Benjamin Franklin-The Great Commoner

The Last son to be mentioned is Josiah, who was born in Ecton in 1655. He was a Presbyterian. The Presbyterians were referred to by the English as “Non-Conformists” as the Church of England was the official religion. When the English Government began to persecute the Non-Conformists he fled to America. His occupation in the New World was a tallow chandler and soap boiler. Josiah became the fa­ther of seventeen children, of whom the famous Dr. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest.

Dr. Franklin had a son and a daughter. His son William was the last Royal Governor of New Jersey. During the Revolutionary War he held to the crown despite being imprisoned for two years due to his father’s siding with the rebels. At the close of the conflict, he returned to England where he lived until his death. His only son, William Temple Franklin, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and became a printer and an author. He died in Paris, leaving no heirs to carry on the family name.

The other Franklin that we need to look at was John. He was the brother of Dr. Franklin. John was born in Boston in the year 1703. His grandson, named Joseph, was born in 1783. This individual was the father of the subject of our book. Joseph was 18 years of age when the family moved to eastern Ohio and settled across the river from Wheeling, VA. He married Isabella Devoid at age 28. Isabella was ten years younger than Joseph. The following year on February 1,1812, a son was born to them. They named this son Benjamin after his fa­mous great-uncle.

Soon after the birth of Benjamin, they moved to Noble Co. where several sons and daughters were born to them. These were, Elizabeth, Josiah, Daniel, Joseph, Wilson, Washington, and David. Their father Joseph was a farmer, miller, and a craftsman in wood since the de­mand for each of these directions being so moderate that he could afford to divide his energies. His mill was a small affair located on a

Ben Franklin’s parents were a study in opposites. His father had mood swings which went from melancholy and despondency to eupho­ria. He was always on the defensive, looking for any wrong done whether they were real or imagined. Others were often careful to avoid his violent temper. Ben’s mother was a total opposite of his father. Her temperament was cheerful and optimistic. She was very knowledge­able in the scriptures and often discoursed with ease. Her quick mind and cheery disposition gave her many opportunities to discuss scrip­tural topics with those around her. Joseph often called upon her dur­ing conversations as her knowledge of scriptures surpassed his.

Joseph Franklin died in 1844 leaving his wife to live on for four­teen more years. At her death all her children were present except Benjamin, who was on an evangelistic trip.

Benjamin, being the oldest son, gained knowledge and skill in a variety of fields. He used these skills later in life when he moved to eastern Indiana, which was a wilderness at that time. Of all the imple­ments he used, he was most comfortable with a rifle. In fact, he was a crack shot, often bringing home awards for his marksmanship. In later life he often told the story of the time he traded for a new rifle. The next day was a Sunday and he knew that his father would be horrified at the thought of shooting on the Lord’s day. He crept out of bed early in the morning and went out into the woods beyond hearing range. Then he tried out his new gun. He would later say “I declare, it was the loudest gun I ever heard. It sounded to me like a cannon. I thought that the whole neighborhood would hear it.

Benjamin was endowed with an extraordinary physical constitu­tion. This could be seen by the tremendous amount of work he per­formed in his last twenty years. He was a leader in his youth in feats of skill and strength. It was said that a stick could be held high for him to walk under, and he was able to leap over it after a short run. Another of his hobbies was log rolling. In this, a stick of about three inches thick by five feet long was wedged under a log to lift it. By this,

At an early age he became very profane and rude. With his broth­ers he was often into mischief in one form or another. They often played pranks which were exceedingly annoying to their victims. There was no improvement in their condition until the time that they were converted. There was a restraining effect from their parents as they desperately tried to hide their antics from them. Benjamin, now 20, accompanied his uncle, Calvin Franklin into Henry Co. Indiana in 1832. He kept himself busy throughout the summer and fall with various jobs. Winter brought him work on the national road being cut from Richmond, through Indianapolis to Terre Haute. He received a fine new ax as payment for his labors. He soon afterwards received 80 acres from his father on his birthday. Ben then used his new ax to clear his land and make improvements. A fine house was built in preparation for the future.

The next important event in young Franklin’s life was his mar­riage. Among the earliest settlers in that area was the Personett fam­ily. Ben made the acquaintance of this pioneer soon after his arrival in this new land. Soon he developed an attraction to the daughter, Mary. Engagement soon followed and thereafter marriage, on Decem­ber 15, 1833. Once married, they moved into the house that Ben had built. The floor was of rough oak made without nails. The chimney rose only slightly higher that the arch of the fire place.

Ben completed the interior of their home during the remainder of that winter. He did only a little with farming but used his skills as a carpenter until 1837 when he traded his land for a share in a local grist mill. His new partner was his uncle, Calvin Franklin. This ven­ture turned out poorly as those years were ones of financial hardship. The mill was sold in 1840.

Samuel Rogers arrived in the area in 1834. He settled in a farm­stead near to the Franklin’s. He was not impressed with the religious inclinations of this group of individuals. Ben took no interest in reli­gion and filled his speech with profanities and vulgarity. He also was in the habit of jokes and general tom foolery. One day, shortly after his marriage his wife was watching for his arrival home from the fields. She soon saw him and two companions crossing the field. To her horror they were staggering about as though intoxicated. Her first thought was that they had been into the bottle. To her relief, though with some concern, they had been trying to cross the field with their eyes closed! She wondered if he would ever grow up. His parents had joined the Methodist Episcopalian church before leaving for Ohio for their present location. They had heard enough of

Benjamin sat thoughtfully taking this all in. When the conversa­tion came to the heresy that baptism was essential for salvation, he asked his father if it was important to obey the commands of Christ.

When his father answered in the affirmative, he then replied “is it not essential to obey the commands of Christ?” His father was so taken back that he was unable to answer him. In later life, Ben re­membered this and often used it in his lessons on baptism.

After some time, the teaching began to have an effect and soon Joseph and his family came under the influence of the gospel. In early December 1834, Benjamin, Daniel and John I. Rogers (the son of Samuel Rogers) were baptized. Four weeks later, Ben’s wife and his brother Josiah were baptized. Soon a congregation of 30 to 40 people was be­gun. Joe Franklin and his wife soon became members. Samuel Rogers is later reported to have said “if the only thing I ever gave to the world was Benjamin Franklin, then I would have nothing to be ashamed of.

Benjamin Franklin had a consecration to do the work of an evan­gelist that could not be denied. From the tens of thousands of miles, he traveled preaching the gospel to his extensive efforts in the editor’s chair, he devoted his entire existence to the service of the Master and His cause. Mr. Franklin and also his entire family made those sacri­fices that are so common to the family of preachers. His early efforts are but an example of the sacrifices to come His poverty led to fre­quent moves. He moved three times in two years from one house to another in the same neighborhood, still preaching wherever he could find an open field, but with no regular appointments anywhere in those early years.

Reference has been made to the limited salary of the pioneer preach­ers. Sometimes pay was tendered in a shape that tried the patience of the preacher’s wife to the last degree. At one point during these nu­merous moves, it was agreed that the brethren would furnish a house for the Franklins to live in as well as to supply provisions as needed. At “hog killing time” many thought of their preacher. Back bones

Mrs. Franklin’s sacrifices cannot be imagined. The darning, patch­ing, turning and shifting that were necessary to stretch the meager income to satisfy the actual wants of the family cannot be imagined.

From the day Brother Franklin confessed Christ, he began to exhort sinners and to speak in defense of the truth. His activities were both in public and in private. Ben carried a testament with him ev­erywhere, and having a ready recollection, soon treasured its con­tents up in his heart. His zeal for the Master’s cause knew no bounds. On one occasion he attended a Methodist Camp Meeting and greatly annoyed the preacher by taking notes and looking into his New Testa­ment to see if they were misquoting scripture. About this time, he was challenged to debate a now forgotten subject. John I. Rogers pretended to be his opponent for practice. Rogers later related Mr. Franklin did have his difficulties in his early years. He was so deficient in education and made so many mistakes that one elder sought to talk him out of being a preacher. One well known brother spoke with glee of an early expe­rience with Ben Franklin. He wrote “He had a great fashion for say­ing “my dear friends and brethering”. He had the habit of adding “ing” to brethren in those days. He used the expression a great many times in each sermon, so often indeed, that it was tiresome, and some of us took him to task on it. He doubted whether it was true or not that he used it in season or out of season as we accused him of. So, one day when he began a sermon, I got a piece of paper and a pin and every time he said “my dear friends and brethering”, I stuck a hole in the paper. After meeting we counted the holes in the paper and there were one hundred and fifty! But it wasn’t long before he shot past all of us!! “It must be remembered that in those days, sermons were about two hours long. Also, at the same meeting a young preacher made an opening prayer and protracted it to an unreasonable length. After a good laugh at Mr. Franklin, the dreaded critic turned to the young preacher who made the long prayer and said “Brother you have not prayed any for a month have you?” “Why” said the astonished young fellow “what makes you think so?” “Well, said the critic “you prayed so long at church today that you must be about a month behind with your Prayers”.

In regard to Mr. Franklin’s deficient education earlier spoken of, he had little formal education and was very sensitive about it. Al­

It is certain that while his language was not always critically accurate, it was so simple and easy that he never failed to instruct and educate the people; and it is equally certain that there are many good scholars who cannot compare with him in this way. The early years of his new life showed his inclination to be a traveling evange­list. It would be impossible to list all of the places that he went to preach the gospel. But in those early years he preached heavily in Ohio and Indiana with side trips to Kentucky and other nearby re­gions. He also conducted a number of debates but those will be spoken of in another section.

Brother Franklin’s early influence among the brotherhood was directly due to his labors among the churches. He preached for vari­ous congregations full time but often requested some time off to go on evangelistic trips. Much of his “free” time was used to travel to and fro using the available means of travel. He soon had no trouble finding places in which to preach. He would preach in schoolhouses, court­houses, barns, groves, shops, town halls, and private dwellings. Basi­cally, wherever he could find a group of people. He would accept what­ever they chose to pay him for his efforts and would not complain if he received nothing. When these trips were originally planned, there was no assurance that he would get as much as 50 cents a day for the entire trip. Brethren who had been reading his paper would often give a general invitation to “come up this way sometime and hold us a meetin’.” So, on a slender assurance of pay he would set off to fill a number of appointments. Which he had published in his paper. He would preach one night, two nights, or “Saturday night and over Lord’s day” in a place on one route going out and another returning. On he would press through mud, over corduroy or pole, bridge, roads, in sunshine or shower, heat or cold, among strangers and friends. His aim was to glorify God and preach redemption in Christ Jesus. One night might find him in the home of a wealthy brother while another might be spent in a loft with only clapboards to keep the snow out. All

Early means of travel were canal boats, horseback, or on carts or wagons. His favorite was the riverboat appropriately named “The Ben­jamin Franklin” (named after his great uncle). In later years he greatly favored the railroads and depended on them to get him to his destina­tion. In his paper he referred to this as “taking cars”. These took him into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine and even Canada. These are but a few. During the (Un)Civil War he often held meetings within hearing distance of major battles. After­wards he would often need to take large detours to escape the armies and their advanced scouts. These did not slow him down a bit.

At the time of the battle of Richmond, Ky., he was having a pro­tracted gospel meeting at Mount Pleasant, a church about seven miles from Richmond. Large numbers of people had gathered to hear a fa­vorite preacher while the surrounding population prepared for a battle. Shortly after the days meetings had begun, cannons sounded announc­ing the start of battle. He went through the meeting as usual. At the conclusion it was discovered that the Union Army had been beaten. Brethren scattered and someone was nice enough to give Mr. Franklin a horse with a woman’s saddle on which he was taken through ra­vines and back roads until he was in Union lines again. On hearing that there were confederate forces between him and home so that he could not return safely he “took cars for Louisville, crossed into Indi­ana and within a couple of days was preaching again like nothing had ever happened. Mr. Franklin was a law-abiding citizen of the U.S. who went both north and south preaching peace by Jesus Christ. His citizenship was in heaven and not on earth. He hated the Civil War and wept over it as much as any man could but he did not let it stop the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven. He was a popular preacher and writer before, during and after the war, both north and south, east and west on account of his unselfish and benevolent nature and his unswerving devotion to justice and truth.

Of all the events in the life of our illustrious subject, none were more important than his decision to enter the work of an editor of a religious newspaper. While on a preaching trip, he realized that even more souls could be reached through the medium of the printed word, he then began to publish a paper.

Stepping back a moment, Mr. Franklin’s earliest efforts at writ­ing were in a paper known as the ‘Heretic Detector” published by Arthur Crihfield. It was an exhortation for sinners to obey the gospel. This was written about eighteen months after he obeyed the gospel. As much as he traveled as an evangelist and as ardently, he preached, he was dissatisfied with his ability to reach enough people. Soon he

The editor and his authors asked questions like “Is it right?”, “Is in taught in the Bible?”. The intensity of the faith in those days led brethren into a profound respect of the authority of the Bible. Their religion was to “believe the facts, obey the commands and enjoy the promises of the New Testament. For its first year the paper was published by a printer in Centerville. In 1846, he purchased a small stock of printing materials, hired a printer and set the presses up in the front room of his rented house. In the second issue of the “Re­former”, is found an article on “Our Prospects” setting forth “that we have come almost to a dead halt” and attributing the standstill to four causes, these are: 1) great political excitement known as “Millerism” or later Seventh Day Adventism.2) Many disciples had never learned to walk by faith. 3) Many good preachers left the field. 4)Preaching did not exhibit the same zeal and knowledge as in former times. He then rebounded to say “Under these circumstances, what is to be done? We answer, let every disciple of our blessed Lord determine to read the scriptures some everyday with the most devout and prayerful atten­tion possible, and lift up his cries in “prayers intercessions and giving of thanks day and night” and let all be found at the house and table of the Lord, and this itself will produce quite a different state of things. Near the end of volume, the editor began to feel the need to enlarge the journal due to the fact he was unable to cover all that he wanted to and was also getting complaints that articles that were submitted were not being published. In November 1846, the enlarged edition appeared at 64 pages with a neatly printed stitched cover. There were

During his time Mr. Franklin purchased a part of the paper ‘The Christian Age” which was issued from Cincinnati. He was partner with D.S.Burnett and both papers were issued from the same office the “Age” being a weekly and the P.R. being a monthly. Mr. Burnett was the model of social and education refinement while his partner Mr. Franklin had inferior literary attainments. This being the case, Mr. Franklin being far more acquainted with the common man, could make his thoughts more intelligible to them, and although the more prominent editor, although the junior in the partnership. The consid­erable number of changes gave the papers an air of instability which hurt the subscription lists. Soon both men found themselves at a loss. While Mr. Burnett was wealthy and unaffected, Mr. Franklin was deeply financially hurt and soon had to sell out his interest in both papers.

During this time the American Christian Missionary Society came into being. They soon needed a formal means of communication and soon came to be in the control of the “Age” while discontinuing the “Proclamation and Reformer”. Mr. Franklin once again became editor and the subscriptions began to rise in numbers again. Soon however, he felt it difficult to work under a board and resigned in 1854. Upon his resignation, it was agreed that he would wait for two full years before beginning any new editorial projects. The time was used profit­ably in evangelizing.

In January 1856, the specified time had passed and Mr. Franklin found himself preparing another paper for the press. This was called “The American Christian Review”. It was a double column, 32 page periodical issued once a month. It was entirely under Mr. Franklin’s

of the people. The congratulations received were on every corner. The times at the launching of the Review were truly difficult. The editor saw tribulation and disaster on every side. He faced the times with articles like “The Decline of the Churches” “Causes of our Fail­ures”, “Signs of the Times” and “Cure for our Downward Tendencies”. These and other articles were sorely needed during those trying times. The tendency during those days was toward organization and innova­tions. The movement was being drawn towards the denominations due to a desire to be accepted by many. Having been so encouraged by the public’s reception of the paper, he expanded it to a weekly in the beginning of 1858. Between this time and the start of the Civil War, the Review earned the reputation as the most prestigious journal in the brotherhood. Many leading preachers contributed sermons, and the front page became a sort of “who’s who among restoration pio­neers”. His efforts at advocating NT Christianity continued to bear fruit as the paper’s circulation was ever increasing. The editor made it available free of charge to the poor as well as many preachers. He also worked hard to reduce the cost to a point where anyone could afford the journal. This was accomplished by again utilizing family members in its production. That is, while the family was located in Cincinnati. In his later years, Mr. Franklin moved his family to Indi­ana (again) and Mr. GW Rice was hired as an assistant. Later, when he learned the business, he was made a full partner.

The next important event was the Civil War but that will be dis­cussed in another section. The paper had an important stand among the brethren. In 1866, the “Christian Standard” was launched. Its purpose was specifically intended to counteract the influence of the Review. And its editor, Isaac Errett had the backing, both financial and moral, by powerful men among the progressives. They openly sought to influence the readers of the Review. An open battle ensued. Mr. Franklin’s character and motives were attacked in subtle ways. The strife between these two papers were exceedingly bitter and some­times went on with a violence that distressed both sides. During these conflicts, the friends of the Review claimed it as the advocate of the ancient gospel and simple morals as taught in the New Testament. They christened it “The Old Reliable”. Mr. Franklin continued at the helm of this fine institution of conservative Christianity until his death in 1878. In fact, his last work on this earth was to write an editorial.

The Brotherhood has always experienced to some extent the trau­mas of the young nation in which it lived. The Civil War was no exception to this rule. These difficulties began during the birth of the nation. The problem of slavery could not be settled during the framing of the Constitution and so hung on only to nearly destroy the young nation eighty years later.

During the decade of the eighteen forties and eighteen fifties passed, the slavery issued flared up and brethren found themselves being drawn into the heat and passion of the times. As would be expected, view­points generally followed regional lines. Most Southern Brethren felt that the scripture did not forbid slavery and that they would not have someone else’s views forced upon them. Their Northern counterparts, on the other hand, felt that slavery was evil that needed to be de­stroyed at all costs. Emotions escalated with the passing of the years. When hostilities erupted brethren from both sides ran to enlist in then’ respective armies. But during these irrational times, there were voices of calm and reason. Those voices were of Benjamin Franklin in the north and David Lipscomb in the south. Mr. Franklin made it an editorial policy not to endorse either side in the conflict but to walk the path of peace. He said, “We cannot always tell what we will, or will not do. There is one thing, however things may turn out or whatever may come, that we will not do, that is, we will not take up arms against, fight and kill the brethren we have labored for twenty years to bring into the kingdom of God. Property may be destroyed and safety may be endangered, or life lost; but we are under Christ; and we will not kill or encourage others to kill, and fight the brethren.” These views brought trouble to the Review and its editor from all quarters. It was not long before his views were seen as a discourage­ment to men who would have enlisted in the army. These views were seen as treason. It was at this point for self-preservation, that he stopped advocating his personal views in the paper. Fortunately, the office of the Review was able to avoid being sacked by a group of en­raged people bent on seeing it destroyed. Other things happened to hurt the Review. The subscription was cut significantly by the stop­page of the mail between North and South as well as views on war itself. This became a deep drain on Mr. Franklin’s resources as in­come was down and expenses were up due to material shortages. The anxiety was so great that he became prematurely gray at age fifty. This being so, he continued his work proclaiming the gospel. He was a US citizen who preached in both the north and south because his allegiance was to the Prince of Peace rather than the gods of war as others were doing. With the resolution of the conflict, he carried on

Another area in which our subject had involvement was the area of societies. It was in this area that the faults of his humanity could best be seen. It was here that those opposed him were most vocal. During the early years of the restoration movement, the push for a more organized brotherhood brought many of the pioneers under the influence of the society. Alexander Campbell was an early proponent of the missionary society. Mr. Franklin also found himself advocating organization in work among the unsaved. The societies were seen as an expedient to accomplish the work of the church. The goal of evan­gelizing the world justified the means used. The story of cooperation began with the simplest of measures. When the Baptist associations began breaking up under the lack of scriptural authority for their existence, the desire to gather continued. Local meetings of saints became cooperative meetings. These in turn became regional meet­ings which in turn gave birth to statewide meetings. Then came the push for a national organization to direct the work among the hea­then. Articles were written by Campbell as well as others on the need to organize. These articles soon began to meet with resistance though. The first opponent was Jacob Creath Jr. of Missouri, (known as the “Iron Duke of the Restoration). He against these societies and even held a written exchange with Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin’s argu­ments were strong but not as strong as the truth. The appeals of his opponent began to make sense to him and his support began to wane for the societies. He soon began to grow in intensity until he became their chief antagonist. This also did not win him any more favor with the progressives as they were the backers of the societies. So great was his influence among brethren that the society advocates soon felt the loss of his support. This led to the “Louisville Plan” which restruc­tured the organization of the society to satisfy the objections of the opponents. Their approval was short lived, however and the war soon continued. Mr. Franklin’s change of position was ever afterward used against him by those of the progressive group. His explanation for his change was a reconsideration of the subject due to the assumption of powers by those of the societies. Had the ACMS never taken any ac­tion but that which was allowable to do the work of evangelization, it would have survived. Its troubles were self-imposed, according to its opponents.

Of all the difficulties faced by Mr. Franklin, the instrumental music issue was the most destructive to the churches. It was also the one that troubled him most. He dealt with it heavily in word and in print. There was no doubt as to where he stood on the issue. He took a decided stand against instrumental music in the worship, and re­fused to preach or worship where there was one unless it could be silenced during his stay. On one occasion, he found a congregation led

Alexander Campbell was the chief of all debaters among the resto­ration. He debated sectarians, Catholics, and infidels at various times. His was the great and master mind among others who were truly great. Benjamin Franklin, as a debater, stands next in line to Mr. Campbell but in some ways was better. His method of speech was so simple, natural, and easy. He was a champion of his day in debat­ing those opponents who had a large following. The victory that en­sued often led large numbers of people into the church. The secrets to these victories were several: 1) He learned early how to arrange and state and forwards. 3) He had truth on his side. Mr. Franklin was reported as saying that he had been in over thirty debates during his long career. Some were written but most were oral. Of these, six were printed. His first recorded debate was held in 1840. The opponent was Mr. Eaton Davis of the United Brethren Church. An old gentleman, a member of Mr. Davis’ church, attended, but as soon as his own preacher was finished speaking, he would wander off into the woods out of hear­ing while Mr. Franklin spoke. At the close of each of the sessions he would go forward, shake hands w/Mr. Franklin and say, “Well, Ben­jamin, you have made a complete failure of it this time.” It was against this attitude among the denominations, as well as among brethren occasionally that he would work. His next recorded debate was the result of a union meeting of all things. Bro. Franklin had sought to unite the denominations in one locality on the basis of the Bible only. Most of the denominations were in agreement, at least in theory, with the exception of a Mr. May of the Methodist church who took offense at the implications of the need for such a meeting. Four propositions were originally agreed to and then Mr. May then changed from a written to an oral debate on the grounds that his brethren were in opposition to an oral debate. He wrote two articles on the first proposi­tion and then took his leave of the field of battle with offended dignity. Apparently, his opponent’s arguments struck a little too close to home to continue in the struggle. In October of 1841 Bro. Franklin held a debate in Milton, Indiana with Erasmus Manford a Universalist minister and editor of “The Western Universalist” paper. It was the

The debate lasted four days. By previous agreement, both men wrote out their speeches. These were printed by an Indianapolis pub­lisher and will soon be available again. Mr. Franklin’s next debate was against another Universalist-a Mr. Craven who felt the need to be very loud and angry sounding. This fellow did a lot of fist-brandish­ing and gesturing at his opponent. As was expected, it ended in a complete rout. Many of Mr. Franklin’s opponents were Universalists as it was very popular at that time. It soon lost popularity as he As his popularity grew, so did his request for debates. The year 1848 brought a debate with a Mr. Williams of the anti-means Baptist church in Lebanon. Ohio. The only topic covered was the whether salvation was conditional or not. Mr. Franklin described his opponent as brisk and lively. Unfortunately, he also described him as heading toward univer­salism in his desire to defend his position.

Mr. Franklin later wrote a sermon entitled “A Sermon on the Predestination and Foreknowledge of God” which was distributed. This raised the ire of a James Matthews, a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Carlisle. The letters back and forth soon led to a debate. This was held from May 26^h-June 1^st 1852. The unpleasantness of the correspondence leading up to the debate was forgotten and it was held in politeness and propriety. The first proposition being ‘the elect of God are the apostles and prophets – this was given some modification by Mr. Franklin. His affirmation in the offending sermon, from which the proposition was made, was drawn from Ephesians 4: 4-6. The sermon can be found in Gospel Preacher Vol. 1.

His next printed debate was with a S.M. Merrill of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Four propositions were discussed, three on bap­tism and one on justification by faith. It originally was a four-volume set but exists today as a two volume set. Mr. Merrill received a fine gold watch for his efforts and Mr. Franklin received 28 additions to the church for his!! The next printed debate brought him against a Mr. Joel Hume, a Baptist minister. Topics covered were total heredi­tary depravity, design of baptism, and the possibility of falling from grace. This was held in Mount Vernon, Indiana in 1854. The two final printed debates were also against Baptists. The first, was with Rev. T.J. Fisher on the distinctive differences between the Reformers and the Baptists. Mr. Fisher was accused of having been a reformer and

In the spring of 1864, the Franklins moved to Anderson, Indiana (about 36 miles north east of Indianapolis). This would be the last place Mr. Franklin would live. It was here that he wrote two volumes of sermons which has had a continual sale to this day. Several ill­nesses brought him into the mid 1870’s. He carried on in his work of preaching as well as editing the Review although his health was gradu­ally declining. He would not allow news of his failing health to be spread until the rumors were throughout the brotherhood. Then he responded to the questions. Throughout 1877 he remained at home hoping to gather his strength to return to preaching. He did not know it but he had preached his last the previous year. On the morning of October 22^nd, 1878, he took a long walk on his farm. Returning, he told his wife that he felt better and hoped to get better soon. He then seated himself at the table and wrote editorials for the Review for about 3 hours. He ate lunch and then took a nap. Around 2:00 pm. he awoke and sat in a chair but seemed rather dull as if hardly awake. Shortly he began to feel a heavy weight on his chest. His wife realized that something was wrong and called for their daughter. They tried to rub his side but he exclaimed “don’t trouble me; my time has come”. A physician was called but by the time he arrived Mr. Franklin was too far gone. His last words were “Mother, I am sorry to have to leave you”. Leaning back in his chair he fixed his eyes on his wife as his breath grew shorter and shorter until it stopped. The time was 5 p.m. The news shocked and saddened the brotherhood and brought many to the funeral. He is buried in the cemetery in Anderson under a tombstone shaped like a pulpit with an open bible on top.

The legacy of Benjamin Franklin is a very difficult thing to ex­plain. He accepted the bible as a divine revelation from first to last, when fairly translated. He accepted it as a perfect harmonious whole. He believed the Gospel to be God’s power in the salvation of souls. He believed that he could use heaven – ordained methods instead of man’s ways to succeed – and did. He taught all these things and the fruits of his labors were more than 10,000 saved, scores of churches estab­lished – many of them in Indiana, although they are scattered through­out the United States and Canada. A fitting example of a true Gospel