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 t