Benjamin Franklin
One of America’s Founding Father
(January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
“A founding father who knew the value of prayer”
Most people might not give a runaway with only two years of formal education much chance of succeeding in life, but it was the start of life for Benjamin Franklin. One
of seventeen children, Ben was largely self-educated, and after running
away from an apprenticeship in the printing business, he worked in
England and then moved to Philadelphia, where he founded his own
printing business and newspaper.
He often wrote under pseudonyms, including a character named “Silence Do good” in Boston.
“Poor Richard” was Ben’s voice for expressing his thoughts on freedom, justice, and public sprit.
Poor
Richard’s Almanack, which Ben not only wrote but also published, became
most widely read book after the Bible in the American colonies.
Franklin was a prolific writer, inventor, and student.
Among
his inventions were a stove that emitted more heat than a conventional
fireplace, the lightning rod, bifocals, the gliding rocking chair, and
a musical instrument he called the “armonica.” Franklin never patented
his inventions he intended them for every one’s use.
(Stove, Lightning Rod, Bifocals, Gliding Rock Chair, Armonica)
Franklin was equally known as a leader and public-service innovator.
He
helped establish the first public library in North America, a police
force, a volunteer fire department, a hospital, the first garbage
collection service, and an academy that became the University of
Pennsylvania.
He retired from his printing business at age forty-two to pursue his “hobbies.”
During
this time, he learned French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Latin;
continued to invent; became interested in electricity; and worked for
the colonial government. He was sent by the colonies to England in 1757
in an attempt to convince England to uphold colonial rights. When he
finally realized that England would not listen to colonial complaints,
he returned home in 1775 to help draft the Declaration of Independence.
At the end of the Revolution, he helped negotiate peace with England and became the first United States ambassador to France.
In the 1780s, he was called upon to help draft the U.S Constitution.
And it was in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention that Ben took one of his most courageous stands.
The
Convention was on the verge of failure over the issue of whether small
states should have the same representation as large states. The
deadlock seemed hopeless. At age eighty-one, Franklin rose with a
suggestion.
He was convinced that the Bible is right in saying ,
“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain” (Psalm 127:1), and he said:
“Gentlemen,
I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the
affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? I move
that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven be held every morning
before we proceed to business.”
(Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Praying)
The motion carried. And from then on prayer was offered each morning until a compromise was reached.
World changers know they are not the source of their own greatness.
“Your will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart”
Jeremiah 29:12-13
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