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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 71
of 154
of good report, if there be any virtue, or any praise, think on these things."
And I imagin'd, in a sermon on such a text, we could not miss of having some
morality. But he confin'd himself to five points only, as meant by the apostle,
viz.: 1. Keeping holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy
Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the
Sacrament. 5. Paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be all good
things; but, as they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that
text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted, and
attended his preaching no more. I had some years before compos'd a little
Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled,
Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I return'd to the use of this, and went
no more to the public assemblies. 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.
It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at
moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I
would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead
me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see
why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had
undertaken a task of more difficulty than I bad imagined. While my care was
employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit
took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for
reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was
our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our
slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired
and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform
rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following
method.
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I
found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or
fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined
to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating
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