, that turning over the Bible which lay before
me, and while my thoughts were more than ordinary serious upon the
question, I cried out, "Well, I know not what to do, Lord direct me!"
and the like. And at that juncture I happened to stop turning over the
book at the Ninety-first Psalm, and, casting my eye on the second verse,
I read to the seventh verse exclusive, and after that included the
tenth, as follows: "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my
fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from
the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover
thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth
shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the
terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that
wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand
at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes
shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation;
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling," etc.

I scarce need tell the reader that from that moment I resolved that I
would stay in the town, and, casting myself entirely upon the goodness
and protection of the Almighty, would not seek any other shelter
whatever; and that as my times were in his hands,[32] he was as able to
keep me in a time of the infection as in a time of health; and if he did
not think fit to deliver me, still I was in his hands, and it was meet
he should do with me as should seem good to him.

With this resolution I went to bed; and I was further confirmed in it
the next day by the woman being taken ill with whom I had intended to
intrust my house and all my affairs. But I had a further obligation laid
on me on the same side: for the next day I found myself very much out of
order also; so that, if I would have gone away, I could not. And I
continued ill three or four days, and this entirely determined my stay:
so I took my leave of my brother, who went away to Dorking in
Surrey,[33] and afterwards fetched around farther into Buckinghamshire
or Bedfordshire, to a retreat he had found out there for his family.

It was a very ill time to be sick in; for if any one complained, it was
immediately said he had the plague;