when he arrived, was so grateful that he hunted up the conductor and presented to him a handsome ring.—Buffalo Evening News.
(736)
DEPRAVITY
That sin so easily besets and so dangerously deceives its subjects is accounted for by the declaration that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."
The anemone, or "windflower," as its
Greek name means, is fascinating to botanists
and to all lovers of flowers because of two
highly contrasted characteristics. One of
these is what gardeners call its "sporting"
tendency in color. The other is a constant
quantity, which never varies. As for the
former, all who know the anemone are well
aware that this flower is so variable that the
cultivator never knows what will be the tint
of the blossoms on any plant. But the constant
quantity is the great black spot in the
heart of the flower. No matter what may
happen to be the color of the petals, the
dense dark center is always there. So it is
with this our human nature. Education, culture,
refinement, high accomplishments,
hereditary advantages, natural amiability,
may and do contribute toward the charm of
many a personality; but the black spot of
the depravity which is innate is not expunged
by any of these expedients. (Text.)
(737)
See Bible and Human Nature.
Depravity a Disease—See Character
Conditioned by the Physical.
DEPRIVATION
We can best estimate the value of common blessings by imagining ourselves deprived of them.
What would it mean for you and me
If dawn should come no more;
Think of its gold along the sea,
Its rose above the shore!
That rose of awful mystery,
Our souls bow down before.
Think what it means to see the dawn!
The dawn, that comes each day!
What if the East should ne'er grow wan,
Should never more grow gray!
That line of rose no more be drawn
Above the ocean's spray! (Text.)
—Madison Cawein, Ainslee's Magazine.
(738)
DEPTH OF RESOURCES
Some splendid pines were found, after a
heavy gale, lying prostrate, tho they were
strong trees in their full prime. To a questioner
an old woodman said: "They got
their water far too near the surface. If
they had had to strike their roots deeper
for moisture no winds could ever have uprooted
them."
Many folks are easily upset because
all life has been too easy with them.
Their roots have never struck deep because
there was no great compulsion to
make them go deeper for the sources of
life. Our very wants, if we do not succumb
to them, but go deeper until we
find the heart's need, may become the
means of our strength. (Text.)
(739)
DEPTH, THE SECOND
As we drift along in a boat on the smooth
surface of a river, we note many familiar
appearances. Delicate winged creatures
dart about, swallows flash to and fro, here
and there fishes leap up, and zephyrs waft
petals of flowers and seeds of plants over the
placid mirror. In the shallow pool we note
aquatic creatures and weeds growing among
the pebbles, and thus we see the material
depth. But suddenly there is a change. The
bottom of the river vanishes, and there
comes into view a second depth. The arched
heavens are mirrored there, and we look
down into measureless azure. When darkness
comes the moon and stars are reflected
in the depths.
It is so when we come under higher
spiritual influences. These soon supersede
the view of the things that are
merely of the earth earthy. There is
a second and heavenly depth of meaning
below the whole superficies of this
mundane sphere of experience.
(740)
Derelicts—See Conservation.
Descent to Evil—See Evil, Beginnings
of.
Design—See Voice, The Human.
Design, a, Removed—See Reminders,
Unpleasant.
