n my mind for staying; the visible call I
seemed to have from the particular circumstance of my calling, and the
care due from me for the preservation of my effects, which were, as I
might say, my estate; also the intimations which I thought I had from
Heaven, that to me signified a kind of direction to venture; and it
occurred to me that if I had what I might call a direction to stay, I
ought to suppose it contained a promise of being preserved if I obeyed.

This lay close to me, and my mind seemed more and more encouraged to
stay than ever, and supported with a secret satisfaction that I should
be kept. Add to this, that, turning over the Bible which lay before
me, and while my thoughts were more than ordinarily serious upon the
question, I cried out, 'Well, I know not what to do; Lord, direct me I'
and the like; and at that juncture I happened to stop turning over the
book at the gist Psalm, and casting my eye on the second verse, I read
on 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,' &C.

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, 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 w