FRANKLIN'S STRUGGLES WITH FRANKLIN.
AT the age of fifteen Franklin had avowed himself a deist, or theist,
which must have grieved his parents, who were people of positive
Christian faith. He loved to argue, and when he had learned the Socratic
art of asking questions so as to lead one to confuse himself, and of
answering questions in the subjunctive mood, he sought nothing more than
disputations in the stanch Puritan town. His intimate friends were
deists, but they came to early failure through want of faith or any
positive moral conviction. Governor Keith was a deist.
The reader may ask what we mean by a deist here. A deist or theist in
Franklin's time was one who believed in a God, but questioned the
Christian faith and system. He was not an atheist. He held that a
personal governing power directed all things after his own will and
purpose. Under the providence of this Being things came and went, and
man could not know how or why, but could simply believe that all that
was was for the good of all.
At the age of twenty-two young Franklin began to see that life without
faith had no meaning, but was failure. In the omnipotence of spiritual
life and power the soul must share or die. Negations or denials did not
satisfy him. This was a positive world, governed by spiritual law. To
disobey these laws was loss and death.
He had been doing wrong. He had done wrong in yielding to his personal
feelings in leaving home in the manner which he did. He had committed
acts of social wrong. He had followed at times the law of the lower
nature instead of the higher. He had become intimate with two friends
who had led him into unworthy conduct, and over whom his own influence
had not been good. He saw that the true value of life lies in its
influence. There were things in his life that tended to ruin influence.
There were no harvests to be expected from the barren rocks of negation
and denials of faith in the highest good. Sin gives one nothing that one
can keep. He must change his life, he must obey perfectly the spiritual
laws of his being. He saw it, and resolved to begin.
Now began a struggle between Benjamin Franklin the natural man and
Benjamin Franklin the spiritual man that lasted for life. It became his
purpose to gain the spiritual mastery, and to obey the laws of
regeneration and eternal life.
Here are his first resolutions:
"Those who write of the art of poetry teach us that, if we would write
what may be worth reading, we ought always, before we begin to form a
regular plan and design of our piece; otherwise we shall be in danger of
incongruity. I am apt to think it is the same as to life. I have never
fixed a regular design in life, by which means it has been a confused
variety of different scenes. I am now entering upon a new life; let me,
therefore, make some resolutions, and form some scheme of action, that
henceforth I may live in all respects like a rational creature.
"1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I
have paid what I owe.
"2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance, to give nobody
expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in
every word and action; the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
"3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand,
and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of
growing suddenly rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of
plenty.
"4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of
truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon
others, and, upon proper occasions, speak all the good I know of
everybody."
But there must be a personal God, since he himself had personality, and
he must seek a union of soul with his will beyond these mere moral
resolutions.
At the age of twenty-two he composed a litany after the manner of the
Episcopal Church, but adapted to his own conditions. In this he prays
for help in the points where he had found himself to be morally and
spiritually weak.
These petitions and resolutions show his inward struggles. They reveal
his ideals, and to fulfill these ideals became the end of his life. For
the acts of wrong which he had done in his period of adventures, and the
unworthy life that he had then led, he tried to make reparation. The
spiritual purpose of Benjamin Franklin had obtained the mastery over the
natural man. Honor was his star, and more spiritual light was his
desire and quest.
He married Miss Read, the young woman who had laughed at him when he had
entered Philadelphia eating his penny roll, with two rolls of bread
under his arm, and his superfluous clothing sticking out of his pocket.
He had neglected her during his adventures abroad, but she forgave him,
and he had become in high moral resolution another man now.
As a printer in Philadelphia his paper voiced the public mind and heart
on all which were then most worthy. To publish a paper that advocates
the best sentiments of a virtuous people is the shortest way to
influence in the world. Franklin found it so. The people sought in him
the representative, and from the printing office he was passed by
natural and easy stages to the halls of legislation.
So these resolutions to master himself may be regarded as another step
on the ladder of life. To benefit the world by inventions is a good
thing, but to lift it by an example of self-control and an unselfish
life is a nobler thing, and on this plane we find young Franklin
standing now. Franklin is the master of Franklin, and the influence of
Silence Dogood through the press is filling the province of
Pennsylvania. The paper which he established in Philadelphia was called
the Pennsylvania Gazette. In connection with this he began to publish a
very popular annual called Poor Richard's Almanac, about which we will
tell you in another chapter.
Right doing is the way to advancement--Franklin had this resolution; a
newspaper that voices the people is a way to advancement--such a one
Franklin had founded; and good humor is a way to advancement, and of
this Franklin found an expression in Poor Richard's Almanac which has
not yet ceased to be quoted in the world. It was the means of conveying
Silence Dogood's special messages to every one. It made the whole world
happier. Franklin, on account of the wise sayings in the almanac,
himself came to be called "Poor Richard."