The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-19 00:00:00

LECTURE

I feel that the position in which I now find myself placed
requires to be accounted for. I will give an account of it in
very few words. The week before last an American gentle-
man, now resident in this town, called upon me, and asked
"le to deliver a public lecture upon the life of Dr. Franklin.
The request seemed to me a strange one. The subject at
first sight did not appear a suitable one ; I was very much
occupied, and I wrote a note politely declining it. A day or
two afterwardsi received this letter—

Liverpool, sth November, 1841

Reverend and Dear Sir,—We the undersigned, citizens of
the United States of America, having heard that an applica-
tion has been made to you to deliver a lecture on the life of
Dr. Franklin,. beg to express our hearty 'concurrence in that
request, and to add that we hope you will comply therewith
if it be consistent with your other engagements.
The object which we have in view in making this request
is twofold, to render the history of the immortal Franklin
useful to your hearers, and to the benefit of the " Printers'
Pension Society of London," an institution already well
known to you as charitable and deserving.
We are assured that you will duly appreciate our desire
thus made known to you, and remain; dear sir, with respect
and esteem, your obedient servants,
PHILIP SCHUYLER, American Consul,
GEORGE WRIGHT,
JOHN B. MURRAY, New York.
SAMUEL C. BLODGET, Providence,
AUGUSTUS DE PEYSTER. New York,
H. MESSCHERT, Philadelphia,
R. J. IsitcuoLs, Georgia,
H. ROCHODS, ditto,
GEO. A. COLE, ditto,
RICHARD KERN AN, ditto,
FRANCIS BACON, Boston,
HENRY TOBIAS, New York,
WILLIAM SRIDDY, New York,
FREDERICK TOWNSEND, ditto,
GEORGE TOWNSEND, ditto,
S. WAsnuunN, Massachusetts.
To the Rev. Hugh M'Neile.
This letter made the matter a little more serious ; and -in-
duced me to give it more serious consideration. I remem-
bered that it is at once the privilege and the duty of the
Christian minister to hold himself in readiness to improve
every opportunity, not only " in season but also out of sea-
son, to serve his Divine Master, undeterred either by a
sense of his own insufficiency, or by any apprehension of
the criticism of his fellow creatures. I have ever been of
opinion that a Christian minister's service of his Lord need
not and ought not to be scrupulously confined within what
are usually and arbitrarily considered professional limits.
" The earth is the Lord's, and the fulnessthereof," "all his
works shall praise him."
Authentic history, whether in its national breadth, or
whether confined within the closer but more personally inte-
resting limits of biography, is but another name for God's
works among men. I fancied that if I consented, the op.
portunity might be made an occasion of a two-fold good—
good, as 1 ventured to hope, from the lecture itself, and
good to the interests of the poor, aged, disabled, printers,
for whose Pension Society it was proposed that a collection
should-be made. Under these impressions, I wrote the fol-
lowing reply

Gentlemen,

Roscommon-street, Bth Nov., 1841

I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of thesth inst.
Although on many important subjects I am compelled wholly
to differ from your distinguished fellow - citizen, Dr.
Franklin, and candidly to avow that difference; yet. admir-
ing, as I do, the energy, industry, and ability of his natural
character, and feeling that, as a Christian minister, I can at
least honestly aim at usefulness of the highest order while
commenting on his history ; willing also to do anything in
my power in aid of the benevolent objects of the Printers'
Pension Society, I have much pleasure in complying with
your request.
Permit me, gentlemen, to say that I hail, with sincere gra-
tification, the opportunity thus afforded me of manifesting
(as far as a private individual, or a clergyman of England's
national church in his individual capacity can manifest) that
unaffected cordiality and brotherly co-operation, which I
trust will ever characterise the conduct of England towards
her magnificent daughter in the west, and of America towards
her venerable mother.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen, with the highest respect,
Your faithful servant,
HUGH M'NEILE.
To Philip Schuyler, Esq., American Consul.
George Wright, Esq.
John Boyles Murray, Esq.
&c. &c.

For the preliminary arrangements, the comfort of which it is
our privilege now to enjoy, we are indebted to Mr. Murray,
who, ,I perceive, has not trusted the interests of the poor
printers to the result of an appeal to your generosity after
the lecture, but has prudently secured their cause by an ap-
peal to your curiosity betorehand. (Laughter,) To that
gentleman I beg to tender my personal thanks for his kind-
ness and attention throughout the whole of this affair, and I
hope that before this meeting separates, a vote of thanks from
the whole body will testify the feelings we should all enter-
tain for the zeal and ability of that gentleman. (Hear, hear.)
And, now, in addressing myself to the discharge of the duty
which I have undertaken, -I have only further to premise,
that although my observations are, of course, open to subse-
quent scrutiny, yet, if, in the delivery of them I should
interfere with the opinions, or. unhappily, in any degree,
wound the feelings of any who are here present, I cast my-
self with unhesitating confidence upon your courtesy as gen-
tlemen, and your sense of fair dealing as Englishmen, to
guard me against any attempt at unseasonable interruption.
(Cheers.)
Dr. Franklin was descended from an ancient though humble
family in Northamptonshire. His ancestors at an early period
embraced the reformed religion, and continued, members of
the national church till the close of the reign of Charles 11.
At that time his father and his uncle joined the nonconform-
ists, which led eventually to their emigration to America. He

says—
" My father married young, and carried his wife, with three
children, to New England, about the year 1632. The con-
venticles being forbiden by law, and frequently disturbed at
meeting, some considerable persons of his acquaintance de-
parted to,America, where they hoped to enjoy the exercise of
their religion with freedom."
Benjainin was the youngest son of his father, and born at
Boston, in New England, on the 17th of June, 1706. A
liberal education was unattainable, owing to the straitened
circumstances of the family ; and after a very brief and in-
adequate instruction in the elements of grammar, Benjamin
was taken at ten years old to assist in his father's shop. His
father's business was that of a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler.
It is interesting when we behold a wide spreading tree,
laden with useful fruit, to trace it back to the sapling twig.
It is interesting when we behold a noble and useful:river,
studded with vessels of all the nations of the earth, to trace
it up to its originating stream in the mountain. And it is in.

teresting here to trace the man who afterwards made the
civilized world his audience, back to the tallow-chandler's
shop, and find him cutting wicks, filling moulds, and going er-
rands as a shop boy in the town of Boston. (Applause.)
He disliked this trade very much • and, although he was
passionately fond of books, he imbibed the apparently incom-
patible project of going to sea. His father decidedly opposed
this and here is the first trait of this germ of greatness
which demands and rewards our attention—submission to
parental authority. It is true, that afterwards to avoid the
unjust and unkind treatment of his brother, he fled from
his home without leave, but for this he expressed his deep
regret, and for a long season he repressed his own anxious
desire, and submitted to the drudgery and fatigue, first of
his father's, and afterwards of his brother's shop, entirely
in compliance with his father's desire. His brother James
was a printer. His father was desirous of having Benjamin
bound to his brother, but Benjamin was exceedingly reluc-
tant, and had he yielded to his own desires, he would have
left home at that time, but he did otherwise and much better.
He complied with his father's wishes ; he honoured his
father's authority, and signed the indentures which were to
bind him to his brother till he should be twenty-one years
of age,

Nov► I feel disposed upon this point to ask if the subse-
quent meridian splendour of Franklin's almost unparalleled
success has arrested the emulative gaze of any of our rising
youth in this place? If so, to ask those youth to look back
to the morning twilight, and behold in the boy of Ben-
jamin's submiss►on to his father, a practical illustration of
the language of an inspired Apostle, " Honour thy father
and thy mother, which is the first commandment with pro-
mise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live
long upon the earth." (Hear, hear.)

In his brother's business he had access to books of a more
miscellaneous character than any supplied by his father's
limited library of controversial divinity. Here he read, not
as too many young men read, merely for amusement, nor did
he read merely to receive useful information in a passive
manner, but he addressed himself with activity and praise-
worthy pains-taking to acquire the power of communicating
information to others. He aimed at not only being a scholar,
but at being a writer, and in order-to improve his style in
English composition, he adopted a plan which I very gladly
describe in his own words, and cordially commend to the
adoption of my young friends around me—
" About this time I met with an old volume of the Spec-
tator. I never before saw it, but I thought the writing ex-
cellent, and wished to imitate it. With this view I took some
of the papers, and making short notes of the sentiments, laid
them by, and then, without looking at the book, tried to
write them out at length. I then compared what I had written
with the Spectator. I compared my Spectator with the ori-
ginal ; discovered some of the errors I had committed, and
corrected them. I then took some of the tales in the Spec-
tatcir, turned. them into verse, and then turned them back
again. By comparing my work with the original, I found
many faults, but in certain particulars thought I had im-
proved, and this encouraged me to think that I might be-
come a tolerable English writer, of which I was wishful."
His habits of study were greatly improved by his habits
of temperance, and these were the easy and natural result of
what he bad learned under the root of his excellent father.
Concerning the domestic management of his father, lie says:
" He was fond of having at his table, as often as possible,
some friends or well-informed neighbours, capable of rational
conversation, and he was always careful to introduce useful
or ingenious topics of discourse, which might tend to form
the minds of his children. By this means he early attracted
our attention to what was just, prudent, and beneficial in the
conduct of life. He never talked of the meats which ap-
peared upon the table, never discussed whether they were
well or ill-dressed, of a good or bad flavour, high-seasoned
or otherwise, preferable or inferior to this or that dish of a
similar kind. Thus, accustomed, from my infancy, to the
utmost inattention as to these objects, I have been perfectly
regardless of what kind of food was before me; and I pay so
little attention to it even now, that it would be a hard matter
for me to recollect, a few hours after I had dined, of what
my dinner had consisted." _ . .

That seems a small thing, but, in my opinion, it is a very
great thing for every young man. Indeed, he adds—
" When travelling, I have particularly experienced the ad-
vantage of this habit; for it has often happened to me to be
in company with persons who, having a more delicate, be-
cause a more exercised taste, have suffered in many cases
considerable inconvenience ; while, as to myself, I have had
nothing to desire."

Benjamin could not agree with his brother James. They
had several altercations. The result was, that he left his
service, and that he could not get employment as a printer in
Boston. He went to seek employment at New York. There
he was disappointed, but being recommended by an ac-
quaintance to a printer in Philadelphia, he proceeded to that
city. His journey both by land and by water was full of
distress of a trifling, but, to a lad in his circumstances, of a
most disheartening character. The description he gives of
his situation on his arrival at Philadelphia is pitiable in the
extreme. However, he got into a printing office, and his su-
perior knowledge and industry, even at that early age,
soon told upon his master, and on the customers who em-
ployed him. The boy was taken notice of. Sir William
Keith, at that time governor of the province, in the exercise
of the most barbarous vanity, professed a patronising re-
gard for the lad, and actually induced him, under false pro-
mises of a set of types and other materials for the trade, to
take a voyage to England. Franklin came to England, and,
in his nineteenth year, he found himself in London, with a
very slender purse, with a pennyless friend who was a bur-
den to him, and the supposed letters of credtt from Keith
nothing more than a heartless joke. He exclaims—
" What are we to think of a governor playing such a piti-
less trick, and thus grossly deceive a poor young lad wholly
destitute of experience ? It was a habit he had acquired.
He wished to please everybody, and, having little to give, be
gave expectatiops.".

(Laughier.) Yet, in the midst of all this, he nobly does
justice to the governor in other respects—
" He was in other respects sensible and judicious, a very
tolerable writer, and a good governor for the people; though
not so for the proprietors, whose instructions he frequently
disregarded. Many of our best laws were his work, and
established during his administration."
Frauklin, however, was not to be discouraged ; he got into a
printing-office in London. He got among associates who
improved his mind, and though he had no power of improv-
ing much his pecuniary resources, yet he says, that during
his stay in London his mental resources were greatly im-
proved. He. gives this brief account :
" I thus passed about eighteen months in London Working
almost without intermission at my trade, avoiding all expense
on my own account, except going now and then to the play,
and purchasing a few books, But my friend Ralph kept me
poor. He owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which was
'so much money lost ; and when considered as taken from
my little savings, was a very great sum. I had, notwith-
standing this, a regard for him, as he possessed many aimable
Qualities. But though I had done nothing for myself in
point of fortune, I had increased my stock of knowledge,
either by the many excellent books I had read, or the con-
versation of learned and literary persons with whom I was
acquainted."
It was during this period of his history, that he wrought
upon the little press which is here, which has excited so much
curiosity, and which is, at this day, looked upon with so
much interest through the medium of the subsequent
celebrity of the man who toiled over it for his daily bread.
This is the link that connects the name and history of Frank-
lin with the Printers' Pension Society—a society, permit me
to say, at this stage, well deserving thanks at your hands, I
should say our grateful support ; for let me ask you to what
class of the community are we so much indebted instru-
mentally for our best, our purest enjoyments, and for our
highest improvement, personal, relative, national, political,
religious ? (Hear.) To what class of the community are we
so indebted, instrumentally, as to the printers ? True it is in-
deed that the human mind, and not the printer's press, origi-
nates the treasures ; but then it is from the printers, as from
the rock of old in the wilderness, that the stream of know-
ledge flows forth to the mighty host. It is painful to think
that in further resemblance to the rock, he who trans-
mits the sweet soft waters to so many, should himself con-
tinue dry and hard; that the compositor, upon the result of
whose nightly toil thousands daily luxuriate, should, in the
premature decrepitude occasioned by his unwholesome toil,
be dismissed not only by his employer, who, of course, can-
not be expected to retain him when he must employ others,
but be dismissed by the public without a pang, nay, without
a thought. (Hear, hear.) It was to meet this case—it was to
animate the public to sympathise with those sufferers, and to
support these unobtrusive benefactors that the Printers Pen-
sion Society was first established—established in London, and
I believe a branch of it is now established in Liverpool. 1
am not acquainted in detail with the internal management of
it, but suppose it to be managed judiciously, as well as
honestly.. 1 would cordially commend it to your grateful
and universal support. (Hear, bear.)
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in the service of a
mercantile gentleman, and in the supposition that he had
then done with the life of a printer for ever, but again he
was disappointed. Again we find him in the elasticity of his
indomitable perseverance, seeking for employment from his
old master. He found it, and he was very soon the factotum
of the establishment. One of his old master's apprentices,
a man called Meredith, had some property, and when his
apprenticeship was out he proposed to Franklin that they
should enter into partnership, and set up a printing establish-
ment for themselves. It was considered a hazardous experi-
ment ; for there were already two printers' shops in Phila-
delphia, and many thought it was impossible for it third to
succeed. Franklin thought otherwise: he entered into
partnership with Meredith, and they set to work with a
determination which ensured success. Of this part of his
history he gives an account, which I very gladly read in his
own words, because it connects itself with what I have
always thought is the heart's core of the secret of success
in every work that depends upon human prudence and human
perseverance—and that is early rising. (Hear, hear.)
" A friend," he says, " procured us, on the part of the
quakers, the printing of forty sheets of their history ; of
which the rest was to be done by Keimer. [That was his
old master.] Our execution. of this work was by no means
masterly, as the price was very low. It was in folio, upon
pro patria paper, and in pica letter, with heavy notes in the
smallest type. I composed a sheet a-day, and Meredith put
it to tie press. It was frequently eleven o'clock at eight,
sometimes later, before I had finished my distribution for
the next day's task ; for the little things which our friends
occasionally sent us kept us back in this work ; but I was so
determined to compose a sheet a-day, that one evening, when
my form was imposed, and my day's work, as I thought, at
an end, an accident having broken this form, and deranged
two complete folio pages, I immediately distributed and
composed them anew before I went to bed. This unwearied
industry, which was perceived by our neighbours, began to
acquire us reputation and credit. I learned, among other
things, that our new printing-house being the subject of
conversation at a club of merchants who met every evening,
it was the general opinion that it would fail, there being al-
ready two printing-houses in the town, Keimer's and Brad-
ford's. But Dr. Baird, whom you and I bad occasion to
see, many years after, at his native town of St. Andrew's,
in Scotland, was of a different opinion, ' The industry of
this Franklin,' said he, is superior to anything of the kind
1 ever witnessed. I see him still at work when I return
from the club at night, and he is at it again in the morning
before his neighbours are out of bed,' This account struck
the rest of the assembly, and shortly after, one of its mem-
bers came to our house, and offered to supply us with arti-
cles of stationery ; but we wished not as yet to embarrass
ourselves with keeping a shop.. It is not for the sake of ap-
plause that I enter so freely into the particulars of my in-
dustry, but that such of my descendants as shall read these
memoirs may know the use of this virtue, by seeing in the
recital of my life the effects it operated in my favour."
Encouraged by this last hint of this great man, I will tell you
a circumstance that occurred lately in this town. A journey-
man house painter, who had long entertained infidel senti-
ments, and was addicted to corresponding bad practises, was
employed in his trade upon a house nearly opposite to mine.
From his elevated position he saw over my blind into my
study, and he observed me at my work. The next morning,
at an early hour, he saw the same; this attracted his atten-
tion, and the third morning he came still earlier, but I was
before him. (Cheers.) He ascertained who I was, and he
kept watching me over the blind every morning while his job
opposite to me lasted. In the meantime, as I learned after-
wards, he began to reason with himself, saying, " this gen-
tleman must be in earnest, however, right,or wrong ;"—(hear)
and he said, moreover, the result of all this reading and
writing so early morning after morning must, I should think,
be worth hearing. I will go and hear what he has to say."
(Hear, hear.) Accordingly he came to my church. He
heard me describe the aching anxieties of the human soul,
not to be satisfied with any created thing, but aching still,
and longing for repose until it found it in the bosom of the
living God. He heard me describe the way in which a God
of Holiness can admit a sinner to such repose—the way in
which a sinner may enjoy that holy communion. His heart

was touched ; the secret cause of his infidelity was detected—
it was not a want of evidence in the revelation of God, but a
want of willingness in raan to be conformed to the character

of God. (Hear; hear.) Before a rising willingness to be
holy, all the scepticism of his intellect disappeared; and instead
of a sullen infidel, he is, I have reason to hope, a happy,
cheerful Christian. (Great applause.
_ _ .

Franklin was not content with merely performing his duties
as a printer. He aimed at more general usefulness; and it
was at this period he formed that celebrated club, or junto,
as he called it, at Philadelphia, which is thus described by
him :

" The regulations I drew up obliged every member to pro-
pose in his turn one or more questions upon some point of
morality, politics, or philosophy, which were to be discussed
by the society ; and to read, once in three months, an essay
of his own composition on whatever subject he pleased. Our
debates were under the directions of a president, and were to
be dictated only by a sincere desire of truth ; the pleasure of
disputing, and the vanity of triumph, having no share in the
business ; and in order to prevent undue warmth, every ex-
pression which implied obstinate adherence to an opinion,
and all direct contradiction, were prohibited, under small
pecuniary penalties."

This exercise prepared Franklin for the next step in his his-
tory—a step which urged him rapidly into publicity and
eminence, and that was the establishmi nt of a newspaper.
Just after he began the conducting of the newspaper, an in-
teresting public question arose upon the subject of paper
currency. Franklin distinguished himself on this question,
greatly improving his circumstances both in property and
reputation.

Ordinary men of his origin and habits would have been
perfectly content with the condition of reputation and of suc-
cessful fortune to which he had now attained ; but ordinary
men, under his circumstances at the outset, never could have
attained it. The same extraordinary impulse of character which
had, in despite of many difficulties, brought him so high, urged
him onward. He was determined to advance. There was
a magnificence about the man's benevolence ; it was mo-
rally impossible for him to terminate his views with himself.
He now aimed at improving all, even the best of his fellow-
men around him in his own town, and for this purpose he
established a public library. The public library he established
in Philadelphia had the most' beneficial effects upon the
minds of his fellow townsmen. It elevated their taste ;it
raised them from the mere drudging routine of business into
the purer atmosphere of moral, scientific, and philosophical
attainments. Still Franklin not only paved the way, but
himself kept foremost upon it.
I cannot attempt an enumeration even, much less a com-
ment upon his various scientific labours ; one point, how-
ever, is presented to me. All the associations around us
conspire to bring it on. The house we are met in, the scene
now before me, the platform I occupy—all conspire`to bring
to my mind and memory the interesting _lectures and
beautiful experiments of Mr. Snow Harris, when the
Scientific Society met in this town. (Hear, hear.) His
model ship, his conducting wires, his artificial flashes
from his little floating clouds filled with electric matter—his
whole exhibition, so interesting and delightful—these all now
come fresh before me ; and I delight in the opportunity of
doing justice to the memory of our American brother, by
informing such of this assembly as do not know the fact. that
for the discovery of these conductors, for the original appli-
cation to our houses and ships of that scientific shield against
the otherwise destructive fury of bursting clouds in the thun-
der-gust, mankind are indebted to the philosophical genius
of Dr. Franklin. (" Hear, bear," and great cheering.)
Why are not conductors generally used ? (Hear, hear.)
Why is it that spires without number are to be seen in country
and town without conductors ? Is it the expense ? Do men
argue that disasters are few, and the expense great? I would
appeal to the authorities of Liverpool now present, and I
would ask them to compare the expenses of maint lining con-
ductors for years with the expense they must go to in spring,
to repair the two spires that were struck with lightning last
summer. (Hear, hear.) J protest I think it a disgrace to a
scientific country that after the discoveries which have been
made, our spires, and I fear I may say many of our ships,
are still without conductors. (Hear, hear.) It was clearly
demonstrated by the philosopher to whom I referred, that
conductors may be made by breaking rods into pieces, and
lapping them over, so as to yield a little to and fro, without
ceasing to touch one another ; and thus to adapt themselves to
the elasticity of the masts, that they may be placed without in-
terfering in the slightest degree with the surrounding tackling.
Is it possible then, that vessels are allowed to leave our ports
without such conductors ? Ido not pretend to be very con-
versant with such matters, but if so, I do say it would be
lawful for the underwriters to charge a higher premium for
insuring every vessel that had not conductors at the masts.—
( Hear, hear.)
I have said I cannot attempt to enumerate the wonderful
works of Franklin, in practical science, or the discoveries
that he made—discoveries which astonished the academies of
science in Europe, and which well entitled him to the high
encomium which Lord Chatham passed upon him in the
House of Lords. Franklin was leaning upon the bar of the
house when Lord Chatham brought in his plan for an amica-
ble adjustment of American affairs. Lord Sandwich opposed
the plan, and, in a petulant speech, turned towards Franklin
and cast some unworthy sneers at him as the secret author of
the plan. Lord Chatham, in his reply, repelled with indigna-
tion the illiberal insinuation that the plan was not his who
proposed it : be declared it was entirely his, but at the same
time, he said, " if he were the first minister of the crown, he
should not have been ashamed to take into the public coun-
cils, a man so entirely conversant with the affairs of America,
a man,"—turning towards Franklin,—" a man, (he said,)
whom all Europe respected for his wisdom, and for his
knowledge, ranking him with her Boyles and her Newtons—
a man who was not only an honour to the British nation, but
an honour to human nature." (Great Applause.)
It would be extremely gratifying to be able to continue to
speak in the same strain of admiration concerning Franklin's
philosophy in other and higher departments. But the history
of this great man supplies no deviation from the common
remark, the great truth, the universal divine truth, that "the
world by wisdom knew not God." Upon the contrary, whe-
ther we contemplate the physical or the moral attributes of
the deity, the history of Franklin'supplies but another illus-
tration of that Athenian worship which was offered to the
unknown God. (Hear.) I must quote from a paper of
his, written at Philadelphia and afterwards referred to in his
life, for the purpose of calling attention to his philosophy,
independently of any theological peculiarities. He says :
" I believe there is a supreme, most perfect being, author
and father of the gods themselves ; for I believe that man is
not the most perfect being but one, but rather that there are
many degrees of beings superior to him. Also when I stretch
my.imagination beyond the planets and fixed stars, and con-
ceive the field which suns like ours traverse the course of the
world around, then this little ball in which we move seems
in my imagination to be almost nothing, and myself less than
nothing, and of no sort of consequence. When I think
this I imagine the vanity that must be in me to suppose that
the supremely perfect does regard such a nothing as me. I
cannot conceive otherwise than that he, the infinite father,
expects no worship from me, but the infinite has created
many beings or gods vastly superior to me, who can better
understand his perfections than me, and return him a most
rational praise. As among men the praises of the ignorant
or children are not required by the great and noble, it may
be that the gods or the immortal adore him. It is that par-
ticular wise and good God who is the author of our system
that I propose for the object of my praise and adoration."
Here, now, "the great supremely perfect," as he calls him,
is represented as adopting a plan which characterizes the
infirmity of human rulers, who, not being personally omni-
present, are compelled to employ representatives over dif-
ferent parts of the rule entrusted to them. He is represented
here, as not the Creator of all worlds and systems, but
only the Creator, imprimis, of a number of subordinate crea-
tors, not condescending to require the worship or the praise
of such creatures as we are, but infinitely above it. Yet
bere he is called "the Infinite. One!" Now, I must ask,
where is the philosophy of representing infinity as extending
upon the side of what we call greatness, and not extending
upon the side of what we call littleness? Surely infinite
wisdom perceives, and infinite power upholds, and infinite
superintendence directs, the smallest atom that floats in the
solar beam as truly and as really as the largest planitary
system that revolves round its solar centre. Surely the
microscope opens a vista as impenetrable in its deepest re-
cesses to any finite mind, as any opened by the telescope !
Surely to represent the great Creator as not personally omni-
present, but away, above, and beyond the displays of his
own creation, which he has left to the management of his
inferiors, differs little from the Epicurean system of pagan
mythology ! But oh, how widely does that differ from the
revelation of Him who " guides Arcturus and his sons, bind-
ing the sweet influences of Pleiades, and loosing the bands of
Orion," and at the same time guards the sparrow upon our
house tops, and numbers the hairs of our head ' • of Him in
whose hand the earth is as one drop in a bucket, or the
small dust that turns not the balance, whilst his heart of
tenderness is touched with a feeling of every the smallest
human infirmity !

Dr. Franklin's attempts to attain to an exact morality of
living are full of the liveliest interest and most important in-
struction. His plan is described by himself; he gives here
briefly what may be called his practical religious creed :
" I never," said he, " was without some religious princi-
ple ; I never doubted the existence of a Deity—that he made
the world and governs it by his providence."
You have heard the more detailed view he took of it ; and I
should say the paper I have read was written when he was a
young man, so young that I should not think it fair to refer
to it as a specimen of his philosophy ; but that he refers to it
himself at an advanced period of his life, and said he fell
back upon the use of it after rejecting the preaching of a
Presbyterian minister, whom he names :

" I never doubted," he says, " that a most acceptable ser.
vice'was to do good to man; that our souls are immortal;
that all crimes are punished here or hereafter. These are
the essentials of every religion, and being to be found in all
religions in our country. I respected them all, though with
different degrees of respect, as I found their articles calcu,
lated more or less to divide us, and make us unfriendly one
to another. About this time I conceived and upheld the ar-
duous project of arriving at moral perfection, I wished to
live without committing any fault at any time, and to con-
quer all that either inclination, custom, or company might
lead me into. As I thought I knew all that was right and
wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and
avoid the other."

Here is a candid confession of ignorance from this great man,
He did not know why it was that he could not do always the
good he wished, and always avoid the evil he wished to shun.
It was not for want of zeal, for he was zealous beyond pre-
cedent in it; but he adds—" I soon found that I had under-
taken a task of more difficulty than I imagined. While my
attention was taken up in guarding against one fault, I was
often surprised by falling into another. But not deficient of
intention, inclination was too strong for reason, and I con-
cluded at last." Particularly I wish to call your attention to
this conclusion .—" I concluded at last," he says, " that a
mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be
completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipp-
ing, and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good
ones established before we can have any dependance on a
steady, uniform rectitude of conduct." I called attention to
this reason. I wish you to observe the progress in his state
of mind. He found he could not accomplish his moral pur-
poses, and after being perplexed to know why; he concluded
that the speculative conviction was not enough, but that evil
habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and esta-
blished before we can have any dependence upon a steady
uniform course of moral conduct. That is, he proposes the
breaking off of evil habits, and the acquiring and establish.
ing of good ones as a means towards the attainment of a mo-
ral end. But you will perceive in a moment that these means
include the end ; for what has a man done who has broken
off all evil habits and acquired and established good ones ?
He has, ipso facto, obtained a perfect course of moral odedi-
ence. Dr. Franklin laid down a plan for himself whereby he
endeavoured to succeed in this, and a very interesting plan
it is. He says he forms(' a catalogue of the virtues. Tem-
perance, for example, was one. " I proposed to myself," he
says, " for the sake of clearness to write them down with a
few words upon each, and I included under thirteen names
of virtues all that occurred to me as necessary and desirable?
and annexed to each a short precept which expressed its
meaning." The names of the virtues and of the precepts
were somewhat as follows :

I.—Temperance. Eat not to dulness ; drink not to eleva-
tion.

2.—Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or
yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.
3.—Order. Let all your things have their place. Let
each part of your business have its time.
4.--Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought.
Perform without fail what you resolve. _

5.--Frugality. Bake no -expense but to do good to others
or yourself. That is, waste nothing.
6.—lndustry. Lose no time ; be always employed in some-
thing useful.
7.—Sincerity.' Use no hurtful deceit.
S.—Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries.
g.—Moderation. Avoid extremes.
10.—Cleanliness. Suffer no uncleanness in body, clothes,
or habits.
11.—Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles.

12.—Chastity.. Avoid injnry to your own, or another's
peace or happiness.
13.—flumility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
My intention being to acquire the habit of all those virtues,
I judged it yould be well not to distract my attention bytat-
tenipling the whole of them at once, but to fix at only one at
a time, and when I shall be master of that, then to proceed
to another, and so on till I should have gone through the
thirteen. I made a little book, in which I allotted a page to
each of these virtues. I ruled this book with red ink, so as
to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, mark-
ing each column with the letter of the day. I crossed these
columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of the
line with the letter beginning one of the virtues. In this
column I made black marks of every fault respecting that
virtue that day."

Then follows afac simile of a page of the book ruled for one
week. (The reverend gentleman here held up the page,
turning it to each side of the house.) This page con-
tains fourteen black spots. (Hear, hear, hear.) Now,
giving Dr. Franklin credit for perfect discernment of him-
self, so that no fault escaped his notice, and giving him
credit for perfect honesty in recording all he observed, so that
he was bona fide guilty of only fourteen faults in a week,
then comparing him with mankind in general, we have a
bright and beauteous specimen of moral excellence. Com-
paring him with the requirements of one man from another,
the requirements made of him by his country, by his friends,
by his family, we have an object not only of admiration,
but an object of affection. He resembles the young ruler we
read of in the Gospel who came to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and told of his morality, and concerning whom it is recorded
that Jesus loved him. But are these the only relations in
which a man stands to his family, his friends, his country,
and his fellow creatures? When all these are considered is
the subject complete ? Is it reasonably complete for an im-
mortal, sensitive, intelligent, responsible being ? Surely not.
There lacketh one thing—the relation which he bears to his
God, and to the moral government of God. The moral go-
vernment of the Almighty is not confined to man but extends
over other who can tell how many other— intelligent
beings. It is the government of mind as distinguished from
that of matter. The resources of God are infinite. By the
attraction of gravitation, the centrifugal impetus, and their
sustained balance, be governs the material universe; by the
moral law'addresses to the conscience and feelings, the prin- I
ciple of moral agents, he governs the universe of mind. The
moral law addressed itself' to the two strongest and most
comprehensive principles of our moral nature, hope and fear.
It addresses hope by promises of lasting rewards made to
obedience; and addresses fear by threatenings of tremendous
punishment, to be inflicted for disobedience.

This, so far, formed a portion of Franklin's creed. He
believed that all crimes will be punished, and virtue re-
warded. The efficacy of the divine law, as a rule or instru-
ment of government, must be proportioned to the confidence
which the subjects of the goverment repose in its promises
and threatenings. If the promises be viewed with distrust as
to their faithful and exact fulfilment, they will have no power
to excite to obedience; in like manner if the threatenings be
considered doubtful as to their execution, they will have no
power to deter from transgression. Imaginethe first introduc-
tion of transgression under the divine government; imagine an
angel having one single black spot to account for, and all the
host, the heavenly host, to see it. The penalties of the
moral law, which made no allowance for even one failure, are
incurred, and all eves are turned towards the SOVEREIGN. He
is put upon his trial before his own creatures, and the result
is to prove whether he shall be clear when he is judged.
Will he be as good as his word ? Are the threatenings real,
or are they only words? If they prove vain ; if the trans-
gressors remain unpunished, what must be the consequence ?
Will not all the intelligent subjects of the government learn
to despise the law? Will not, must not, the law lose its
power as an instrument of moral rule, and must not anarchy
prevail throughout the entire kingdom ? Such must inevita-
bly be the result if the moral governor allows himself to be
actuated by compassion towards transgressors to the sacrifice
of undeviating principle, towards the great bulk of his sub-
jects.

In the light of this law, and the relationship which every
man occupies towards this government, look back at Frank-
lin's book. Fourteen black spots, and not a whisper in
any of his writings about a remedy ! Not even a speculation
as to how such faults could escape punishment, consistently
with the unblemished veracity of the law-giver, nay, more,
consistently with the real benevolence of the law-giver to-
wards the countless millions of his intelligent subjects. For,
be it observed, that compassion towards any moral creature
who has transgressed, such as would relax the efficacy of the
law as an instrument of moral government, would bea refine-
ment of cruelty towards all the moral creatures who had
never transgressed. If compassion cannot be shown without
relaxing the law, it cannot be shown at all. Hare, I submit,
is the ne plus ultra of Deism, the shipwreck, the utter ship-
wreck, of every human hope based upon the works of the
law, unless such works be absolutely universally and perma-
nently perfect.
A public character sustaining an important office of go-
vernment, a judge, for instance, is not at liberty to act upon
his feelings of compassion as a private individual. As a man
he may have such feelings, and in his private capacity he
may act upon them amiably ; but to do so in his public cha-
racter, in the execution of his public office as a judge, would
be criminal, not amiable; destructive, not benevolent. Even
the father of a numerous family is not at liberty to act upon
his private personal feeling towards any one of his children
without considering the effect produced by such conduct
upon the remainder of his family. What then ?—I say it
not in harshness—l say it in the penetrated feeling of an
affectionate heart towards every man. What can Deism in
any of its modifications say ? I see in Dr. Franklin a splen-
did specimen of it in its best estate ; and I see him, upon his
own showing, stained with guilt, and dumb, absolutely dumb,
as to any prospect of pardon. (Applause.)
The resources of the Almighty are, indeed, infinite and
the revelation of those resources in any part, even in that part
required by man's necessities, places every created intellect
in the position of a little child. The angels desired to look
into these things. " Without controversy great is the mys-
tery of godliness :" " God was manifest in the flesh ~"
" seen of angels ;" "in the beginning was the word, the
word was with God, and the word was God ;" " in the full-
ness of the appointed time the word was made flesh." Thus
was constituted our daysman to lay hands upon both ; his
hand of infinite Godhead upon the high consistency of
heaven, his hand of spotless manhood upon the deep
necessities of earth. He achieved the arduous project of
moral perfection. The book.of the weeks of his life, from
infancy unto death, considered with regard to God as well as
man, presents no spot—no, not the minutest speck of failure.
Yet he who so lived without transgression, endured the
penalty pronounced against the transgressor ! His body en.
dured torture under the ruffian violence of man; his soul
endured torture and spiritual death under the hands of the
great judge, inflicting the righteous penalty of the holy
moral law upon the human transgressor! He suffered not
for himself, he deserved it not ; he obeyed not for himself ;
he required it not ; he suffered as man all the penalties which
man incurred as a transgressor of the law, and he rendered
as man all the obedience that man was required to render as
a subject of divine government. The countless millions of
spectators, of intelligent spectators, angelic hosts, through-
out creation, beheld the astonishing interference upon behalf
of man ; and they discovered new depths of manifold wis-
dom in their God. With wonder, joy, and praise they
read that opening bosom of him they loved in the stupend-
ous work of his manifold wisdom, power, grace, righteous-
ness, and mercy for fallen man !

Mercy and truth—truth in heaven, and mercy upon earth
—are met together! Righteousness and peace—righteous-
ness in heaven, and peace upon earth—have kissed each
other ! Angels behold God maintaining the spotless in-
tegrity of a legislation over all, and opening the tenderness of
a father's bosom towards man !

Fallen man is as an outcast planet beyond the range of the
attraction of its system, wandering in space towards the
blackness of darkness for ever; the incarnation moral
perfection, and vicarious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is as a mighty interference from the great centre going forth to
seek and to save, showing to the outcast wanderer how evil
and bitter a thing it is to be separated from the Great Light,
winning the love of that wanderer by the condescension of
the love of that interference, and then having entwined the
heart of the wanderer around him, returning to the bosom of
love he had left, bringing back the wanderer with him, within
the hallowed precincts, within the happy harmony of its ori-
ginal holy sphere ! The atonement is made, that God may
approach men (2onsistently with his own government ; and
the atonement is preached that men, believing it, may re.
turn to the holy God whom they once loved.
This is our view of Almighty God dealing with the black
spots. If we sin, if we strive as Franklin strove with that
high morality, as strive we ought, and if we find as Franklin
found, that inclination is stronger than reason, that tempta-
tion takes advantage of inattention, and if any man be
obliged to place a black mark upon his book, as who is not—
Franklin placed fourteen in the week, and he has left us a
specimen—" If any man sin"—(alas, we read nothing in this
man's writings of an advocate with the Father')—but "if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins."
The editor of Franklin's Memoirs says of him, that " in
every character, whether as a private individual or as a public
deplomatist—w hether as a philosopher or a citizen, he con-
stantly provedin his long and eventful career that his whole
aim was to promote, as far as in him lay, the happiness of
all mankind."

This is true. He rises no higher than this ; and those who
think that this is high enough, who think that it is perfection
in man to aim at the happiness—the present happiness—of
their fellow men, with disinterested benevolence, without a
thought, without an aim, without a desire about the eternal
happiness of man, or the glory of the living God—to those
who set up such a standard Franklin is all but perfection.
Invested with wonderful natural powers, drilled, cultivated
moralised, with almost superhuman perseverance—alas‘!
must we stop here? We must stop here. The Christian
student stimulated in his lower walk of moral virtue, by the
strenuous example of such a writer as this, drops the book at
last with a sigh—" Oh, that we had one authentic chapter
more, wherein we might walk with God as friends !"

Concerning Dr. Frankin's political principles I shall say
nothing—l cannot agree with them, and Ido not anticipate
any benefit from a passing expression of disagreement.
Concerning his political history, I will merely record the
application of a passage of Scripture, which he says his father
frequently applied, and which he has very feelingly applied to
himself, when he found himself the Minister Plenipotentiary
from the United States at the court of France, and honoured
with the domestic intercourse of the palace—when he found
himself also enrolled as a member of the various scientific
societies in France, in Italy, and in Russia, he reeords, and
was struck with it, his father's saying, that saying of
Solomon ;—," Seest thou a man diligent in his business; he
shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men."
And now, I might briefly draw towards a close. I might
avail myself of the circumstance already alluded to, that the
interests of the Printers' Pension Society have been secured
beforehand, and a collection, such as is not often made, al-
ready made in their behalf, so that I am relieved from the
necessity of any further present appeal for them. I might
now advance to tell you of the death of Franklin ; I might
tell von of his epitaph, which he wrote for himself,—and in
which I delight to trace a degree of dependence upon the au-
thority of revelation beyond what appears in any part of his
systematic writings. In
this epitaph he anticipates the re-
surrection of the body, one of the truths brought to light by
the gospel alone, for however it may be darkly guessed at by
the analogies of nature, it was never brought fully to light
but by the gospel. The immortality of the soul seems to
have been known even by those who knew nothing of the
gospel ; not so the resurrection of the body. Franklin's epi-
taph is, therefore, pleasant, though quaint:—
THE BODY
OF
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,

PRINTER,
(LIRE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOR,
ITS CONTENTS TORN OCT,
AND STRUT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING)
LIES HERE FOOD FOR WORMS;
YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL Nor BE LOST,
FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) APPEAR ONCE MORE
IN A NEW
AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION,
CORRECTED AND AMENDED
BY
THE AUTHOR.

He enjoyed wonderful health througha long life, which he
naturally attributed to his exemplary habits of temperance ;
but in the beginning of April, 1790, he was attacked with a
fever and a complaint of his chest, which terminated his
existence. An interesting account is given of his death by
his friend and physician, Dr. Jones. He died on the 17th
of April, 1790, aged eighty•four years and three months.
I said I might with this conclude, but I cannot do so with-
out adverting to one topic more. The last public act of Dr..
Franklin was the presentation of a memorial to the House of
Representatives of the United States, calling upon them
to make use of the full extent of the powers witk which

they were invested by the constitution, to put an end
to slavery. In this I would join heart and hand. (Loud
cheers.) In this I would invite all who hear me to join.
(Hear, hear.) Upon this subject I would venture in all
fidelity and affection, to address the American gentlemen by
whom, I have the honour to be surrounded, and say "Where
gentlemen, amidst the many admirers of Dr. Franklin,
where are his bold and faithful imitators? How long, how
long, shall the boast of liberty in the west be checked and
silenced, by pointing at the blood-stained whip, and the iron
fetter? (Cheers.) I say this more in sorrow than in anger.
I remember Well how long the mother country continued the
disgraceful, the degenerating system : I remember how long
the vested rights of some were pleaded against the natural
rights of others, and I cannot wonder that such an example
should be long followed; but I would say, let it be the
bright and blessed privilege of America, speedily to follow
the example of England's practical repentance for her long
continued guilt. (Cheers.) She respected vested rights:
having given them her sanction she could not withdraw from
them her support. She could not tarnish the justice of her
conduct towards one class by an admixture of injustice
towards another; (cheers,) hut she decreed that those
vested rights should no longer be maintained at the expence
of human liberty and human blood. (Cheers.) By millions
of her own treasures she purchased the glorious privilege of
righteously tearing up the charter of the slave holder, of
righteously snatching the whip out of the drivers' and
overseers' hands and casting it into the fire, a glorious
sacrifice. (Loud cheers.) In her earlier struggles concerning
the trade in man, I remember Mr. Wilberforce one evening
in the House of Commons. The morning papers of the day
contained an account of a French ship overhawled wherein
negroes were found inhumanly packed between decks. There
was no motion before the house, but the members present,
and the speaker himself, were so entranced by the negroes'
friend, that though he was out of order he met no interruption.
The touching tenderness of his voice and manner, the
high chivalry of his sentiments, the elevating refinement of
his Christian principle, and the known devotedness of his life—
all served to give additional power to his thrilling appeals to
our common feelings of humanity. Suddenly he stopped ; and
after a pause, as breathless to his auditors as to himself, he said,
" Sir, I am not speaking to you • Sir, I am not speaking to
this house; Sir, I am not speaking to this country; Sir,
I am speaking if I can bring a blush upon the brow of
France." (Chers.) Gentlemen, I say, can Carolina blush?
Ought not the face of Virginia and the face of Georgia be
suffused with shame ? (Cheers.) Oh, America! our daugh-
ter. sister, friend, in arts, in commerce, in agriculture, bound
to us by a thousand ties of affection, of interest, of duty—
ties
which no time can relax, which I trust no faction, no
treason, no hasty pride, no unadvised misunderstanding shall
ever be able to separate. Oh, speed, speed, the glorious con-
summation, and become our sister, our friend, our daughter,
indeed, in the substantial, practical, universal freedom of all
thy citizens, of every name, of every race, of every colour,
and of every clime! (Tremendous cheers.) Be not content,
I would say, until you can respond to the appeal of him you
call your immortal Franklin, until you can say with truth and
with rapture, " Slavery is no more !" Cheers.)
Oh, most degrading of all ills that wait
On man, a mourner at his best estate !
All other sorrows virtue can endure,
And find in meek submission half a cure.
But slavery !—virtue dreads it as her grave—
Patience itself is meanness in a slave.
But if the will and sovereignty of God
Bid suffer for a while, and kiss the rod ;
Then wait the dawning of a brighter day,
And snap the chain the moment that you may.
Nature imprints on everything we see,
That has a heart and life in it, BE FREE !

The reverend gentleman concluded the lecture at twenty
minutes to ten o clock, amid the most enthusiastic demon-
strations of applause. The delivery of it occupied two hours.
Mr. M'NEILE immediately after walked to the front of the
stage, and called the attention of the meeting to the progress
of the art of printing in Boston. He then exhibited a speci-
men of what the newspapers used to be in that place in the
days of Franklin, and also a number of the Boston Notion,
of the date of July, 15 1841. The immense size of the latter,
when put alongside the former, created considerable amuse-
ment.

PHILIP SCHUYLER, Esq., the Amarican consul, proposed
a vote of thanks to the Rev. Mr. M'Neile, for the able, in-
teresting, and intelligent address he had just delivered, and
that a copy of this resolution be advertised.

Mr. J. B. MURRAY seconded the motion, which was car-
ried by acclamation.

Mr. J. B. MURRAY moved that Mr. M'Neile be requested
to publish the lecture just delivered in the form of a pam-
phlet; the proceeds from the sale of which, both in this
country and in the United States, to be applied to the benefit
of the Printers' Pension Society of London.

Mr. SCHUYLER having seconded the motion, it was car-
ried unanimously.

The Rev. FIELDING OULD said he rose to propose a vote
of thanks to Mr. Murray for the diligence, activity, and zeal
he had manifested in making the necessary arrangements for
the lecture. lie ventured to hope that there would not be a
second opinion in that great assembly for the justice of the
tribute to him, when it was recollected that to him they were
mainly indebted for the transcendent treat they had enjoyed
in listening to the lecture which had been just delivered.
(Applause.)

Mr. CHRISTOPHER BUSHELL had been requested to se-
cond the resolution, and he did so with high gratification,
because the gentleman they were called upon to thank had
been the means of giving to them the brilliant production
which they had just heard from Mr. M`Neile. He felt per-
fectly persuaded when he heard that the reverend gentleman
was about to lecture upon this subject that he would not
only make it beneficial to Christian liberty, but also to
Christian truth. (Applause.)
The motion was unanimously carried.
Mr. MURRAY, in reply, said it was his desire and it was
his intention to have kept himself from public notice with
reference to this meeting; and it was only at the request of
the reverend gentleman, whom all were delighted to hear,
that he had consented even to his name being mentioned.—
But he had a motive in doing this ; he had a motive in con-
senting, which did not only regard himself as a man, but
also as an American citizen. He wanted to prove to the
English public that an American " born in the eagle's nest,"
and crowned with " the star-spangled banner," could feel for
the poor and wretched, the houseless, the widow, and the
orphan, whether they were across the broad Atlantic, there
pining a miserable existence, or away in some remote and
unknown spot in England.' (Hear.) It was a mistaken
feeling to say that they looked upon England with jealousy
and unkindness. They knew and felt that she was their
mother—(cheers)—that they were his brothers and sisters;
and if there was one brighter star among the twenty-six, it
was that which, upon the birth of America, rose in the hori-
zon of the east. It had been said that he had other motives
for requesting the reverend gentleman to deliver this lecture.
His motives were these, and at his request he repeated them.
They saw there the relic of his immortal countryman—a man
whose birth one could trace, but to use the sentiments of the
immortal Irving, whose death one could not trace, because
immortality never died. Mr. Murray then repeated the
mode in which the Franklin press had come into his posses-
sion, and stated that it would shortly be deposited in the
Philosophical Institute at Philadelphia. Having expressed
his gratitude to Mr. Crisp and Mr. Mitchell for their valua-
ble assistance in preparing the arrangements, he announced
that £2O had been received from the exhibition of the press
in the Medical Institution, and that the proceeds of the lec-
ture amounted to very near £250, a statement which elicited
loud cheers.

Cheers were then given for the Mayor and Mr. M'Neile,
and the meeting separated shortly before ten o'clock.
The Mayor has since sent a donation of £5 for the
Printers' Pension Society.