Let the heathen; the several nations in their appointed time; and perhaps the Assyrians are first to awake and stir under Shalmaneser, next under Sennacherib, both which came up against this valley of Jehoshaphat. Be wakened, by the sins and divisions of God's own people, by their own ravenous and turbulent disposition, and by a secret hand of Providence. And come up, in hostile manner, against the church and people of God, intended here by this valley: so Sennacherib did in Hezekiah's time. For there, in the midst of my people and church, will I sit to judge, to plead with, condemn, and punish by the sword, all the heathen round about; not all the world, but all the heathen round about Judea, which was oppressed by these heathens: there God judged Sennacherib by his own hand; there God punished the Egyptians by Nebuchadnezzar who defeated Necho; and within sight of the Jews were all the punishments God inflicted on the Assyrian, Babylonish, Persian, and Grecian monarchies executed; and God all this while in the midst of his people preserved them as a bush all in a flame, yet not consumed: so did the Lord lead his mighty ones, and limited their power.

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