DECAY
Old ships lying at anchor may have the appearance of soundness and the outward evidence of strength, usefulness, and sea-going qualities, but, when carefully examined for a sea voyage, are often found to be covered with barnacles and to be affected with dry rot. When such a vessel, no matter what good it has done or what use it has been in the traffic and carrying trade, is condemned, it is at once replaced by a new or more modern one that is in perfect order and fully seaworthy. What is true of vessels is often true of men also.—American Artisan.
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See [Judgment, Gradual].
Deceit—See [Enticement]; [Untruthfulness].
Deceit Discovered—See [Falsehood].
DECEIT WITH GOD
Rev. F. W. Hinton, of Allahabad, relates this story in the C. M. S. Gazette:
A young Bengali student came to me to ask for an explanation of difficult passages in a book he was reading. He said his name was “Sat Kori,” which means “seven cowry-shells,” and explained the reason for his curious name. His mother had borne several children before him, but all had died; so, like many other Hindu mothers, she thought God or the Evil One had a grudge against her, and if he could, he would take this last little one also. So she called the nurse who attended her in her illness, and made pretense to sell the baby to her for seven cowry-shells, and gave the boy the name of Seven Cowries to deceive the God into thinking he was of little worth. I asked the student if he thought the ruse had made any difference, and he replied, “Perhaps—at any rate, I did not die as the others had done.” So, a university student more than half believes that one can cheat God by a trick like that!
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