Page:A Discourse of Constancy in Two Books Chiefly containing Consolations Against Publick Evils.pdf/103

82 must then go not whither you would but whither they list. And shall you in the Ocean of this life refuse to follow the conduct of that Spirit by whom the whole Universe is swayed? In vain notwithstanding is this refusal, for either you shall willingly follow, or be forc'd along; and those Heavenly decrees shall preserve their Efficacy, and Order, whether you shall comply or rebel. We should smile at that Man who having ty'd his Boat to some Rock, and pulling at the Cord, should rather think he pulls the Rock to him than that his boat moves to it: And is not our Folly every way as remarkable, who being chain'd to that Rock of Eternal Providence, do yet by our struggling and resistance seem to desire that it should obey us, rather than we it? Let us free our selves at the last from these Vanities; and (if we are wise) let us follow that Power which attracts us from above, and think it nothing but Rh