The Promlfe ofPrefervation. · 139 own eyes, and in the eyes of friends and phyficians. Tho' the eleCt thief was, in his natural fbte, n1il'd to the cro!s ; yet death had no powerto come at him, fo as to feparate his foul from his body, till fuch rime as he was once united to Chrifi by faith, and made ... partaker of a aew life in him. The . · Second, Is a ptomife ofkeeping the grave-fione from off them in their fpirirual death. The grave fione is the fin 11gafnfl the holy Ghofl; the unpardonabie fin ; which, on whomfoever it is laid, makes their cafe, from that moment, irrecoverable, that theqcefonh they can never rife from fpiri tual death to life, Mark iii. 29. ' He that .!hall, blafpheme againtt the holy Ghofi bath never forgivenefs.' But, altho' the elect, in . their natural £late, being dead in fin as well as others, may, thro' tl!e .activity of reigning and raging lufts, fo rot in their graves as to be mofl abominable in the eyes ofGod and all good men; yet bccaufe of rhe promife of the covenant, it is not poilible, that that grave fione fhould be laid on them. There's an invifible guard fet on their fouls, as well as on their bodies : and fo it is infallibly prevented, as may be learn'd fi:om that ex· preilion ofour Saviour; Mat. xxiv. 24. 'Infomuch that {if it were poffible) they ihall deceive the very eleCt/ While they are Satan's captives, he may drive then'l to a prodigious pi tch of wickedrefs. So did he with Manaffih, and Paul : but, as far as hehad carried them, he could not carry them forward that fiep. This promife ofthe 'eleet's p.refervation, as it is with the reil:, founded on the obedience and death of Chriil; whereby eterhallife was purchafed for them, and con– fequently thefe b~nefits in ·particular, failing ~hieh they would be ruined for ever: fo it is a-ldn to, and feems to be grafted ppon, the promi{e of affifiance made to ChriH in the covenant; by which a Divine fupport was enfur'd to him, during all the time the fins ofthe elect, and the wrath ofGod for them, iliould ly upon hil.ll . .. "ind at thi~ rare, the cafe of the Head, :an ~.l
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