Moses Mather's Reply to Blind Submission to The King: 

America's Appeal to the Impartial World

[This is a 50 page sermon from 1775 which I will try to condense.  Moses Mather served as Minister in Darien, Connecticut.  The British put him in jail twice for his views.]

The king must have the consent of the governed.  Biblically, authority comes from God through the voice and consent of the people.  Magna Carta is unique in human history by controlling the power of the king. The House of Commons had as an unalienable right to originate all money bills.  This has been the history of Britain and its American children for over 800 years.

"The king's power does not come from the crown, it comes from the constitution of the colonies (their consent).  Power is derived from the Almighty and our consent.

"Government originates (under God) from the people.  Monarchy, aristocracy and democracy have failed in their turn.  Civil government is a temporary remedy against the ill effects of general depravity.

"The king by removing his protection and levying war against us has discharged us of our allegiance and of all obligations to obedience.. He having violated the compact on his part, we of course are released from ours...The king has discharged us of our allegiance and forced us from our dependence, and we are become necessarily independant. [sp]"

"The king broke off the agreement and we are not bound by it, especially when he has withdrawn his protection and declared war on us."

Submission: Did Our Founding Fathers Sin by Rebelling Against Our Sovereign King George III?

Submission: Did Our Founding Fathers Sin by Rebelling Against Our Sovereign King George III?

There were many voices in the time of the American War for Independence which stated that the Thirteen Colonies should obey their rulers and that rebellion was as the sin of witchcraft.  This article is an attempt to defend the Founding Fathers from a scriptural viewpoint.  One would be the whole of
Scripture and second would be the case of hundreds of years of Church History.

An excellent resource is the collection of sermons edited by Ellis Sandoz entitled Political Sermons of the American Founding Era 1730-1805. With 1596 pages, it is no light assignment but one that contains treasure.  Among the authors are George Whitefield, Charles Chauncy, Samuel Davies, John Joachim Zubly, John Witherspoon, Samuel Cooper,Samuel Miller, Noah Webster and Timothy Dwight.  There are many others but what a cast!

There is also a sermon by John Wesley entitled "A Calm Address to Our American Colonies" written in 1775.  It is hardly a sermon.  I was surprised to not see one verse of the Bible quoted.  There was a passing reference to Ahithophel (a counselor to King David who later sided with the rebel Absalom and later committed suicide) but no explanation to the readers.  It was assumed that the readers would be familiar with his siding with Absalom.  Wesley's "Calm Address" elicited an anonymous response entitled: "A Constitutional Answer to Wesley's Calm Address" also in 1775.

An anonymous pastor wrote a reply in "A Constitutional Answer to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley's Calm Address to the American Colonies."  In the second paragraph, this pastor says the following:
   
     "You present your book to the world, as your own; but the greatest part of it is taken, verbatim, from Taxation No Tyranny, written by the pensioned Dr. Johnson, a declared enemy of civil and religious liberty! This is another deception, equally mean and obvious."

This anonymous pastor does not deal with scriptural texts either but appeals to Magna Carta and Pennsylvania laws.

Many well meaning people will blindly rattle off Romans 13: 1a  "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities."  They leave it at that.  Just blindly submit, do not ask questions!  Get in line for the Jim Jones koolaid.  Churches like the example given of Jim Jones have used that line of thinking.  If these same people had lived in the time of Moses would have gone alone with the government edict of killing all the Hebrew babies.  They might have had to tow the government line when King Herod gave the rule that all babies in Bethlehem must be killed.  Would these blind goverment-followers have taken part in the killing of their own founder [Jesus]?

Let us read what the whole text of Romans 13:1 states.  "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The Founders of the United States followed the example of the British rulers in Magna Carta.  The king of England was held to limitations on his power.  Our Founders did not believe in the Divine Right of Kings.  King Charles I wrote a book entitled the Divine Right of Kings.  That same king was beheaded by Parliament under Oliver Cromwell.  The king is also held responsible to God's law.  If the king goes against God's law, the people have to hold the king responsible.

What should Christians have done in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s?  Should they have just been docile submissive creatures for everything Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party demanded? Christians like Deitrich Bonhoeffer saw that they had to make a stand in their culture.

Our Founders took the second part of Romans 13:1 and followed the whole verse.  There is no authority except that which God has established.  They saw that the established Church of England in many cases was a political appointment.  There were sincere believers in the Church of England but there were also many wolves in sheep's clothing.  There were many in the ministry that had not been born again.  Especially from New England there was a cry to make sure that there was freedom of religion.  Take note of the tie of the established Church of England in the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and New York with the slave trade.

The American Revolution From Scotland

The American Revolution From Scotland

          The research that I have done on the Founding Fathers has taken me to check out my own family history.  I have assumed for most of my life that I was from English background.  If my studies are correct, my ancestor Richard Webster came from Glamis, Angus in Scotland.  He supposedly was a schoolmaster and lived in Cambridge, Maryland from about 1704 to 1744.  This knowledge has spurred me on to study the history of Scotland, especially in terms of its impact on the Founding Fathers.  An excellent book to give me that overview of the country has been Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson.  With some seven hundred pages, it has been a long read but also an enlightening one. 

          There are nine Scottish signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas McKean, James Wilson, George Ross, Matthew Thornton, Edward Rutledge, William Hooper, Philip Livingston, George Taylor and Rev. John Witherspoon.  As I study more about Scottish history especially from about A.D. 1600 onward,  I am seeing many links between the Scots and the desire for independence in America in what became the United States.  Especially when one finds out that Rev. John Witherspoon was a direct descendant  of John Knox of the Reformation, this is really worthwhile to dig into. When one finds out that the American Revolution has been called a Presbyterian revolution and that Scotland had a National Covenant, I had better check this out.

          Being from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, there are many place names that have huge Scottish significance.  Queen Anne’s is the name of a county (where Charles Willson Peale the painter came from).  Little did I know that Queen Anne had 18 children (only one of which survived infancy).   A major battle was fought at Preston in northern England where 2,000 Scots died in battle.  There was also a battle in Worcester and Dunbar.  A lot of these names sound so familiar.

The Whigs got their start in Scotland as a part of the Covenanters.  The Declaration of Arbroath, signed in April 6, 1320 might have had something to do with another Declaration signed 456 years later.

This is just the beginning of hopefully more articles on Scotland and her neglected history.  

HMS Roebuck Visit to Parker Mill Pond (Today Called Leonard's Mill Pond) in February 1777

HMS Roebuck Visit to Parker Mill Pond

(today called Leonard's Mill Pond)

February 1777
Eastern Shore of Virginia (Ninth Regiment) to the Rescue

     Next time you visit the Salisbury Visitor Center on Route 13 between Salisbury and Delmar, Maryland try to envision a 44 gun ship British ship in Leonard's Mill Pond.  Imagine 250 Tories assembled in the area as a staging area for the British to mount an invasion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.


     Continental Congress moved from Philadelphia on December 12, 1776. After defeats at Brooklyn, White Plains and Harlem in New York, we lost Fort Washington and Fort Lee. British troops kept pursuing the Continental Army in New Jersey and General Washington won a stunning victory by crossing the Delaware River and capturing the Hessian garrison at Trenton December 26, 1776. Colonel William Richardson (from the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Preston) was entrusted with moving the Treasury from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Baltimore served as the capital of nation from December 20, 1776 until February, 27, 1777. The location of Congress in Baltimore was at Liberty Street and Baltimore Street (near the First Mariner Arena where the Baltimore Blast soccer team plays).

     The capital returned to Philadelphia on March 4, 1777. [ It remained there until September 15, 1777. After the defeat at Brandywine, Continental Congress had to move again. They stayed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for one day- September 27, 1777 and then moved to York , Pennsylvania from September 30, 1777 until June 27, 1778. At York, they met at the Court House.]

     During the time frame of the upheaval from Continental Congress having to move from Philadelphia to Baltimore is the time period in which the Tories attempted to take control of Delmarva. Their plan started with the staging area of Parker Mill Pond. All during the time that the capital was located in Baltimore, one of the main focuses was the threat to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is hard for current readers to visualize John Hancock in Baltimore but here is a resolve of Congress on February 17, 1777:


[Hancock to Council]
Baltimore, Feb. 17, 1777
Gentlemen:
As Congress have received Information that the Enemy are meditating a Descent upon the Coast of Chesapeake Bay the ensuing Campaign, I have it in Charge to request you will cause all the Stock of every Kind (agreeably to the enclosed Resolve) to be immediately removed from the shore and the adjacent Islands, or otherwise so secured that there may be no Danger of its falling into the Hands of our Enemies, and that you will take the most Effectual Measures to protect those who are well affected to the Cause of America from being plundered and insulted by the Enemy.
I have the Honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obed. Serv.
Honble Council of Safety. John Hancock Presid.

[Resolve of Congress.]
In Congress, Feby. 17, 1777
Congress having this day received Information that the Enemy mediates an Expedition to the Bay of Chesapeak in the ensuing Campaign, and that the Eastern Shore of Maryland is the first object or Place of Landing [italics added]
RESOLVED, That the States of Virginia and Maryland be requested to take immediate and the most effectual Measures that the Stocks may be removed from their respective Eastern Shore Counties, and their adjacent Islands, or so secured that they may not fall into the Enemies Hands, and that Means the most effectual be taken to protect & secure the well affected Inhabitants from the Insults and Plunder of the Enemy.
By order of Congress John Hancock, Presid.

     Tangier Sound had three British warships in their area accompanied by tenders and other armed vessels, known to be piloted by Tories. For several months the Tories were on the verge of gaining control of Somerset (Maryland) and Sussex (Delaware) counties. A 44 gun British ship, Roebuck, had landed field artillery pieces (probably from the Wicomico River). In February, 1777 about 250 Tories gathered at the site of the battle of Parker Mill Pond near Salisbury.

     For quite a few years it has been puzzling as to how the HMS Roebuck made its way up the Wicomico River to the Parker Mill Pond location (which is now called Leonard Mill Pond).  Look up Salisbury Maryland on Google using the satellite function.  One can see the river bed of the Wicomico River from the bypass up to Leonard Mill Pond.  There are two dams (one near Isabella and Lake Street and the other at Leonard Mill Pond itself) which have been added since 1777.  Without the dams, a ship could come up to Parker Mill Pond.

     The battle never happened in actuality. Colonel George Dashiell’s militia of 150 was outnumbered and outgunned. Dashiell sent letters for help and help came in strength. Almost 1,000 (980) came from the Upper Shore and Western Shore under Gen. Smallwood. Another 2,000 under Colonel Southey Simpson (of the Ninth Regiment of Virginia) came from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. When the Tories saw the strength against them, they scattered. Fourteen ringleaders were caught but the two leaders, Callallo and Moore were believed to be headed for refuge on Smith or Tangier Island. And boarded the British ship Phoenix

     The Maryland Council sent vessels to transport troops to Eastern Shore: the Enterprise with Captain James Campbell, the Defence with Captain George Cook, the Dolphin with Captain William Patterson and four other vessels. They assembled 980 men to help the Somerset Militia at Salisbury.

Col. William Buchanan’s Regulars- 350 men
Gen. Smallwood’s Battalion- 300 men
2nd Virginia Battalion 300 men
Mattrosses from Annapolis 30 men

“The militia was first on the scene. Their congregation in such numbers and the knowledge that regular army troops and state naval vessels were enroute forestalled junction of tory bands with forces from off-shore enemy warships. Tories quickly evaporated, scattering to Delaware and to the enemy ships, while most simply went ‘underground’ to escape apprehension.”


     Three men attempted to go to the Ohio Valley, find Tories and Indians willing to fight and enlist them against the Patriots. The plan was (1)to seize Pittsburgh with this force (2) invade Maryland and Virginia and (3) join forces with Lord Dunmore at Alexandria, Virginia.

     John Dalzial Smyth was a storekeeper and physician who owned property in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Smyth joined with Lieutenant Colonel John Connelly (Tory physician fleeing from Pennsylvania) and an alleged Indian agent Allen Cameron. These three men were captured at Hagerstown and were carrying papers with the plans for this Ohio Valley takeover.

     Smyth escaped the log jail for traitors at Frederick but was caught again and imprisoned in Philadelphia. He stayed there for six months and then was transferred to the jail in Baltimore in December 1776. He escaped from the Baltimore jail and crossed the Chesapeake Bay and came up the Nanticoke River into Somerset County. Smyth came into the region and helped with the planning of a Tory uprising.
When the Tory uprising took place in Salisbury, he advised waiting for British warships to strengthen their position in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay regions. When Smallwood’s forces took control of the area, Smyth and other Tories went north to Sussex County in Delaware. On March 12, he and eleven other Tories rowed out to a British man-o-war named Preston in the Delaware Bay.

     Other Tories had planned on joining the force but when they saw the numbers against them, they decided not to show up at Parker's Mill Pond. If the Upper and Western Shore of Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Virginia had not responded so quickly and strongly, Tories would have had a stronghold in the Salisbury area. Think of all the possibilities that the British and Tories could have used with such a strategic location at the center of the peninsula. Washington sent a report that 3,000 British and Hessian troops left New York reportedly to effect a landing on the Eastern Shore. About 70 flat-bottom boats built by British in New York were supposedly intended for the Chesapeake Bay. The British and the Tories were denied this piece of the puzzle.

     Gen. Smallwood arrived in Salisbury on Feb. 19, 1777. While in charge of the militia in the area, he divided his time between Princess Anne, Salisbury and Snow Hill. Do you think he ever stayed in the Washington Hotel? Since the show of force had dissipated the Tory threat in the area, Smallwood released his forces on March 3 so they could go to other needed areas.

     One of the regiments recently recruited in Maryland for Continental Army service (but had not yet left the state) was assigned to the camps to be set up in the neighborhood of Salisbury. It was to be augmented by 500 militiamen from the upper Maryland counties and 100 from Delaware if additional force was found to be needed. Enlistment terms were due to expire December 10, 1777. Col. William Richardson who was named regiment’s commander, went on an expedition to Lewes.

     In summation, Baltimore was the nation’s capital at the time of the Battle of Parker Mill Pond. John Hancock sent a Resolve of Continental Congress stating that Congress had received intelligence that the enemy had plans to have a landing there (they did in August of that same year with 265 ships up the Chesapeake Bay to Elk Landing-Elkton). The local militia saw they were outmanned and out-gunned (Tories had at least two field pieces). Almost 1,000 men from the Western Shore and the Upper Shore came to Salisbury’s defense. The Eastern Shore of Virginia brought up 2,000 men to help out. When the Tories saw all these soldiers and militia against them, most of them disappeared into their home areas. A Tory leader from North Carolina named John Daziel Smyth attempted to raise up an army of Tories and Indians from the Ohio Valley and came through Hagerstown and Frederick. He arrived in Somerset county (which part is in Wicomico County now) by means of the Nanticoke River and tried to stir up the Tories. The arrival of such large numbers of Patriots from the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Upper and Western Shores thwarted his plans and he left the area by taking a ship called the Preston from Lewes and skedaddled. General Smallwood commanded the forces in the Salisbury and Princess Anne area. When the Tories left the area, Colonel Richardson took command of the 500 men left in the Salisbury area.

Update March 24, 2013

Day of Prayer February 3, 1777

Baltimore, Maryland

(Nation's Capital at that time)

 

     While doing research on John Adams, I came across a letter that he sent to Abigail on February 3, 1777. This is the time period when Continental Congress met in Baltimore.  Adams said that February 3, 1777 had been observed by members of Continental Congress as a day of fasting and prayer.  For those who believe in prayer, it may be that events did not transpire as the Tories and British planned because of those prayers.

Christian New England

Christian New England

     While researching the Christian worldview of the Founding Fathers, one must not throw back on to people in the past things and thoughts from the present. When one thinks of New England in today's time, one does not associate a strong Christian worldview, normally New England today is thought of as a secular area. Going through the 25 volumes of Letters of the Delegates 1774-1789 and 34 volumes of Journals of Continental Congress, the evidence from the primary sources showed me that the nation's strong Christian worldview came from New England. My preconceived idea was that the South would have the stronger Christian worldview. As you read the body of my quotes of Christian worldview from each state, I believe you will see that the Southern signers of the Declaration had a weaker view of Christianity. For many of the signers from the South, it took quite a bit of searching to find one general quotation about a Christian worldview. However, for New England, one does not have to dig hard; the evidence is strongly there. Again, please look at the signers from each state of New England; their Christian worldview glows (New Jersey glows as well with Rev. John Witherspoon and company).

      With many of the New England states, it is a strong unanimous vote for the Christian worldview. In Massachusetts, there are John and Samuel Adams. Look at their Christian worldview quotes on my site as well as their anti-slavery stances. John Hancock, son and grandson of a minister strongly proclaimed days of prayer asking for God's direction. Robert Treat Paine served as a chaplain in the French and Indian War. Elbridge Gerry also had a strong Christian worldview To get insights from the New England mindset of that time, look at the words of the song, "Let Tyrants Break Their Iron Rods." Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And Slav'ry clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in God, New England's God forever reigns. Please take note of the last line of the first verse: "New England's God forever reigns." It was New England and not the South that served as the starting engine for the American Revolution.

     Let us also look to the views of the mother country, England. General James Grant led British troops against American soldiers at Brooklyn, New York. In his September 2, 1776 letter to Harvey said the following: " You will be glad, & gentlemen in Office will not be displeased that we have had the Field Day I talked of in my last Letter- if a good Bleeding can bring those Bible faced Yankees to their senses. The Fever of Independency should soon abate." New England's God, Bible faced Yankees, and the body of Christian worldview quotes from the signers of the Declaration of Independence from New England establish the fact that New England had the strong Christian worldview.

     Conversely, the South at that time had a weak Christian worldview. They followed the established Anglican religion. The reader will note that Thomas Jefferson is not noted for having a strong Christian worldview. This author would class him as having the weakest Christian worldview (if that) of the whole bunch. When many argue that the Christian worldview should not be allowed to have a voice in discussions about government because the Christian worldview allowed slavery back at the Founding, they lay the fault at the wrong party. It was the weak established Anglican Christian worldview of the Southern States (like Jefferson, Rutledge and Middleton and others)at that time that supported slavery. New England with its Christian worldview opposed slavery. Jefferson's Bible that took miracles out of the Bible left readers with a Jefferson Jesus. Jesus to Jefferson was a great moral teacher. Jefferson rejected the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus. Jefferson rejected the miracles of Jesus, all his healings, the raising of the dead, the feeding of the multitudes. Who was the leader for the Democrat party? Is it not called the party of Jefferson and Jackson?Which party supported slavery from the beginning? Was it the Democrat-Republican party/Democrat party? What party made it difficult at every turn to stop slavery? Even though the Founders outlawed slavery from the Constitution in 1787 (by saying that 18 years will allow slave owners to have time to get out of slavery), what party kept pushing at every turn to keep slavery going? It was the party of Jefferson. If one looks at the party of Jefferson from 1820 to 1860, one can see the party platforms saying slavery was fine.

     It was the party of Lincoln who championed the idea of the Founders that all men are created equal. Please do not muddy the waters and say that Jefferson's diluted form of religion that he used when needed was kosher with the Old and New Testaments. His watered down approach to the Bible and God allowed him and his followers to view African Americans as less than people. All citizens of the United States regardless of skin color need to return to what God has revealed in the Old and New Testaments.

     Concerning the three fifths vote, the New England delegation did not want to give the South the full vote because after all the votes were tabulated, the South would have overall more votes that they could use to keep slavery lawful.  New England wanted to eliminate slavery by 1805.  In order to stay alive as a nation (with other nations attempting to conquer us), the compromise was done to keep the nation afloat.

Have We Sold Our Birthright as Americans? Lessons From Esau

Reading the story of Esau and the birthright of Americans is a theme found among the writings of the Founding Fathers

Declaration of Independence
We hold these things to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

John Jay 

If then, God hath given us freedom, are we responsible to him for that, as well as other talents?  If it be our birthright, let us not sell it for a mess of pottage [referring to Esau selling his birthright], nor suffer it to be torn from us by the hand of violence!  If the means of defence are in our power and we do not make use of them, what excuse shall we make to our children and our Creator?  These are questions of the deepest concern to us all.  These are questions which materially affect our happiness, not only in this world, but in the world to come.

John Jay's "Christmas Address," Dec. 23, 1776

John Dickinson
“Had Almighty God been pleased to give Us our Existence in a Land of Slavery , the Sense of our Condition might have been mitigated by the Force of Education & habit.  But Thanks be to his adorable Goodness, We were born the Heirs of Freedom, and ever enjoyed our Right under the Auspices of your Royal Ancestors, whose Family  was seated on the British Throne, to secure a pious & gallant Nation from the Popery and Despotism, mediated by a superstitious, and inexorible Tyrant...We doubt not, but your royal Wisdom must approve the Sensibility, that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the Blessing they received from Divine Providence and thereby to prove the performance of that compact, that elevated the illustrious House of Brunswick to the Dignity it now possesses...

What is more important to Americans today?  Do they value their birthright with freedom as their most important denominator or have they sold it for some government benefit?

Benjamin's Franklin- Almost a Christian Worldview

Ben Franklin- Almost a Christian Worldview

      Coming up on Ben Franklin’s birthday (January 17, 1706), it seems appropriate to write about the difficulty of determining whether or not he had a Christian worldview. Those who read this blog as well as my book 1776 Faith will note that I have stated that 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence had a Christian worldview. The two exceptions were Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Both have stated in their writings that they doubted or denied the deity of Jesus Christ.

     There is a lot that could go on the side of showing a Christian worldview for both of these gentlemen but their comments about the deity of Christ is the determining factor in not including them in the Christian worldview. Franklin to Ezra Stiles, Philadelphia, March 9, 1790 [Franklin died April 17, 1790] “As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think they System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity.” Franklin goes on to say:”I shall only add, respecting myself, that having experienced the Goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously thro’ a long life, I have no doubt of its Continuance in the next.” Franklin doubts or denies the deity of Jesus Christ yet believed he was going to heaven. One that truly calls himself or herself a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be God as seen in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was I AM.” In Hebrew, the word YHWH was translated as “I AM.” John 14:6 states, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In Acts 4:10b-12 Peter spoke the following before the Sanhedrin: “.It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name given under heaven to men by which we must be saved.”

     Franklin could honestly say that he followed God according to his fashion but did not specifically follow Jesus Christ. In another entry, Franklin’s strong attestations to God in human events will be presented For someone to call themselves a Christian and deny the deity of Jesus Christ is like: A hunter that does not believe in killing animals A Muslim that does not believe that the Qu’ran is the Word of God A fish that does not believe in water A Catholic that does not believe what the Pope says A vegan that does not believe in eating vegetables Franklin did a load of good things in his life. His scientific inventions include electrical discoveries with lightning, the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocals, etc.

     In the political field he also had many special accomplishments. He helped start the first library in Philadelphia, the first fire company, became president of the Abolition Society in Pennsylvania. He stood for American independence and took a public debunking for it at the Privy Council in London and he never forgot it. He helped win the support of France during our struggle for independence and crossed the Atlantic at great peril. London probably would have a fine gallows prepared for him, or Tower of London special treatment, if he had been caught.

      Personally I wish it were different. I wish Franklin had said that he trusted Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. I do not know if Mr. Franklin had a change of heart and mind after making his statement to Rev. Ezra Stiles. However, if it stands the way Franklin said it then, He died without the Saviour. It would be such a tragedy for someone to be so intelligent but so unwise. Franklin said here that he had really never studied it. He thought it needless to study it now. If one’s eternal destiny is at stake, he needed to study it. The world’s most intelligent man became unwise in the most important question of his existence. This reminds me of a sermon from Billy Graham entitled “Almost Persuaded.” Paul appeared before King Agrippa in the book of Acts26:28 and after giving him a presentation of the good news of Jesus Christ, Agrippa said the following to Paul: “Almost thou persuadeth me to become a Christian.” Almost did not cut it for Agrippa, nor will it help Franklin when he stands before Christ. Dear friend, choose Christ. Take the time to study about the sinless life, the sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You may be very intelligent but also be wise.