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<p>&quot;<strong>I hate pride</strong> and arrogance.&quot; Proverbs 8:13<br />
  <br />
  &quot;<strong>The Lord detests all the proud of heart</strong>. Be sure <br />
  of this: They will not go unpunished.&quot; Prov. 16:5<br />
  <br />
  Of all sins, <strong>pride</strong> <strong>seems most deeply embedded in the <br />
    very heart of man</strong>. Unbelief, sensuality, covetousness, <br />
  rebellion, presumption, contempt of God's holy will and<br />
  word, deceit and falsehood, cruelty and wrath, violence <br />
  and murder—these, and a forest of other sins have <br />
  indeed struck deep roots into the black and noxious <br />
  soil of our fallen nature; and, interlacing their lofty <br />
  stems and gigantic arms, have wholly shut out the <br />
  light of heaven from man's benighted soul. <br />
  <br />
  But these and their associate evils do not seem so <br />
  thoroughly interwoven into the very constitution of <br />
  the human heart, nor so to be its very life-blood, <br />
  as pride. The <strong>lust of the flesh</strong> is strong, but there <br />
  are respites from its workings. <strong>Unbelief </strong>is powerful, <br />
  but there are times when it seems to lie dormant.<br />
  <strong>Covetousness </strong>is ensnaring, but there is not always<br />
  a bargain to be made, or an advantage to be clutched.<br />
  <br />
  These sins differ also in strength in different individuals. <br />
  Some seem not much tempted with the grosser passions <br />
  of our fallen nature; others are naturally liberal and <br />
  benevolent, and whatever other idol they may serve, <br />
  they bend not their knee to the golden calf.<br />
  <br />
  But where lust may have no power, covetousness no <br />
  dominion, and anger no sway—there, down, down in <br />
  the inmost depths, heaving and boiling like the lava <br />
  in the crater of a volcano, works <strong>that master sin—<br />
    that sin of sins, pride! </strong><br />
  <br />
  Pride is <strong>the mother and mistress of all the sins</strong>; <br />
  for where she does not conceive them in her ever-<br />
  teeming womb, she instigates their movements, <br />
  and compels them to pay tribute to her glory.<br />
  <br />
  The 'origin of evil' is hidden from our eyes. Whence <br />
  it sprang, and why God allowed it to arise in His fair <br />
  creation, are mysteries which we cannot fathom. But <br />
  thus much is revealed—that of this mighty fire which <br />
  has filled hell with sulphurous flame, and will one <br />
  day envelop earth and its inhabitants in the general <br />
  conflagration, <strong>the first spark was pride!</strong><br />
  <br />
  Pride is therefore emphatically <strong>the devil's own sin</strong>. <br />
  We will not say his darling sin, for it is his torment, <br />
  the serpent which is always biting him, the fire which <br />
  is ever consuming him. But it is the sin which hurled <br />
  him from heaven, and transformed him from a bright <br />
  and holy seraph, into a foul and hideous demon! <br />
  <br />
  How subtle, then, and potent must that <strong>poison</strong> be, <br />
  which could in a moment change an angel into a devil! <br />
  How black in nature, how concentrated in virulence <br />
  that <strong>venom</strong>—one drop of which could utterly deface <br />
  the image of God in myriads of bright spirits before <br />
  the throne—and degrade them into monsters of <br />
  uncleanness and malignity!
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