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.