_this faithfulness_, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came.' What
are 'these things' and 'this faithfulness'? The former are the whole
of the events connected with the religious reformation in Judah, which
King Hezekiah inaugurated and carried through so brilliantly and
successfully. This 'faithfulness' directly refers to a word in a
couple of verses before the text: 'Thus did Hezekiah throughout all
Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and
_faithfulness_ before the Lord his God.' And, after these things,
the re-establishment of religion and this 'faithfulness,' though
Hezekiah was perfect before God in all ritual observances and in
practical righteousness, and though he was seeking the Lord his God
with all his heart, here is what came of it:--'After this faithfulness
came' not blessings or prosperity, but 'Sennacherib, king of Assyria'!
The chronicler not only tells this as singular, but one can feel that
he is staggered by it. There is a tone of perplexity and wonder in his
voice as he records that _this_ was what followed the faithful
righteousness and heart-devotion of the best king that ever sat on the
throne of Judah. I think that this royal martyr's experience is really
a mirror of the experience of devout men in all ages and a revelation
of the great law and constant processes of the Divine Providence. And
from that point of view I wish to speak now, not only on the words I
have read, but on what follows them.

I. We have here the statement of the mystery.

It is the standing puzzle of the Old Testament, how good men come to
be troubled, and how bad men come to be prosperous. And although we
Christian men and women are a great deal too apt to suppose that we
have outlived that rudimentary puzzle of the religious mind, yet I do
not think by any means that we have. For we hear men, when the rod