monuments; and it is a most curious contrast to read the two
narratives of the same events, agreeing about the facts, but
disagreeing utterly in the spirit. Why? Because the one tells the
story from the world's point of view, and the other tells it from
God's point of view. So when you take the one narrative, it is simply
this: 'There was a conspiracy down in the south against the political
supremacy of Assyria, and a lot of little confederate kinglets
gathered themselves; and Hezekiah, of Judah, was one, along with
So-and-So of such-and-such a petty land, and they leaned upon Egypt;
and I, Sennacherib, came down among them, and they tumbled to pieces,
and that is all.' Then the Bible comes in, and it says that God
ordered all those political complications, and that they were all the
working out of His purposes, and that 'the axe in His hand' as Isaiah
has it so picturesquely, was this proud king of Assyria, with his
boastful mouth and vainglorious words.

Now, that is the principle by which we have to estimate all the events
that befall us. There are two ways of looking at them. You may look at
them from the under side or from the top side. You may see them as
they appear to men who cannot look beyond their noses and only have
concern with the visible cranks and shafting, or you may look at them
from the engine-room and take account of the invisible power that
drives them all. In the one case you will regard it as a mystery that
good men should have to suffer so; in the other case, you will say,
'It is the Lord, let Him do'--even when He does it through Sennacherib
and his like, 'let Him do what seemeth Him good.'

Then there is another thing to be taken into account--that is, that
the better a man is, the more faithful he is and the more closely he
cleaves to God, and seeks, like this king, to do, with all his heart,