 We should not conclude that pity or other instinctual affections, or even rational self-love, are bad. Since they tend toward “the preservation of mankind and their comfortably subsisting in the world,” things would be much worse without them (True Virtue, 1765; Edwards 1957–, vol. 8, 600). Edwards point (like Kant's) is merely that their goodness isn't a truly moral goodness. The implication is nonetheless clear. Natural virtues are either tainted with self-love or fail to extend to being in general. They are therefore counterfeits or simulacra of true virtue. While they prompt us to promote the good of others, and to condemn vice, they fall infinitely “short of the extent of true virtuous benevolence, both in…nature and object” (True Virtue, 1765; Edwards 1957–, vol. 8, 609). Edwards concludes that true virtue is a supernatural gift.