odity had been imported to this country. One of the twigs
had sprouted. He planted it; and it became the parent of all the
yellow willows in our country.

Franklin was best loved where he was best known. And this was right;
for he was ever conferring deeds of kindness upon his neighbors. His
religious views excited sorrow among his Christian friends. Others,
composing perhaps a majority, cared nothing about what he believed. In
conversation he ever frankly avowed himself a deist, though generally
he made no attempt to convert others to his views. It is not
improbable that he was in some degree influenced by the beneficial
effect produced upon the popular mind by the preaching of his friend
Mr. Whitefield.

The writer was once, in Paris, conversing with one of the most
illustrious of the French philosophers. He said to the philosopher, "I
am much interested to ascertain the views of gentlemen of your
intellectual position respecting the Christian religion." He with
perfect frankness replied, "I think that there are no men of high
culture in France, with a few exceptions, who believe in the divine
origin of Christianity. But there is no philanthropist who will say
so. We have been taught, by the horrors of the French Revolution, that
the masses of the people can only be restrained from violence by the
superstitious restraints which Christianity presents. We therefore
think that every man, who is a gentleman, will do what he can to
sustain the church and the clergy. Men of culture and refinement, are
governed by principles of honor, and they do not need the
superstitious motives of Christianity to influence them."

I may remark, in passing, that this gentlemanly philosopher had
abandoned his own wife, and was then living with the wife of another
man. It is not improbable that Franklin, as he looked upon the
tumultuous and passion-tossed young men of Philadelphia, did not deem
it expedient to say to them,

"The Bible is a fable. The Sabbath is no more sacred than any other
day. The church is merely a human club without any divine authority.
Marriage is an institution which is not founded upon any decree which
God has issued, but one of the expediency of which each individual
must judge for himself. The Sacraments of Baptism, and the Lord's
Supper, are mere human contrivances. The preaching of the Gospel had
better be laid aside for literary and scientific disquisitions."

With the eye of a benevolent philosopher, Fran