An acknowledgment made of the excellency or perfection of any person or action, with a commendation of the same. "The desire of praise, " says an elegant writer, "is generally connected with all the finer sensibilities of human nature. It affords a ground on which exhortation, counsel, and reproof, can work a proper effect. To be entirely destitute of this passion betokens an ignoble mind, on which no moral impression is easily made; for where there is no desire of praise, there will also be no sense of reproach; but while it is admitted to be a natural and in many respects an useful principle of action, we are to observe that it is entitled to no more than our secondary regard. It has its boundary set, by transgressing which, it is at once transformed from an innocent into a most dangerous passion. When passing its natural line, it becomes the ruling spring of conduct; when the regard which we pay to the opinions of men encroaches on that reverence which we owe to the voice of conscience and the sense of duty; the love of praise, having then gone out of its proper place, instead of improving, corrupts; and instead of elevating, debases our nature." Young's Love of Fame; Blair's Sermons, ser. 6. vol. 2:; Jortin's Dis. dis. 4. passim; Wilberforce's Pract. View, ch. 4: sec. 3; Smith's Theory of Mor. Sent. vol. 1. p. 233; Fitzosborne's Letters, let. 18.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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