The aiming at our own interest only in every thing we do. It must be distinguished from that regard which we ought to pay to the preservation of our health, the cultivation of our minds, the lawful concerns of business, and the salvation of our souls. Self-seeking evidences itself by parsimoniousness, oppression, neglect, and contempt of others, rebellion, sedition, egotism, immoderate attempts to gain fame, power, pleasure, money, and frequently by gross acts of lying and injustice. Its evils are numerous. It is highly dishonourable and abasing; transforming a man into any thing or every thing for his own interest. It is sinful, and the source of innumerable sins; as perjury, hypocrisy, falsehood, idolatry, persecution, and murder itself. It is dangerous. It excites contempt, is the source of tyranny, discord, war, and makes a man a slave, and exposes him to the just indignation of God. The remedies to prevent or suppress this evil are these. Consider that it is absolutely prohibited. Jeremiah 45:5 . Luke 9:1-62 . Hebrews 13:5 . Colossians 3:5 . A mark of a wicked, degenerate mind; that the most awful curses are pronounced against it. Isaiah 5:18 . Habakkuk 3:9; Habakkuk 3:12 . Isaiah 15:1-2 . Amos 6:1 . Micah 2:1-2; that it is contrary to the example of all wise and good men: that the most awful examples of the punishment of this sin are recorded in Scripture; as Pharaoh, Achan, Haman, Gehazi, Absalom, Ananias and Sapphira, Judas, and many others.
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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