In the Autumn of 1795 he had the misfortune to lose his youngest son, of whom being much younger than any of his other children, and having entertained the hopes of his succeeding him in his Theological and Philosophical pursuits he was remarkably fond. He felt this misfortune the more severely as it was the first of the kind he had experienced, and particularly as it had a visible effect upon my mother’s health and spirits. He was however so constantly in the habit of viewing the hand of God in all things, and of considering every occurrence as leading to good, that his mind soon recovered its accustomed serenity, and his journey to Philadelphia mentioned above and the success which attended his first exertions in the cause of, what he deemed, pure and genuine christianity, led him to look forward with cheerfulness to the future, and gave him an energy in his pursuits, which was never exceeded in any part of his life. It was the same habit of viewing God as the author of all events, and producing good out of seeming evil, that enabled him to support himself so well under the greatest affliction that could possibly have befallen him, viz. the loss of his wife, my mother; who through life had been truly a help meet for him; supporting him under all his trials and sufferings with a constancy and perseverance truly praise worthy, and who as he himself, in noting the event in his diary, justly observes, “was of a noble and generous mind and cared much for others and little for herself through life.” In the period between the above very afflicting events, though his conveniences for experimenting were not increased, owing to his house, and particularly his laboratory not being finished, he wrote a small treatise in defence of the doctrine of Phlogiston, addressed to the Philosophers in France. He likewise composed a second set of discourses of a similar kind to those delivered in Philadelphia the preceding winter. He preached and printed a sermon in defence of Unitarianism, and printed the first set of discourses; he compleated his Church History; he made additional observations on the increase of infidelity chiefly in answer to Mr. Volney; and drew up an Outline of all the Evidences in favour of Revelation.