304 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

kiah had not yet ended. A letter came to him from
Sennacherib no less insolent than the speech of Rabshakeh,
and much to the same effect. When Hezekiah had read
it, he went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it
before his God. |

Johnnie. Why did he do that, grandfather? God
knew what was in the letter.

Grandfather. Certainly ; but this action shewed that
he acknowledged God in all his ways, and that he re-
ferred every thing to his disposal. We may learn from
this, whenever any thing troubles us, to follow the ex-
ample of pious Hezekiah, and spread it before the Lord.
There, in the temple, the king of Judah prayed that the
Lord would glorify His own name by defending His
own people from an idolatrous nation. Again, when
Hezekiah was praying, words of comfort were spoken.
A message came from Isaiah, repeating the former as-
surance that the king of Judah had nothing to fear, and
giving a fuller account of the workings of Providence in
the wars of Sennacherib.

Johnnie. Did he tell what a blast meant ?

Grandfather. No, that was not explained. To the
king of Assyria this is said from the Almighty—* Be-
cause thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up
into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose,
and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the
way by which thou camest.” Of the king of Assyria this
is said—“ He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an
arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a