Benjamin Franklin : $b Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notesFranklin, Benjamin
General
Benjamin Franklin : $b Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
The following instance will show something of the terms on which we
stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me
that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could
lodge when there, as he understood his old friend and host, Mr. Benezet
was removed to Germantown. My answer was, "You know my house, if you can
make shift with its scanty accommodations, you will be most heartily
welcome." He reply'd, that if I made that kind offer for Christ's sake,
I should not miss of a reward. And I returned, "_Don't let me be
mistaken, it was not for Christ's sake, but for your sake_." One of our
common acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to be the custom
of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift the burden of the
obligation from off their own shoulders, and place it in heaven, I had
contriv'd to fix it on earth.
The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me
about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to
the establishment of a college.
He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences
so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great distance,
especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the most exact
silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the Court-house steps,
which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the west side of
Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were
fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the
hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could
be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I
found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise
in that street obscur'd it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my
distance should be the radius, and that it were fill'd with auditors, to
each of whom I allow'd two square feet, I computed that he might well be
heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper
accounts of his having preach'd to twenty-five thousand people in the
fields, and to the antient histories of generals haranguing whole
armies, of which I had some times doubted.
* * * * *
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