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Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you; and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above : but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.]

But I must proceed, as I am able, to unfold that misery, which I confess, no tongue can unfold, no heart can sufficiently comprehend. Know, therefore, that while thou art unconverted,

I. The infinite God is engaged against thee.

It is no small part of thy misery, that thou art without God, Eph. ii. 12. How doth Micah run crying after the Danites, You have taken away my gods, and what have I more? Judges xviii. 23, 24. Oh, what a mourning

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then must thou lift up, that art without God, that canst lay no claim to him, without daring usurpation! Thou mayst say of God, as Sheba of David, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse, 2 Sam. xx. 1. How pitiful and piercing a moan is that of Saul, in his extremity? The Philistines are upon me, and God is departed from me, 1 Sam. xxviii. 15. Sinners, But what will ye do in the day of your visitation ? whither will you flee for help? where will you leave your glory ? Isa. x. 3. What will you do when the Philistines are upon you; when the world shall take its eternal leave of you; when you must bid your friends, houses, lands, farewell for evermore? What will you do then, I say, that have never a God to go to? Will you call on him? Will you cry to him for help? Alas! he will not own you, Prov. i. 28, 29. He will not take any knowledge of you, but will send you packing with an I never knew you, Matt. vii. 23. They that know what it is to have a God to go to, a God to live upon, they know a little what a fearful misery it is to be without God. This made that holy man cry out, Let me have a God or nothing. Let me know him, and his will, and what will please him, and how I may come to enjoy him; or would I had never had an understanding to know any thing, &c.

But thou art not only without God, but God is against thee, Ezek. v. 8, 9, Nah. ii. 13.Oh, if God would but stand a neuter, though he did not own nor help the poor sinner, his case were not so deeply miserable. Though God should give up the poor creature to the will of all his enemies, to do the worst with him; though he should deliver him over to the torments, Matt. xviii. 34, that devils should tear and torture him to their utmost power and skill, yet this were not half so fearful. But God will set himself against the sinner; and believe it, 'Tis a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb. x. 31. There is no friend like him, no enemy like him. As much as heaven is above the earth, omnipotency above impotency, infinity above nullity; so much more horrible is it to fall into the hands of the living God, than into the paws of bears or lions, yea, furies or devils. God himself will be thy tormentor, thy destruction. shall come from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thess. i. 9. [Tophet is deep and large, and the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brim. stone, doth kindle it, Isa. xxx. 33. If God be against thee, who shall be for thee? If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? 1 Sam. ii. 25. Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who shall stand in thy sight, when once thou art angry? Ps. lxxvi. 7. Who is that God, that shall deliver you out of his hands? Dan. iii. 15. Can Mammon? riches profit not in the day of wrath, Prov. xi. 4. Can kings or warriors? no, they shall cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his

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wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? - Rev. vi. 15, 16, 17.]

Sinner, methinks this should go like a dagger to thine heart, to know that God is thine enemy. Oh, whither wilt thou go? Where wilt thou shelter thee? There is no hope for thee, unless thou lay down thy weapon, and sue out thy pardon, and get Christ to stand thy friend, and make thy peace. If it were not for this, thou mightest go into some howling wilderness, and there pine in sorrow, and run mad for anguish of heart, and horrible despair. But in Christ there is a possibility of mercy for thee, yea, a proffer of mercy to thee; that thou mayst have God to be more for thee, than he is now against thee. But if thou wilt not forsake thy sins, nor turn thoroughly, and to purpose, unto God, by a sound conversion, the wrath of God abideth on thee, and he proclaims himself to be against thee, as in the prophet, Ezek. v. 8, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, am against thee.

4. His face is against thee, Ps. xxxiv. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them.Wo unto them whom God shall set his face against. When he did but look upon the host of the Egyptians, how terrible was the consequence! Ezek. xiv. 8. I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign, and proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 2. His heart is against thee : He hateth all the workers of iniquity. Man, doth not thine heart tremble to think of thy being an object of God's hatred? Jer. xv. 1. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people: cast them out of my sight, Zech. xi. 8. My soul loatheth them, and their souls also abhorred me. 3. His hand is against thee, 1 Sam. xii. 14, 15. All his attributes are against thee :

First, His justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against thee. If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, &c. Deut. xxxii. 41, 42. So exact is justice, that it will by no means clear the guilty, Ex. xxxiv. 7. God will not discharge thee, he will not hold thee guiltless, Ex. xx. 7, but will require the whole debt in person of thee, unless thou canst make a scripture-claim to Christ, and his satisfaction. When the enlightened sinner looks on justice, and sees the balance in which he must be weighed, and the sword by which he must be executed, he feels an earthquake in his breast: but satan keeps this out of sight, and persuades the soul, while he can, that the Lord is all made up of mercy, and so lulls it asleep in sin. Divine justice is very strict; it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing; it denounceth indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, to every soul that doth evil, Rom. ii. 8, 9. It curseth every one that continueth not in every thing that is written in the law to do it, Gal.