hindreth not Pietieandagodÿ and then he might have inferred that the goodactions ofmtndintflint in via are vain and fruitleffe. Now he can inferre nothing, but that it were a vain thing for Judas da- mned in hell to hope by any endeavours of his to alter thedecree of his damnation. For his inflance in a decreeof the imrnor- talitieofmans Pill and ofthe vanitie of tiling means for the annihilation thereof, it is no whit better then the other. We donot de- nie but it is a fruitleffe and a vain thing for anyman to go-about by his temporall en- deavours toalter Gods eternall decrees con- cerning the nature or properties which he hath allotted unto his creatures, as to make an elementarie bodie eternal' , or an im- mortall foul mortali. And'as ridiculous it is (though inanother kind) for any Remon- ftrant to fuppofe that the eternall decrees of Gods Predeftination and Reprobation (as himfelfholdeth them) canbe altered by any temporali actions which men {hall do or not do. And yet though it be a vain and idle en- deavour to referre ou`r temporali ations to the alteration of any of Gods eternall de- crees ( for ' de ratione eternitatia eft immuta- bilitio,) yet it is no vainor idleendeavour for any man eleted or not-eleCted to aim at eternall life by doing good aCtions and by abfteining from evil: For if a man be ele- I d 3 ded, d 423 i pide ÁK- guft. Conf. l<zz.c.a5o
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