Jonathan Edwards on the sin of selfishness

Man naturally has no other principle to direct and govern him in his actions, but only self-love … this being the only principle he has to govern him, all that aman is prompted to pursue is his own private and separate interest. Then he will have no sincere regard at all to the glory of God or the good of others.

All sinfulness can be traced to selfishness as its source. Men never act from any worse than selfish motives.

Thomas Boston wrote: “Man was created, directly looking to God, and turned into himself; and, like a traitor usurping the throne, he gathers in the rents of the crown to himself … they seek not God, but themselves … the unregenerate, though most insensible of it, are under the power thereof, and whithersoever they turn themselves, they cannot move beyond the circle of self.

The devil loves himself above all other beings in the universe, and seeks for men to imitate him and follow him by exalting themselves in the place of God, and living to please themselves (The Torments of Hell: Jonathan Edwards on Eternal Damnation, Ed. by William C. Nichols [Ames, IA: International Outreach, Inc.] 2-3).