At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, i was perfectly overwhelmed; . . for now the hand of heaven had overtaken me, and i was undone without redemption; but, alas! this was but a taste of the misery i was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of this story.

based on the context of this excerpt, what does the phrase "hand of heaven" convey about the time in which this story was written?
a. it points out that the people of defoe's time believed that everyone had free will to choose his or her own destiny.
b. it suggests that people of defoe's time believed that they had very little control over their lives.
c. it shows that the people of defoe's time asked for god's blessing only when they knew that it would be granted.
d. it indicates that the people of defoe's time cared little for what heaven would want them to do.