Compunction and recollecting Keith’s Conduct toward me, (who was another Freethinker) and my own towards Vernon & Miss Read, which at Times gave me great Trouble, I began to suspect that this Doctrine tho’ it might be true, was not very useful. My London Pamphlet, which had for its Motto those Lines of Dryden

And from the Attributes of God, his infinite Wisdom, Goodness & Power concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the World, & that Vice & Virtue were empty Distinctions, no such Things existing: appear’d now not so clever a Performance as I once thought it; and I doubted whether some Error had not insinuated itself unperceiv’d, into my Argument, so as to infect all that follow’d, as is common in metaphysical Reasonings. I grew convinc’d that Truth, Sincerity & Integrity in Dealings between Man & Man, were of the utmost Importance to the Felicity of Life, and I form’d written Resolutions, (which still remain in my Journal Book) to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me as such; but I entertain’d an Opinion, that tho’ certain Actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them; yet probably those Actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own Natures, all the Circumstances of things considered. And this Persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian Angel, or accidental favorable Circumstances & Situations, or all together, preserved me (thro’ this dangerous Time of Youth & the hazardous Situations I was sometimes in among Strangers, remote from the Eye & Advice of my Father) without any wilful gross Immorality or Injustice that might have been expected from my Want of Religion. I say wilful, because the Instances I have mentioned, had something of Necessity in them, from my Youth, Inexperience, & the Knavery of others. I had therefore a tolerable Character to begin the World with, I valued it properly, & determin’d to preserve it.

We had not been long return’d to Philadelphia, before the New Types arriv’d from London. We settled with Keimer, & left him by his Consent before he heard of it. We found a House to hire near the Market, and took it. To lessen the Rent, (which was then but 24£ a Year tho’ I have since known it let for 70) We took in Thomas Godfrey, a Glazier, & his Family, who were to pay a considerable Part of it to us, and we to board with them. We had scarce opened our Letters & put our Press in Order, before George House, an Acquaintance of Mine, brought a Country-man to us; whom he had met in the Street inquiring for a Printer. All our Cash was now expended in the Variety of Particulars we had been obliged to procure & this Countryman’s Five Shillings being our first Fruits, & coming so seasonably, gave me more Pleasure than any Crown I have since earn’d; and from the Gratitude I felt toward House, has made me often more ready, than perhaps I should otherwise have been to assist young Beginners.

There are Croakers in every Country always boding its Ruin. Such a one then lived in Philadelphia, a Person of Note, an elderly Man, with a wise Look, and very grave Manner of speaking. His Name was Samuel Mickle. This Gentleman, a Stranger to me, stopped one Day at my Door, and asked me if I was the young Man who had lately opened a new Printing-house: Being answer’d in the Affirmative, he said he was sorry for me, because it was an expensive Undertaking & the Expense would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking Place, the People already half Bankrupts or near being so; all Appearances of the contrary, such as new Buildings & the Rise of Rents being to his certain Knowledge fallacious, for they were in fact among the Things that would soon ruin us. And he gave me such a Detail of Misfortunes, now existing or that were soon to exist, that he left me half-melancholy. Had I known him before I engag’d in this Business, probably I never should have done it. This Man continu’d to live in this decaying Place, and to declaim in the same Strain, refusing for many Years to buy a House there, because all was going to Destruction, and at last I had the Pleasure of seeing him give five times as much for one as he might have bought it for when he first began his Croaking.

I should have mention’d before, that in the Autumn of the preceding Year I had form’d most of my ingenious Acquaintances into a Club for mutual Improvement, which we called the Junto. We met on Friday Evening. The Rules I drew up requir’d that every Member in his Turn should produce one or more Queries on any Point of Morals, Politics or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss’d by the Company, and once in three Months produce & read an Essay of his own Writing on any Subject he pleased. Our Debates were to