all his work in the service of the House of God and to seek his God,
the more sure is he to bring down upon himself certain forms of
trouble and trial. The rebellion which, from the Assyrian side of the
river, seemed to be a mere political revolt, from the Jordan side of
the river seemed to be closely connected with the religious
reformation. And it was just because Hezekiah and his people came back
to God that they rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him
not. If you provoke Sennacherib, Sennacherib will be down upon you
very quickly. That is to say, being translated, if you will live like
Christian men and women and fling down the gage of battle to the world
and to the evil that lies in every one of us, and say, 'No, I have
nothing to do with you. My law is not your law, and, God helping me,
my practice shall not be your practice,' then you will find out that
the power that you have defied has a very long arm and a very tight
grasp, and you will have to make up your minds that, in some shape or
other, the old law will be fulfilled about you. Through much
tribulation we must enter the Kingdom.

II. Now, secondly, my text and its context solve the mystery which it
raises.

The chronicler, as I said, wishes us to notice the sequence, strange
as it is, and to wonder at it for a moment, in order that we may be
prepared the better to take in the grand explanation that follows. And
the explanation lies in the facts that ensue.

Did Sennacherib come to destroy? By no means! Here were the results:
first, a stirring to wholesome energy and activity. If annoyances and
troubles and sorrows, great or small, do nothing else for us, they
would be clear and simple gain if they woke us up, for the half of men