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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 91
of 154
never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the flames have
often been extinguished before the house in which they began has been half
consumed.
In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, who had made
himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first permitted to
preach in some of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon
refus'd him their pulpits, and he was oblig'd to preach in the fields. The
multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were
enormous, and it was matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to
observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and bow much
they admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by
assuring them that they were naturally half beasts and half devils. It was
wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world
were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening
without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.
And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject to its
inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was no sooner propos'd, and
persons appointed to receive contributions, but sufficient sums were soon
receiv'd to procure the ground and erect the building, which was one hundred
feet long and seventy broad, about the size of Westminster Hall; and the work
was carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than
could have been expected. Both house and ground were vested in trustees,
expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might
desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building
not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in general; so
that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach
Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.
Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way thro' the colonies to
Georgia. The settlement of that province had lately been begun, but, instead of
being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen, accustomed to labor, the only
people fit for such an enterprise, it was with families of broken shop-keepers
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