"Everyone That Is Proud Is An Abomination To The LORD."

To an angel's eye, it must be 

the ugliest thing on earth! 

(Archibald Brown, "The Pioneer of Destruction!" 1869, Stepney Green Tabernacle)

"Pride goes before destruction, 
and a haughty spirit before a fall." 
Proverbs16:18

Chrysostom has aptly called pride 

"the mother of Hell"--

for Hell with all its horrors is 

its hideous offspring!

Had there been no treacherous pride, 

there would have been no bottomless pit! 

Perdition was prepared for 

the Devil and his angels--

and pride prepared the Devil 

and his angels for perdition! 

We need fear no language we can 

possibly use being too strong 

to denounce pride, for as Aristotle 

says, "Pride comprehends all vice!"

Is drunkenness to be condemned with 

unmeasured severity? Then let pride 

be equally so, for it is nothing less 

than a spiritual drunkenness. 

Pride flies as wine to the brain, 

and produces the same result. 

No wretched drunkard reeling along 

the road is a more pitiable or disgusting 

sight, than the man who is intoxicated 

into idiocy with the alcohol of his own 

accursed pride!

May the most unsparing language be 

employed in the denunciation of the sin 

of idolatry? Then let it be equally strong 

in the condemnation of pride, for they 

are one in essence. The proud man 

is simply one who bends the knee and 

worships a more hateful idol than can 

ever be found in the whole catalogue 

of heathendom; and its name is "Self!"

GOD loathes pride, for 

"Everyone that is proud is an 
abomination to the LORD." 
Proverbs 16:5.

 To an angel's eye, it must be 

the ugliest thing on earth!  

And the saint, often deploring it, 

hates it with a perfect hatred.

But although universally condemned--

it is too generally harbored. It is easy 

work to find a thousand excuses for 

the particular species of pride we 

possess, which is almost always, 

according to our own estimate, 

"only proper pride." 

It is the minister's imperative duty 

to cry out against particular sins, 

and lay the axe at the root of special 

iniquities. I want this evening, by 

GOD'S help, to strike a blow 

at the deadly root of pride. 

I have no doubt many things I may 

say will be considered too severe. 

I cannot help it if they are. 

The language of my text is strong 

and unvarnished enough; the truth 

it contains is put in the most 

uncomplimentary mode, and 

I would be a traitor were 

I to attempt to smooth it down. 

My work is to declare that 

"pride goes before destruction, and 
a haughty spirit before a fall."

   ~  ~  ~  ~

You may want to read the whole of Archibald Brown's powerful and insightful sermon, 
"The Pioneer of Destruction!"