The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent | Page 3

Divine nature, wisdom, and glory. All three are
equally eternal, equally almighty, equally perfect.
II. Pride. Each man seeks to place himself before another. 'I am as good
as another, or I am above so-and-so,' is a common thought. No man is
content with what he is, he desires to thrust himself ahead of another.
The whole of society is like a cabbage-stalk covered with caterpillars,
and none is satisfied till it has crawled to the top. The caterpillar at the
bottom bites the one above him, gets over his back, and then exults,
'There is a caterpillar nearer the bottom of the cabbage-stalk than I,' and
so all the way up the stalk, those below scrambling over those above,
and they at the top--at the proud elevation and unique honour of being
at the head of a cabbage-stalk--tumble off, and are buried in the soil.
Was there any such pride of place in the angel host? Yes--once. The
Devil wanted to be at the top, and he fell. The other angels are content
where they are, and they remain angels. If they began pushing ahead of
each other, cherubim wanting to be above seraphim, and angels envious
of archangels, what a falling there would be from heaven! Falling stars
indeed! All turning into devils. Look at the Blessed Trinity. God the
Son says, "My Father is greater than I." He places Himself in the lowest
rank. He calls Himself "The Son of Man"; there is no boasting, "I am
the Son of God."
III. Obstinacy. That is the third source of discord. Each man follows his
own will, his dogged, headlong will, regardless of the wishes and

advice of others.
In the Book of Judges we read that Samson caught three hundred foxes
and tied them together by their tails, and put burning brands between
them, where their tails were tied. What was the consequence? The
wretched creatures dashed in opposite directions, each wanted to get
away from the brand that scorched his tail, and so each wanted to go
exactly in a different direction from the fox to which he was tied, and
so the whole lot went dashing in a mad, disorderly manner among the
standing corn, and destroyed a whole harvest.
That is something like a great number of people I know. They will tear
off in their own direction, and drag others after them who wish to go in
another direction, and the fire of discord is between them.
Look at the Blessed Trinity. Christ said, "I came not to do mine own
will, but the will of Him that sent me."
"Let us make man," was said at the Creation. God the Father did not
say "I will make man," nor God the Son "I will make man in My
image," nor God the Holy Ghost "I will make man, and breathe My
spirit into him," but all united in one work, and that work was very
good.
CONCLUSION.--When Julian the Apostate was Emperor, three
Christian soldiers were brought before him. Their names were
Emmanuel, Sabael, and Ismael. He ordered them to be examined apart,
lest they should encourage one another in their faith and endurance
under torture. Emmanuel, seeing his object, said, "Tyrant! we Three are
one in one Trinity."
Now, listen to our Lord's prayer, "I pray not for these alone, but for
those also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they all
may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee."

XXXVIII.

GREAT SURPRISES.
1st Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xvi. 23.
"In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments."
INTRODUCTION.--What a great surprise for Dives! So utterly
unawaited! Dives, who had lived so comfortably, clothed in purple and
fine linen, and had had such a good coat, and such excellent dinners,
and such a cellar of wine, and such good friends at his dinners, goes to
sleep one night after a banquet, and wakes up, and lo!--he is in hell.
Surprise number one.
He feels the flames, he perceives himself surrounded by demons, his
tongue is burning with thirst, and he lifts up his eyes and sees!--surprise
number two!--Lazarus, the poor dirty wretch who had lain full of sores
at his door. He did not know that the fellow was dead. And--surprise
number three!--this wretched fellow is in Paradise.
There is another story of a great surprise in the Gospels. That is of the
man who laid up for himself great possessions, and said to himself,
"Soul! thou hast much goods laid up for many years,--I will pull down
my barns and build greater--take thy ease, eat, drink and be merry."
That night he died, and when his soul came to realise the fact that he
had nothing left of all he