviour," and "cannot be reduced to fixed determinate rules," it is necessary to form the habit and 'settled course' of benevolent action.[5]
Further, there must be a due and just proportion established between self-love and benevolence. It is not the degree to which either principle prevails, but the ratio between them that deter-
- ↑ This statement receives further confirmation from a single sentence in Sermon XI, where Butler explicitly distinguishes between benevolence " considered as a virtuous principle " and "as a natural affection." (§ 16, p. 201. See Editor's note, § 8, pp. 192, 193.)
- ↑ Sermons, XI, § 22, p. 207; Sermons, XII, § 1, p. 209.
- ↑ Sermons, XII, § 2, pp. 209-211.
- ↑ Ibid., § 4, pp. 212, 213.
- ↑ Ibid., § 5, pp. 213, 214.
