His Last Years
Despite his great age (eighty years), public life continued to lay claim his services, and he was appointed President of Pennsylvania, a position which he held three years. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he was a delegate from Pennsylvania, but this was the last public duty he was to perform. At a time when it appeared the Constitutional Convention would disband without success, Franklin rose on the Convention floor and addressed the chairman and his fellow delegates, saying:
In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And, have we now forgotten that powerful Friend [the eternal God]? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed, in this political building, no better than the builders of Babel.
In 1794, Thomas Paine published his infamous work, Age of Reason, in which he elevated “free thought” and the principles of deism while he attacked Christianity and the providence of God in the world. He had sent a manuscript copy of this work to Mr. Franklin before Franklin’s death. After reading it, Mr. Franklin responded, urging him not to publish it. As he closed his letter to Paine, Franklin wrote,
Think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. And perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother.
I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger [or publish this work], but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person; whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification by the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it. I intend this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no professions to it; but subscribe simply yours,
B. Franklin
Though influenced in his late teens by deism, infidelity, and irreligion, Benjamin Franklin had come to realize it only produced heartache and misery. In world history, where have agnosticism, atheism, deism, and other forms of irreligion produced wellbeing and a truly progressive society? Nowhere!
Benjamin Franklin died at age 84, on April 17, 1790. The cause of his death was empyema brought by attacks of pleurisy, which he had suffered earlier in his life. During his later years Franklin’s health gradually deteriorated. He suffered from gout and had a large kidney stone which confined him to bed.
A large crowd of mourners followed his body to the grave, and the nation lamented his passing. Congress invited the United States to mourn his passing for a period of thirty days. In France, and indeed throughout Europe, the news of his death was received with profound grief. In the National Assembly of France, the eloquent Honoré Mirabeau announced his death, and in a brief but brilliant eulogy spoke these sobering words: “Franklin is dead!” A profound silence fell upon the hall, and then he continued, saying:
The genius which gave freedom to America, and scattered torrents of light upon Europe, is returned to the bosom of the Divinity! The sage, whom two worlds claim, the man disputed by the history of the sciences, and the history of empires, holds, most undoubtedly, an elevated rank among the human species. Political cabinets have too long notified the death of those who were never great but in their funeral orations; the etiquette of courts have but too long sanctioned hypocritical grief. Nations ought only to mourn for their benefactors; the representatives of freemen ought never to recommend any other than the heroes of humanity to their homage. . . .
Antiquity would have elevated altars to that mortal, who, for the advantage of the human race, embracing both heaven and earth in his vast and extensive mind, knew how to subdue thunder and tyranny! Enlightened and free Europe at least owes its remembrance and its regrets, to one of the greatest men who has ever served the cause of philosophy and of liberty.
Conclusion
Benjamin Franklin was truly a great man. Having been raised in a Puritan home, it appears that he too soon left the influence of his parents and was subsequently influenced by infidelity and irreligion. Given the proximity of these beliefs to the birth of his illegitimate son and common-law marriage, there can be no doubt that, like other infidels, these believes brought about this unfortunate chapter in his life. However, the grace of God had permitted Mr. Franklin to see the error of his ways the more mature he became. His call to prayer from the floor of the Constitutional Convention can leave no doubt of this fact. While no one should seek to make Dr. Franklin a Christian, let none doubt the clear biblical teachings he did advocate.
He strove to improve himself cultivating personal virtues and taking on public projects for the benefit of society. One of his first public projects was to organize a block watch and raise money to pave and clean Philadelphia roads. His projects gradually became more ambitious and included creating pensions, providing welfare for widows, creating a volunteer militia, and building the University of Pennsylvania to educate the middle class children. Franklin was also a founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital, built for those who could not afford care, he built institutions for the mentally disabled, a lending library, fire corps and insurance. This was long before governments began to provide services to their citizens.
Benjamin Franklin was also a scientist. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity and invented a rod to prevent it from hitting buildings. He invented bifocal glasses, charted the Gulf Stream, invented a clean burning stove and proposed theories on the contagiousness of the common cold. His approach was more practical than theoretical. His training as a craftsman made him more accomplished as an inventor.
As a journalist his most important journalistic influence was his brother James who is considered the first fighter for journalistic freedom in America. Franklin wrote: “Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public, and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter”. This legacy is framed and hanged in many newsroom walls in America. He also published the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanack.
Franklin was an ambitious entrepreneur, disciplined and industrious, working hard until late at night. He nurtured his appearance and reputation “I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal but to avoid all appearances of the contrary”.
He was against slavery as an institution. For part of his life he held the usual prejudices against African Americans but came to realize that they were “in every respect equal” to his own. As a politician he was the first one to propose the union of the colonies for common defense. He was accused as a royalist but when the time came he stood up for freedom becoming one of the Founding Fathers. Benjamin Franklin genius is centered on the use of his network of business and social connections. He leveraged this network to the benefit of his variety of interests from science and politics to business and journalism.
Unlike the other Founding Fathers, Franklin began as an artisan, with only two years of formal education, and was the architect of his own fortune. He was a self-made man representing American social mobility through frugality and industriousness. According to historian Perry Miller, Benjamin Franklin has become the most “massively symbolic” figures in American history.
For decades, liberals and secular historical revisionists have been attempting to defame the characters of America’s Founding Fathers. This attack has been ongoing since the 1920s and 30s in an attempt to ultimately defame the nation’s character. Throughout history, conquering nations have rewritten the histories of the nations they have conquered, seeking to destroy the memory of previous greatness. By defaming America’s Founding Fathers, the irreligious and secular among us seek to destroy America!
Sources:
- https://christianheritagefellowship.com/benjamin-franklin-advocate-of-americas-christian-heritage/
- http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/was-benjamin-franklin-a-christian/
Chronological History of Events Related to Benjamin Franklin
The Declaration of Independence Approved by Congress as 56 Courageous Signers “Pledge… Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor.”
Benjamin Franklin Article on the Rattlesnake as a Symbol for America
The First American Abolition Society was Formed in Philadelphia. Thomas Paine, Benjamin Rush, & Ben Franklin were Among its Mostly Quaker Membership
Joseph Priestley Discovers Oxygen
Benjamin Franklin Becomes America’s First Whistleblower when he Discretely Passed Along Some Secret British Government Documents, the Hutchinson Letters.
Ben Franklin: “…the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”
The Stamp Act was Passed by the British Parliament and Imposed on American Colonists
The Currency Act of 1764 Forbids the Colonies to Print their Own Money
The First Political Cartoon: Benjamin Franklin’s Satirical ‘Join, or Die’
