had not insinuated itself
unperceived into my argument."

In the year 1779, Dr. Franklin wrote to Dr. Benjamin Vaughn respecting
this pamphlet.

"There were only one hundred copies printed, of which I gave a few to
friends. Afterwards, disliking the piece, I burnt the rest, except one
copy. I was not nineteen years of age when it was written. In 1730, I
wrote a piece on the other side of the question, which began with
laying for its foundation that almost all men, in all ages and
countries, have at times made use of prayer.

"Thence I reasoned that if all things are ordained, prayer must be
among the rest ordained; but as prayer can procure no change in things
that are ordained, praying must then be useless and an absurdity. God
would, therefore, not ordain praying if everything else was ordained.
But praying exists, therefore all other things are not ordained. This
manuscript was never printed. The great uncertainty I found in
metaphysical reasoning disgusted me, and I quitted that kind of
reading and study for others more satisfactory."--Autobiography, p.
76.]

The book which Franklin thus prepared was entitled "Articles of
Belief, and Acts of Religion." His simple creed was that there was one
Supreme God who had created many minor gods; that the supreme God was
so great that he did not desire the worship of man but was far above
it.

The minor gods are perhaps immortal, and perhaps after the ages lapse
they are changed, others supplying their place. Each of these
subordinate gods has created for himself a sun with its planetary
system, over which he presides and from the inhabitants of which he
expects adoration. He writes,

"It is that particular wise and good God, who is the author
and owner of our system that I propose for the object of my
praise and adoration. It is to be inferred that this God is
not above caring for us, is pleased with our praise, and
offended when we slight him."

He then prepares an invocation to this god of our solar system. It is
founded on the style of the Psalms, but is immeasurably inferior to
most of those sublime utterances of the Psalmist of Israel. And still
the sentiments breathed were ennobling in their character; they proved
that Franklin was vastly superior to the thoughtless, reckless deists
who surrounded him, and that his soul was reaching forth and yearning
for higher and holier attainments. In this invocation, the whole of
which we cannot