of me; and that then there had been no Difficulty to determine which was the Call of his Providence, and which was not: But that I ſhould take it as an Intimation from Heaven, that I ſhould not go out of Town, only becauſe I could not hire a Horſe to go, or my Fellow was run away that was to attend me, was ridiculous, ſince at the ſame Time I had my Health and Limbs, and other Servants, and might, with Eaſe, travel a Day or two on foot, and having a good Certificate of being in perfect Health, might either hire a Horſe, or take Poſt on the Road, as I thought fit.
Then he proceeded to tell me of the miſcheivous Conſequences which attended the Preſumption of the Turks and Mahometans in Aſia and in other Places, where he had been (for my Brother being a Merchant, was a few Years before, as I have already obſerv'd, returned from abroad, coming laſt from Lisbon) and how preſuming upon their profeſs'd predeſtinating Notions, and of every Man's End being predetermin'd and unalterably before-hand decreed, they would go unconcern'd into infected Places, and converſe with infected Perſons, by which Means they died at the Rate of Ten or Fifteen Thouſand a-Week, whereas the Europeans, or Chriſtian Merchants, who kept themſelves retired and reſerv'd, generally eſcap'd the Contagion.
Upon theſe Arguments my Brother chang'd my Reſolutions again, and I began to reſolve to go, and accordingly made all things ready; for in ſhort, the Infection increaſed round me, and the Bills were riven to almoſt 700 a-Week, and my Brother told me, he would venture to ſtay no longer. I deſir'd him to let me conſider of it but till the next Day, and I would reſolve; and as I had already prepar'd every thing as well as I could, as to my Buſineſs, and who to en-truſt
