How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Think of what earthquakes and floods, wars and volcanoes, have done before to men! Did you think God had exempted Weybridge? He is not an insurance agent." (1.13.38)
In contrast to the curate, the narrator (at this moment) is not looking to God and fate for an explanation. (Although, let's note, he's not arguing against the existence of God here. He's only arguing that God doesn't get involved in every single disaster.) For the narrator, these terrible events just happen.
Quote #5
"It is just, O God!" he would say, over and over again. "It is just. On me and mine be the punishment laid. We have sinned, we have fallen short." (2.4.6)
Two quotes up from this one, the curate was questioning the invasion. When the Martians attacked he asked, "What sins have we done?" Later, when the narrator and curate are stuck in the house in Sheen, the curate comes to the conclusion that they humans have sinned enough to call for this Heat-Ray business. He considers the Martians as a fate that humans deserve.
Quote #6
I saw myself then as I see myself now, driven step by step towards that hasty blow, the creature of a sequence of accidents leading inevitably to that. (2.7.2)
In discussing The War of the Worlds and fate, we tend to talk about God and bacteria and the Martians-as-punishment. But what about humans? Are people fated to do certain things? Or is there some free will? The narrator excuses his actions in regard to the curate by noting that a) he didn't know what was going to happen and b) one thing led to another. Do you guys buy that? Or did the narrator have some choice as to his behavior?