Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-07-11
BEN FRANKLIN
Did He Have Any Religion II Looks As .
He Was Good Man.

soas Icorspc.ience Of New York Posta ssaa
From q child Franklin was SO fond
Of reading that all the little money
that came into his hands was always
laid out Id books.--And the very
FIRST collection of books he ever made,
the very, nest egg OF his library, was
OF John Bunyan's works in separate
little volumes-a purchase induced
by his loye of the sPilgrim's Prog
ress III That and .Plutarch'saLives,"
with the book of DeFoe's called "An
Essay on Projects" and another of
DIR. Mather's called "Essays to Do
Good" gave him, he says, q turn Of
thinking that had an influence ! on
some Of the principal future events Of
his lite TWAS his "bookish inclina-
ton" that determined his father to
make him printer, and he began his
journeymanship under his brother
James, at the age of IL years. AT
the age Of Is, 'after doubling by
turns ofsseveral points of principles
and morals, as he fonnde them dispu.
ted, Gin the different books he read"
he began, he says, TO doubt of revela-
ton itself, till he became a thorough
deist, and at the age Of 10 he wrote
a pamphletsto prove the doctrine of
fate, from the supposed attributes of
God. But, in 1880, at the age of "a.
he wrote pamphlet on the other side
Ioi the question, (which began with
laying for its foundation this fact, that
almost all men in all ages and coun
tries have at times . made use Of
prayer His earlier pamphlet sap.
peared not near, 80, clever perform
ance as he once Thought it." and his
doubts now took the form of self
doubting He adoubted whether
some error. had not insinuated itself
nnperceived into its argument, so as
to infest all that followed, as is com
mon in metaphysical reasonings."
aAe the of So, in l764, we find
himwriling to his daughter Sarah:
"Go constantly to charch, whoever
breaches. The act of devotion in the
common prayer is your principal bus
incss there, and, if properly attended
to, will DO more toward amending the
heart than sermons generally can do.
Forthey were composed (the prayers)
b. men of much greater piety and
wisdom than our common composers
of ssermons can pretend to be /; and
therefore ! wish you would never
miss the prayer days. l pray that
Gods blessing may attend you, which
is . worth more than q thousand OF
mine, though they ARE never want
Ing yhaas Naia}a.ae
From, this impressive record we
pass on to the age of IS, in 1884. We
find Franklin reviewing the course of
his own and his early partner, Stra-
hans, prosperity, and the. causes OF
the success of the American revolu.
zion. "But after all. my dear friend,
do not imagine that am vain enough
to ascribe our success to any supe-
riority in any of these points. am
too well acquainted with all the springs
and levers of our machine not to see
that our human means were unequal
to our undertaking and that, lift had
not been for the justice of our cause
and the consequent interposition of
Providence, in which we had faith,
we must have been ruined. If had
ever before been an atheist, / should
now have been convinced ofthe being
aud government of Deity! tbs He
who aliases the proud and favors the
humble. May we never forget His
goodness to us, and may our future
conduct manifest our gratitude. al
Let me close this notice of Frank
Inns religious convictions aud habits
with quotation from his speech in
the federal convention, at the age OF
81, in behalf of his motion for open
ing with prayer, after four or five.
weeks spent 10 confusion of counsels
and without progress. Let the focus
of this lens of opinion and advice be
directed on our present congress az
ter nearly q hundred years.
ain this situation of this assembly,"
said Franklin, cropping, as it we're, in
the dark to find political truth, and
scarcely able to distinguish it when
presented to us, how has it happened,
sir, that we have not hitherto thought
of humbly applying to the Father Of
Lights to illuminate our understand
lings? In the beginning of the con-
test with Britain, when we were sen
sible of danger, we had daily prayers
in this room for the divine prote ;tion..
Our prayers, sir, were heard, and
they were graciously answered. All
of us who were engaged in the strng-
gle must have observed frequent in.
stances of a. experimenting Provi-
dence in our favor. To that kind
Providence we owe this happy oppor-
tunity of consulting in peace on the
means OF establishing our future ma
tional felicity. And have we now
forgotten that powerful friend? Or
do we imagine we no longer need
HIS assistance / have lived, sir,
long time, and the longer live the
more convincing proofs / see of this
truth, that God governs in the affairs
of men. And if sparrow cannot fall
to the ground without His notice, is
it probable that an empire can rise
without His aid I'VE have been as
sured, sir, in the sacred writings, that
except the Lord build the house, they
labor in vain that build it, l firmly
believe this; and | also believe that
without his concurring aid we shall
succeed in this political building no
better than the builders Of Babel; we
shall be divided by our little, partial,
local interests; our projects will be,
COMPOUNDED, and we ourselves shall
become reproach and by-word,
down TO, future ages. And what is
worse, mankind may hereafter, from
this unfortunate circumstance, despair
of establishing government by human
wisdom. and leave it to chance, war
and conquest. / therefore beg leave
to move that henceforth prayers, inn
ploring the assistance of Heaven and
its blessings on our deliberations, be
held in. this assembly every morning
before we proceed to business, and
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