Benjamin Franklin Chapter 2 Section 3

Section 3: A Religious Man It is important that Benjamin Franklin was a religious man for a number of reasons. Many of his stated beliefs are similar to those of the freemasons. I, myself, have been around a lot of freemason men and women, so it’s really easy to recognize his various references to King Solomon and even some direct quotes he recited from him. For example, Franklin included in his autobiography, “And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of examination, for daily use” (FRANKLIN, Chapter 9). A direct quote referenced when Franklin says, “O powerful Goodness! A Bountiful

Accept my kind words to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me” (FRANKLIN, Chapter 9). He refrained from mentioning anything about freemasonry specifically in his autobiography, because it was strictly forbidden and was a part of his obligation to the organization to uphold this rule. Franklin acknowledges that there is a greater being when he says, “I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity: that he made the world, and govern’d it by his providence; that the most acceptable service of God was doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter” (FRANKLIN, Chapter 8). Franklin also shows he is religious when he admits to praying in his autobiography and states, “I had years before compos’d a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private use (Viz., 1728), entitled, Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I returned to the use of this, and went no further to the public assembly. My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it, without attempting further to excuse it; my present purpose being to relate facts, and not to make apologies for them” (FRANKLIN, Chapter