Page:A Discourse of Constancy in Two Books Chiefly containing Consolations Against Publick Evils.pdf/120

Chap. 17. place therefore, that there is a Fate in things, neither you Lipsius, nor (as I conceive) any Nation or Age did ever doubt. Here I interpos'd; pardon me (said I) if as a Remora I stop you in this course. Do you oppose me with Fate? Weak is this Ramme, Langius, and such as is directed by the enervate and languid forces of the Stoicks. I speak freely, I despise at once, both it and the destinies: and with the Souldier in Plautus, I can blow away this feeble troop with a single breath, as winds do leaves from the Trees. Langius with a severe and threatning Eye; Rash and inconsiderate Young Man (said he) do you imagine you can elude or take away Fate? You cannot, unless together with it, you deny the very Power and Being of a Deity: For if God is, Providence is; if Providence, than a decreed order of things; and if so than a firme and establish'd Necessity of events, Rh