The venerable Edward Everett Hale, whose span of years reaches far back to
almost touching distance with the great and good ones of the nation's
infancy, sheds new light upon Benjamin Franklin's religious life in a
recent article in the _Independent:_
Franklin had an indifference, almost amusing, to the
sectarian divisions of the Christian Church. Because of this
ever-amusing indifference to sect, there has grown up a
doubt in extreme circles whether Franklin was what is called
a religious man. But it is quite certain, nothing is more
certain, that he recognized the Divine Providence, the being
and love of God, the work and gospel of Jesus Christ, and
immortality of man, and that he was eager to take part as a
Christian man in the best work of the Christian Church.
Dr. Hale admits that Franklin "did not know the difference between an
Episcopalian and a Roman Catholic," but thinks that he was nevertheless
"one of the men who, as the English Prayer Book says in its grand way,
'profess and call themselves Christians.'"
After Franklin's death, an epitaph, written by himself when twenty-three
years of age, was found among his papers. Though it was not chiseled upon
his tomb, we may quote it here:
=The body of
B. FRANKLIN,
Printer,
Like the cover of an old book,
its contents torn out,
and stripped of its lettering and gilding,
lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost;
for it will, as he believed, appear once more,
in a new and more perfect edition,
corrected and amended
by the Author.
He was born January 17, 1706.
Died 17. B.F.=