“When I fixed it up he looked at it very much; and indeed died with his eyes fixed upon it.”
However deeply Franklin, in these dying hours may have pondered the sublimities of Immortality—the Resurrection—the Judgment Throne—the Final Verdict—Heaven—Hell,—he was very reticent respecting those themes. We certainly see none of the triumph of Paul, and of thousands of others, who have in varied language, expressed the sentiment that,
“Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are.”
A few hours before his death, as some one urged him to change his position, that he might breathe easier he replied, “a dying man can do nothing easy.” These were his last words. He then sank into a lethargy, from which he passed into that sleep which has no earthly waking. It was eleven o’clock at night, April 17, 1790. He had lived eighty-four years, three months and eleven days.
But no candid and charitable reader can peruse this narrative, without the admission that Benjamin Franklin, notwithstanding his imperfections, was one of the wisest and best of all the fallen children of Adam. From his dying hour to the present day his memory has been justly cherished with reverence and affection, throughout the civilized world. And there is no fear that this verdict will ever be reversed.
Footnotes:
[1] Sparks’ Life and Works of Franklin, Vol. 6, p. 291.
[2] This volume has been republished by the Mass. S. S. Society.
[3] Works of Dr. Franklin by W. Temple Franklin. Vol. I, p. 447.