on of silver! They
had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost
her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had
no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought _her_ husband
deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his
neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our
house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd,
augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.

I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and though some of
the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the _eternal decrees of God_,
_election_, _reprobation_, _etc._, appeared to me unintelligible,
others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public
assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was
without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the
existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his
Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good
to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be
punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I
esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in
all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho'
with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd
with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote,
or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and make us
unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that
the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse
that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his
own religion; and as our province increas'd in people, and new places
of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary
contribution, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect,
was never refused.

Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of
its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I
regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only
Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to
visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonished me to attend his
administrations, and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once
for five Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a good
preacher, perhaps I might have continued,[65] notwithstanding t