Whitefield & Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a printer, inventor, statesman, wit, and philosopher. ("Early to bed, early to rise ...") Franklin admired morality, providence, and public virtue, but he was not a professing Christian.

George Whitefield, who started the Methodist movement, was the thundering evangelist of the Great Awakening. He preached Christ to massive crowds, called sinners to repentance, and helped awaken religious concern throughout the colonies.

Whitefield knew Benjamin Franklin and prayed for his conversion. Franklin however, admitted Whitefield never had the satisfaction of knowing those prayers had been answered.

And yet, the two men became friends.

Franklin's press printed the sermons and journals of Whitefield and often listened to him preach. He admired Whitefield's powerful voice and remarkable influence. He once calculated how far Whitefield’s voice carried and estimated that tens of thousands could hear him in the open air.

Franklin did not agree with everything Whitefield believed, but he respected him. He called their relationship a sincere civil friendship ... it it lasted until Whitefield’s death.

I believe it was this unexpected relationship that informed one of the most surprising moments of the Constitutional Convention.

In the summer of 1787, the delegates in Philadelphia were in trouble. The Convention was divided. Tempers were high. The question of representation threatened to tear the entire work apart.

It was then that Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate in the room, rose to speak.

He reminded them that during the struggle with Great Britain, they had prayed for divine protection and he believed those prayers had been heard. Now, with the future of the nation hanging in the balance, Franklin wanted to know why they had not asked God for wisdom.

What an excellent question!

He famously said (point to the word of Jesus) that if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God’s notice, then surely an empire cannot rise without His aid.

Franklin then moved that the Convention open each day with prayer, asking the assistance of Heaven upon their deliberations.

However, the Convention did not immediately begin each day with prayer. Some opposed the idea. Others worried about what the public might think if word spread that the delegates were desperate. One delegate even noted that the Convention had no money to pay a chaplain.

The meeting adjourned without a vote.

However, that historic moment reveals something important.

Benjamin Franklin, was no revival preacher nor evangelical, but he understood the limits of human wisdom. He had seen the power of the Word of God in the preaching in George Whitefield. He had watched whole communities stirred by spiritual conviction.

Franklin had lived long enough to know that clever men can still be blind men, and brilliant minds can still lose their way.

At that Constitutional Convention, Franklin was confessing our nation's true need.

The founders could draft, debate, reason, and compromise. They could argue over representation, powers, branches, and amendments. But what a nation needs more than political intelligence is humility before God.That is the lesson.

On this 250th anniversary of July 4th we at want to remember that America was not built by perfect men. It was not built by men who always understood the gospel clearly. It was not even built by men who all agreed with one another about religion.

But it was built by men who knew they were fallible and understood that human reason is never enough.

Franklin’s friendship with George Whitefield reminds us that spiritual influence is not always immediate or obvious but God's Word does not return void. (Isa. 55:11)

The impact of Whitefield's friendship and preaching bore lasting fruit so decades later, when the nation’s future was uncertain, Franklin stood in Independence Hall and asked whether they should seek the aid of Heaven. Not necessarily because he had become a Christian but because he had learned, in part from Whitefield, that the affairs of nations are never beyond the concern of God.

God bless America!!!