nd which conducted them. But, says one of these kings(11) in
the name of the rest, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by
my wisdom; for I am prudent: And I have removed the bounds of the people
and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like
a valiant man. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people:
and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth,
and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or
peeped."(12)

But this monarch, so august and wise in his own eye, how did he appear in
that of the Almighty? Only as a subaltern agent, a servant sent by his
master: "The rod of his anger, and the staff in his hand."(13) God's
design was to chastise, not to extirpate his children. But Sennacherib
"had it in his heart to destroy and cut off all nations."(14) What then
will be the issue of this kind of contest between the designs of God, and
those of this prince?(15) At the time that he fancied himself already
possessed of Jerusalem, the Lord, with a single blast, disperses all his
proud hopes; destroys, in one night, an hundred four score and five
thousand of his forces; and putting "a hook in his nose, and a bridle in
his lips",(16) (as though he had been a wild beast,) he leads him back to
his own dominions, covered with infamy, through the midst of those
nations, who, but a little before, had beheld him in all his pride and
haughtiness.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appears still more visibly governed by a
Providence, to which he himself is an entire stranger, but which presides
over all his deliberations, and determines all his actions.

Being come at the head of his army to two highways, the one of which led
to Jerusalem, and the other to Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites,
this king, not knowing which of them it would be best for him to strike
into, debates for some time with himself, and at last casts lots. God
makes the lot fall on Jerusalem, to fulfil the menaces he had pronounced
against that city, _viz._ to destroy it, to burn the temple, and lead its
inhabitants into captivity.(17)

One would imagine, at first sight, that this king had been prompted to
besiege Tyre, merely from a political view, _viz._ that he might not leave
behind him so powerful and well-fortified a city; nevertheless, a superior
will had decreed the siege of Tyre.(18) God designed, on one side, to
humble the pride of Ithobal its king, who fancy