to Ezra Stiles.[i-489] Bearing in mind his inveterate scientific deism,
we are not surprised that his religion is one created apart from
Christian scripture, that Jesus is the conventional, amiable
philosopher, respected but not worshipped by the Enlightenment. If he
seems convinced in this letter that God "governs" the universe "by his
Providence," we have seen above that his attitude toward the Deity's
relation to man and his world was anything but sure and free from
disturbing reflection. Convinced that the Deity "ought to be
worshipped," he next observed "that the most acceptable service we
render to him is doing good to his other children." His a priori concept
of a benevolent Deity whose goodness is expressed in the harmony of the
creation, in effect challenged him to attempt to approximate this
kindness in his relations with his fellow men. Apart from provoking
humanitarianism, primarily an ethical experience guided not by
sentimentality but by reason and practicality. Franklin's natural
religion--like deism in general--failed, as scriptural religion does
not, to establish a union between theology, the religious life, and
ethical behavior. It must be seen that Franklin had no confidence in
achieving the good life through mere fellow-service: he continually
urged man to conquer passion through reason, seeming to covet pagan
sobriety more than he did the satisfaction of having aided man to
achieve greater physical ease. If he felt that "to relieve the
misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity; it is
godlike,"[i-490] he warned against helping those who had failed to help
themselves, implying that the inner growth of the individual is more
significant than his outward charity to others. Whatever be the ultimate
resolution of these antithetic principles, we see that his
humanitarianism was the offspring of his a priori conceived Deity,
augmented by his experiments in science which led to discovery of
nature's laws. His emphasis on the inward and vertical growth of the
individual toward perfection, on the other hand, may be viewed as the
expression of the introspective force of his Puritan heritage and his
knowledge, direct and indirect, of classical literature. As in the
polarity of his thoughts concerning Providence, so here we see that the
_modus operandi_ of his mind is explicable in terms of the interplay of
the old and the new, Greek paganism (Socratic self-knowledge) and
Christianity and the rationale of the Enlightenment.
Before he became an economist, a statesman, a man of letters, a
scientist, he had embraced scientific deism, primarily impelled by
Newtonianism. We have observed that it is not improbable that his
agrarianism, emphasis on free trade, and tendency toward laissez faire
were partially at least the result of his efforts to parallel in
economics the harmony of the physical order. Likewise, his views on
education were conditioned by his faith in intellectual progress, in the
might of Reason, which in turn was in part the result of his scientific
deism. Then too, it may well be suggested that his theories of rhetoric
were to some degree the result of his rationalistic and scientific
habits of mind. We have also seen that his scientific deism was among
the motivating factors of his belief in natural rights, which, coupled
with his empirical awareness of concrete economic and political abuses
issuing from monarchy and imperialistic parliamentarians, made him alive
to the sovereignty of the people in their demands for civil and
political liberty. This introduction, it is hoped, has made apparent the
fact that the growth of Franklin's mind was a complex matter and that it
was moulded by a vast multitude of often diverse influences, no one of
which alone completely "explains" him. Puritanism, classicism, and
neoclassicism were all important influences. Yet perhaps the _modus
operandi_ of this myriad-minded colonial, this provincial Leonardo, is
best explained in reference to the thought pattern of scientific deism.
To see the reflection of Newton and his progeny in Franklin's
activities, be they economic, political, literary, or philosophical,
lends a compelling organic unity to the several sides of his genius,
heretofore seen as unrelated. Franklin's mind represents an intellectual
coherence--an imperfect counterpart to the physical harmony of the
Newtonian order, of which all through his life he was a disciple.
FOOTNOTES:
[i-1] _The Works of John Adams_, ed. by C. F. Adams (Boston, 1856), f,
660.
[i-2] W. P. Trent, "Benjamin Franklin," _McClure's Magazine_, VIII,
273 (Jan., 1897).
[i-3] Cited in C. R. Weld's _History of the Royal Society_ (London,
1848), I, 146. For Baconian influence see I, 57 f. See also Edwin
Greenlaw, "The New Science and English Literature in the Seventeenth
Century," _Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine_, XIII, 331-59 (1925). Of
dominant tendencies he stresses (a) a "new realism, or sense of fact
and reliance on observation and experiment"; (b) the disregard for
authority in favor of free inquiry; and (c) the development of faith
in progress, inspiring men to improve their worldly condition.
[i-4] E. A. Burtt, _The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical
Science_, 208. Newtonianism as a method and a philosophy has been ably
examined by recent scholars. See, for examples, C. Becker, _The
Declaration of Independence_, especially chap. II, and _The Heavenly
City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers_; and in Bibliography, pp.
cli ff., below, W. M. Horton (chap. II); C. S. Duncan; H. Drennon; L.
Bloch; E. Halévy. See also Isabel St. John Bliss, "Young's _Night
Thoughts_ in Relation to Contemporary Christian Apologetics,"
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLIX, 37-70 (March,
1934); J. H. Randall, _The Making of the Modern Mind_ (Boston, 1926),
chap. X ff.; H. H. Clark, "An Historical Interpretation of Thomas
Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV, 56-87
(Jan., 1933), and "Toward a Reinterpretation of Thomas Paine,"
_American Literature_, V, 133-45 (May, 1933).
[i-5] Burtt, _op. cit._ 223.
[i-6] Article, "Deism."
[i-7] Article, "Nature."
[i-8] P. Smith, _A History of Modern Culture_ (New York, 1934), II,
17-8.
[i-9] See S. Hefelbower, _The Relation of John Locke to English
Deism_.
[i-10] _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress in English Popular
Literature of the Eighteenth Century_, 168-9: "One inference that
might be drawn from the theory was that while the infant whose mind is
a blank page at birth is not so well off from the primitivistic point
of view as the one who comes into the world already equipped with a
complete set of the laws of nature and a predisposition to obey them,
he is infinitely better off than the infant whose poor little mind had
been loaded with original sin by his remote ancestors. For the
orthodox baby, born in sin, there is almost no hope, except in
supernatural aid; but if we suppose that man's ideas are all derived,
as Locke postulated, from sense-impressions, then we may conclude that
all men, rich and poor, primitive and civilized, are on an equal
footing intellectually at birth. Although the primitive child does not
have the help of civilization in the development of his mind, neither
does he have its superstitions, prejudices, and corrupting influences;
and he might actually be better off than the product of
civilization--at least so many a primitivist argued. But one might
draw another inference from the _tabula rasa_ theory. Men, however
corrupt they are now, may still have a chance of regeneration if their
mind is really like blank paper at birth." For eighteenth-century
primitivism see also H. N. Fairchild, _The Noble Savage_ (New York,
1928).
[i-11] H. J. Laski, _Political Thought in England from Locke to
Bentham_ (New York, 1920), 9. See also W. A. Dunning, _A History of
Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu_; G. S. Veitch, _Genesis
of Parliamentary Reform_; and G. P. Gooch, _English Democratic Ideas
in the Seventeenth Century_ (2d ed., Cambridge, England, 1927).
[i-12] K. Martin, _French Liberal Thought in the Eighteenth Century_,
13.
[i-13] See J. B. Bury, _The Idea of Progress_, chap. VIII; and J.
Morley, _Diderot and the Encyclopædists_, I, 6: "The great central
moral of it all was this: that human nature is good, that the world is
capable of being made a desirable abiding-place, and that the evil of
the world is the fruit of bad education and bad institutions."
[i-14] "Shaftesbury and the Ethical Poets in England, 1700-1760,"
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XXXI (N. S. XXIV),
277 (June, 1916).
[i-15] See Bury, _op. cit._; Whitney, _op. cit._; and J. Delvaille,
_Essai sur l'histoire de l'idée de progrès_ (Paris, 1910).
[i-16] R. Crane, "Anglican Apologetics and the Idea of Progress,
1699-1745," _Modern Philology_, XXXI, 273-306 (Feb., 1934), and 349-82
(May, 1934).
[i-17] _The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers_,
30-1.
[i-18] N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_.
[i-19] D. Mornet, _French Thought in the Eighteenth Century_, 50-1.
Also see his _Les sciences de la nature en France au XVIII^e siècle_
(Paris, 1911), and R. L. Cru, _Diderot as a Disciple of English
Thought_ (New York, 1913). See Morley, _op. cit._, I, 31 ff., and
Martin, _op. cit._
[i-20] _An Account of the Destruction of the Jesuits in France_
(Glasgow, 1766), 61.
[i-21] Consult M. Roustan, _The Pioneers of the French Revolution_,
and L. Ducros, _French Society in the Eighteenth Century_.
[i-22] Quoted in J. Fiske's _The Beginnings of New England_, 73. For
the seventeenth-century New England way, see especially F. H. Foster,
_A Genetic History of the New England Theology_ (Chicago, 1907); P.
Miller, _Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, 1630-1650: A Genetic Study_
(Cambridge, Mass., 1933); B. Wendell, _Cotton Mather, The Puritan
Priest_; I. W. Riley, _American Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 3-58
and _passim_; H. W. Schneider, _The Puritan Mind_; J. Haroutunian,
_Piety versus Moralism_; R. and L. Boas, _Cotton Mather: Keeper of the
Puritan Conscience_ (New York, 1928). See Bk. V of Mather's
_Magnalia_, "prose epic of New England Puritanism" (B. Wendell,
_Literary History of America_, 50).
[i-23] Prior to the Treaty of Paris (1763) the American colonies were
indebted primarily to English liberalism for ideas subversive of
colonial orthodoxy. If works of Fénelon, Fontenelle, Bayle, Voltaire,
and Rousseau are occasionally found in the colonies prior to 1763,
these are dwarfed beside the impact of such English minds as those of
Trenchard and Gordon, Collins, Wollaston, Tillotson, Boyle,
Shaftesbury, Locke, and Newton. It was only in the twilight of the
century that French liberalism, itself nursed on English speculation,
began to impinge on the thought-life of the colonies. See H. M. Jones,
_America and French Culture_. Also see L. Rosenthal, "Rousseau at
Philadelphia," _Magazine of American History_, VII, 46-55. See works
of Riley, Koch, Gohdes, Morais, in Bibliography, pp. cli ff., below.
[i-24] Fiske, _op. cit._, 124.
[i-25] F. J. Turner, _The Frontier in American History_ (New York,
1920), 30.
[i-26] _Ibid._, 38.
[i-27] Whitney, _op. cit._, 83-4.
[i-28] See R. M. Jones, _The Quakers in the American Colonies_
(London, 1921).
[i-29] T. Hornberger's "The Date, the Source, and the Significance of
Cotton Mather's Interest in Science," _American Literature_, VI,
413-20 (Jan., 1935), offers evidence to show that Mather's thought in
this work is latent in earlier works.
[i-30] K. Murdock (ed.), _Selections from Cotton Mather_ (New York,
1926), xlix-l; see G. L. Kittredge items (Murdock, lxii), and
Hornberger, _op. cit._
[i-31] Murdock, _op. cit._, 286.
[i-32] _Ibid._, 292.
[i-33] _Ibid._, 349.
[i-34] Riley, _op. cit._, 196.
[i-35] Quoted in H. M. Morais, _Deism in Eighteenth Century America_,
25.
[i-36] _Ibid._, 17. See also G. A. Koch, _Republican Religion_.
[i-37] _Travels in North America, in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782_
(London, 1787), I, 445.
[i-38] F. E. Brasch, "Newton's First Critical Disciple in the American
Colonies--John Winthrop," in _Sir Isaac Newton, 1727-1927_ (Baltimore,
1928), 301.
[i-39] H. and C. Schneider (eds.), _Samuel Johnson, President of Kings
College: His Career and Writings_ (New York, 1929), I, 6.
[i-40] _Ibid._, I, 8-9. It will be remembered that Thomas Young was
struck with science and deism while at Yale: he it was who introduced
liberal ideas to that militant prince of deists (with Thomas Paine),
Ethan Allen.
[i-41] _Jacobus Rohaultus physica Latine reddita et annotata ex, Js.
Newtonii principiis_ (1697).
[i-42] _Literary Diary_, I, 556 (1775).
[i-43] D. Stimson, _The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory_,
48.
[i-44] See S. E. Morison, "The Harvard School of Astronomy in the
Seventeenth Century," _New England Quarterly_, VII, 3 (March, 1934).
[i-45] _Ibid._, 7. In 1672 Harvard received her first telescope. Such
men as Winthrop and Thomas Brattle were actively interested in
science.
[i-46] F. Cajori, _The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the
United States_, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information,
No. 3, 1890 (Washington, D. C.), 22.
[i-47] Brasch, _op. cit._, 308.
[i-48] _Dictionary of American Biography_, VII, 591-2.
[i-49] _The Newtonian System of the World ..._ (Westminster, 1728),
30.
[i-50] _Ibid._, 6.
[i-51] See J. Quincy, _History of Harvard University_ (Boston, 1860
[1840]), II, 4-21.
[i-52] Jan. 12, 1727, Feb. 23, and others. Also see June 13 and July
11 of 1734.
[i-53] See advertisements in _Boston Gazette_, June 17-24, 1734,
quoted in W. G. Bleyer's _Main Currents in the History of American
Journalism_, 73-4.
[i-54] _Op. cit._, 25.
[i-55] _Literary Diary_, II, 334.
[i-56] Through the kindness of the Hollis family, Harvard (by 1764)
gained a remarkable collection of scientific instruments, possessed
the Boylean lectures, Transactions of the Royal Society and of the
Academy of Science in Paris, the works of Boyle and Newton, "with a
great variety of other mathematical and philosophical treatises"
(Quincy, _op. cit._, II, 481). Notable among these items are
Chambers's _Cyclopædia_, received in 1743, and Pemberton's _View of
Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy_, in 1752.
[i-57] A. Bradford, _Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev. Jonathan
Mayhew ..._ (Boston, 1838), 18-9, 46.
[i-58] _Ibid._, 50.
[i-59] _Ibid._, 305. Mayhew is on record as saying: "The inspired
scriptures are our only rule of faith and conduct" (_ibid._, 140).
[i-60] _Ibid._, 75. On the other hand, he reacts against what deism
and orthodox rationalism commonly became: "A religion consisting in
nothing but a knowledge of God's attributes, and an external conduct
agreeable to his laws, would be a lifeless, insipid thing. It would be
neither a source of happiness to ourselves, nor recommend us to the
approbation of him, who requires us 'to give him our hearts.'"
[i-61] _Ibid._, 464.
[i-62] _Two Discourses Delivered Oct. 9th, 1760 ..._ (Boston, 1760),
66.
[i-63] _Election-Sermon_, May 27, 1747 (Boston, 1747), 9.
[i-64] _A Sermon_ [election], May 31, 1769 (Boston, 1769), 5.
[i-65] _Election-Sermon_, May 30, 1781 (Boston, 1781), 4.
[i-66] _Election-Sermon_, May 28, 1783 (Boston, 1783), 29.
[i-67] _Ibid._, 54.
[i-68] _Election-Sermon_, May 31, 1780 (Boston, 1780), 21.
[i-69] _Election-Sermon_, May 27, 1778 (Boston, 1778), 7.
[i-70] _Election-Sermon_, May 29, 1765 (Boston, 1765), 17.
[i-71] _Life of Ezra Stiles_ (Boston, 1798), _passim_; see especially
pp. 34-54.
[i-72] See his _United States Elevated to Glory and Honour ..._, May
8, 1783 (Worcester, 1785).
[i-73] See _Literary Diary_ for his inveterate interest in science and
the laws of nature; see also I. M. Calder (ed.), _Letters & Papers of
Ezra Stiles ..._ (New Haven, 1933).
[i-74] See Hornberger, _op. cit._, 419.
[i-75] For full backgrounds, see G. P. Gooch, _English Democratic
Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_, W. A. Dunning, _A History of
Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu_; H. L. Osgood,
"Political Ideas of the Puritans," _Political Science Quarterly_, VI,
1-29, 201-31; Mellen Chamberlain, _John Adams ... with Other Essays_
(Boston, 1898), especially pp. 19-53, stressing the influence of
Puritanism on political liberalism; Alice Baldwin, _The New England
Clergy and the American Revolution_; J. W. Thornton, _The Pulpit of
the American Revolution_ (Boston, 1860), a collection of election
sermons edited with an extensive introduction; C. H. Van Tyne, "The
Influence of the Clergy ... in the American Revolution," _American
Historical Review_, XIX, 44-64. In stressing the influence on Franklin
of European ideas, it is important to remember that, as we shall see,
it is probable that some of Franklin's interest in doing good
(charity), in science, and in democracy may have been inspired by his
exposure during his formative years to American Puritanism.
[i-76] _The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_, ed. by Albert Henry Smyth
(New York, 1905-1907), I, 300; (hereafter referred to as _Writings_).
For a scholarly exposition of backgrounds of educational theory in
relation to philosophy, especially the cult of progress, see A. O.
Hansen's _Liberalism and American Education in the Eighteenth
Century_, which includes a valuable bibliography. This work, however,
slights Franklin and Jefferson.
[i-77] _Writings_, I, 312.
[i-78] For an exhaustive survey of the means Franklin pursued to
educate himself, and suggestive notes on his ideas of education, see
F. N. Thorpe's _Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania_,
chaps. I-II, 9-203. See also Thomas Woody's _Educational Views of
Benjamin Franklin_ (New York, 1931), which in addition to relevant
selections from Franklin's works contains stimulating observations by
the editor.
[i-79] _Writings_, I, 323.
[i-80] _Essays to do Good_, with an Introductory Essay by Andrew
Thomson (Glasgow, 1825 [1710]), 189.
[i-81] _Ibid._, 102.
[i-82] _Ibid._, 192-3.
[i-83] See his letter to Samuel Mather, May 12, 1784 (_Writings_, IX,
208-10).
[i-84] _The Works of Daniel Defoe_, ed. by Wm. Hazlitt (London, 1843),
I.
[i-85] _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, 119. Also see his
"Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century,"
_American Historical Review_, XXXVII, 258 (1932), in which he suggests
that the Junto "had Masonic leanings."
[i-86] These and others quoted in Woody, _op. cit._, 45-6 (reprinted
from Sparks, _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, 9-10).
[i-87] _Writings_, II, 88.
[i-88] _Ibid._, II, 89.
[i-89] _Ibid._
[i-90] _Ibid._, II, 90.
[i-91] Questions suggestive of the Junto's interest in moral,
political, and philosophical topics are: "Is self-interest the rudder
that steers mankind, the universal monarch to whom all are
tributaries?" which causes one to suspect that Franklin had challenged
his friends with _The Fable of the Bees_; "Can any one particular form
of government suit all mankind?" which may have stirred controversies
in the Junto between logical relativists and historic absolutists, the
realists and those motivated by a priori abstractions, as, for
example, in the Burke-Paine intellectual duel; "Whether it ought to be
the aim of philosophy to eradicate the passions?" which may tend to
suggest that Franklin would gear philosophy to moral action rather
than to arid metaphysics.
[i-92] _Writings_, I, 312.
[i-93] _Ibid._, I, 322.
[i-94] Since writing this the editors have noted Morais's fragmentary
use of the Company's catalogues in _Deism In Eighteenth Century
America_. For popular accounts of the general character and function
of the Company see L. Stockton, "The Old Philadelphia Library," _Our
Continent_, Oct., 1882, 452-9; J. M. Read, Jr., "The Old Philadelphia
Library," _Atlantic Monthly_, March, 1868, 299-312; B. Samuel, "The
Father of American Libraries," _Century Magazine_, May, 1883, 81-6.
The ablest survey is G. M. Abbot's _A Short History of the Library
Company of Philadelphia_. He lists, however, only the first books
ordered in 1732 through Peter Collinson.
[i-95] Cited in Abbot, _op. cit._, 5.
[i-96] Photostat used as source is in the William Smith Mason
Collection in Evanston, Ill.
[i-97] "The Letters and Papers of Cadwallader Colden, Vol. II,
1730-1742," _Collections of the New York Historical Society_ (New
York, 1919), II, 146-7. See also A. M. Keys, _Cadwallader Colden: A
Representative Eighteenth-Century Official_ (New York, 1906), 6-7.
[i-98] _American Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 330.
[i-99] _An Historical Account of the Origin and Formation of the
American Philosophical Society_ (Philadelphia, 1914); J. G.
Rosengarten, in "The American Philosophical Society," tends to agree
with Du Ponceau.
[i-100] _Writings_, II, 229.
[i-101] _The History of the Royal Society of London ..._ (2d ed.,
London, 1702), 61.
[i-102] _Ibid._, 64.
[i-103] _Writings_, II, 230.
[i-104] In 1750 he wrote: "Nor is it of much importance to us, to know
the manner in which nature executes her laws; 'tis enough if we know
the laws themselves. 'Tis of real use to know that china left in the
air unsupported will fall and break; but _how_ it comes to fall, and
_why_ it breaks, are matters of speculation. 'Tis a pleasure indeed to
know them, but we can preserve our china without it" (_Writings_, II,
434-5). We remember that even Sir Isaac Newton confessed that "the
_cause_ of gravity is what I do not pretend to know" (_Works of
Richard Bentley_, London, 1838, III, 210). He observed that "Gravity
must be caused by an agent acting constantly according to certain
laws; but whether this agent be material or immaterial, I have left to
the consideration of my readers" (_ibid._, 212).
[i-105] _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XIII, 247-8
(1889).
[i-106] Franklin was unable to prevail upon Johnson to accept the
provostship of the Academy. In 1752 he printed Johnson's _Elementa
Philosophica_ and suggested in _Idea of the English School_ that it be
used in the Academy. In a letter of 1754 Franklin informs Johnson that
the grammatical and mathematical parts were already being used--the
rest would be when the instructors and pupils were ready for it (E. E.
Beardsley, _Life and Correspondence of S. Johnson, D. D._, 2d ed., New
York, 1874, 180-1). In the _Elementa Philosophica_ Johnson stresses
the use of mathematics in man's study of nature (p. xv). Through
mathematics, an indispensable aid in "considering that wonderful and
amazing Power, that All-comprehending Wisdom, that inimitable Beauty,
that surprizing Harmony, that immutable Order, which abundantly
discover themselves in the Formation and Government of the Universe,
we are led to their divine Original, who is the unexhausted Source,
the glorious Fountain of all Perfection ..." (_ibid._, xiii). The
_Elementa_ is a rhapsodic manual extolling the discovery of the Deity
in his Work, through the study of the physical laws of the creation.
Although subordinated to this, there are frequent reactions against
Lockian sensationalism, suggesting an ecstatic mystical union between
man and God. On the whole, the volume is a treatise on the glories of
a natural religion (a religion of course which buttresses rather than
refutes scriptural religion).
[i-107] Quoted in T. H. Montgomery's _A History of the University of
Pennsylvania_, 396. Smith's educational principles may be partially
seen in his "View of the Philosophy Schools" (1754) printed in H. W.
Smith's _Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith_
(Philadelphia, 1879), I, 59 f. Although he conceived Nature as
affording only "those fainter exhibitions of the Deity" (I, 156), he
was a sturdy orthodox rationalist, tending toward, yet not embracing
deism. Emphasizing the principal writings of Barrow, Maclaurin, Watts,
Keill, Locke, Hutcheson, 'sGravesande, Martin, Desaguliers, Rohault
(Clarke's edition), Ray, Derham, and Sir Isaac Newton, Smith suggests
the rationalist who buttresses scriptural revelation with the
evidences of Deity through discovery by reason of the Workman in the
Work. His _Discourses on Public Occasions in America_ (2d ed., London,
1762) are the result "of his office as Head of a seminary of learning
[Philadelphia Academy and College]; in order to advance the interests
of Science, and therewith the interests of true Christianity" (p. vi).
"A General Idea of the College of Mirania" (1762), though written
about 1752 while Smith was in New York, suggests the form of his
"View": he observes that "besides his revealed will, God has given
intimations of his will to us, by appealing to our senses in the
constitution of our nature, and the constitution and harmony of the
material universe" (_Discourses_, 44). The same titles and authors are
listed as in the "View." A Newtonian rationalist, Smith meditated:
"All thy works, with unceasing voice, echo forth thy wondrous praises.
The splendid sun, with the unnumbered orbs of heaven, thro' the
pathless void, repeat their unwearied circuits, that, to the uttermost
bounds of the universe, they may proclaim Thee the source of justest
order and unabating harmony" (_ibid._, 155). Smith arrived at his
principles of rationalism apparently without indebtedness to Franklin:
there seems to be no evidence that as provost he was merely attempting
to fulfill the scientific and rationalistic ideas latent in Franklin's
_Proposals_, that he was a tool in Franklin's hands. Indeed, they were
anything but friendly to one another. Hence, one feels that the credit
for the relatively modern curriculum should be given more abundantly
to Smith than to Franklin.
[i-108] _Writings_, II, 388.