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Bible Dictionaries
Desire
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
Is an eagerness to obtain or enjoy an object which we suppose to be good. Those desires, says Dr. Watts, that arise without any express ideas of the goodness or agreeableness of their object to the mind beforehand, such as hunger, thirst, &c.; are called appetites. Those which arise from our perception or opinion of an object as good or agreeable, are most properly called passions. Sometimes both these are united. If our desire to do or receive good be not violent, it is called a simple inclination or propensity. When it rises high, it is termed longing: when our desires set our active powers at work to obtain the very same good, or the same sort of good, which another desires, it is called emulation. Desire of pleasures of sense, is called sensuality; of honour, is called ambition; of riches, covetousness. The objects of a good man's desires are, that God may be glorified, his sins forgiven and subdued, his affections enlivened and placed on God as the supreme object of love, his afflictions sanctified, and his life devoted to the service of God, Proverbs 11:23 . Psalms 105:19 .
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Buck, Charles. Entry for 'Desire'. Charles Buck Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​cbd/​d/desire.html. 1802.