4oS The SubfaprarJ ins dollrinc an abfolute decree arevain and fruitleffe : And the reafon is Becaufe they cannot make them othervvife then they are deter. mined to be. It is abfolutely decreed, the devils fh..11 be da- mned: Were it not a fruitleife thing in them by prayers,teats, andendeavours toPeek toalter it ? It isalto limply decreed , that the foul of mandial' be immortall : Is it not a Labour in vain forany man to ufe means that his foul may beannihila. ted ? It is ordained that the funnefhill rule the day, and the moon the night ; that the One fhall finifh his proper courfe in a yeare, theother in a moneth : Would not a mans endeavour to make an alteration in thefe things be unprofi- table and ridiculous ? Without doubt it would. So likevvife in vain do men labour to obteineverlaffing life and avoyd eter- nail death, if there be no powerarid liberty in their bands to choofe life or death, but muff of neceffity take that which is afligned them, be it lift or death : For by their labour they effect jult nothing. If they be abfolutely appointed tode- Ilruai yn, their hearing, reading, praying; alms- giving, and mourning for their Prunes cannot poffibly procure their fal- vation: damned theymull be : And ifthey be abfolutely or- dained to falvation, their neglect of holy duties , their igno- rance, their love of pleafures, and continuance in a courte or ungodlineffecannot bring them to damnation: they muff be Paved. If fomany fouls in a parifh be in this manner decreed to heaven or hell, the Minil}er (G) preacheth in vain, and the people heave in vain. For there cannot one foul be Pavedby all his or theirpains yvhich is ordained to heli,nor one foul be canaway by his or their negligence which is appointed to heaven. It is hardfor thee,faid ChrifftoSaul, to kick againft pricks, that is, to endeavour by thy perfecutions and flaugh7- ters to root out my Church out ofthe world; becaule thepre- fervation of it is abfolutely decreed in heaven : teaching us by that fpeech, that a mans labour in any thingwhatfoevc r is never profitable, exceptit be exercifed about an end attein- able thereby, andwithout which the end may be loft. 3. Men arenot willing to be employed in fruitleffe a&ions, if theyknow it. Ifo runne, faith S. Paul, not as uncertainly: fo fight I, not as one that beateth the aire: But I keep under my body, and bring it into flabjetlion,1e1 that by any means, when I havepreached to others, I my felfJhould be a ca. -a- way,. Themeaning is, I endeavour to keep Gods command- ments; I fight with the temptations of the devil, the allure- ments of the wilt!, and mine own corruptions i I keep,
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