ects--The dawn of brighter days.

Franklin was never scrupulous in the observance of the Sabbath. Still,
though he but occasionally attended church, he at times very earnestly
urged that duty upon his young friends. It is not probable that the
preaching he heard in those days, was calculated to interest him.
While a child under the parental roof, he ordinarily accompanied his
parents, and seemed to regard it as his duty to do so.

He now, however, with an increasing sense of independence, very much
preferred to spend his precious hours in his chamber, reading books
which engrossed his most intense interest. Unfortunately many
treatises fell into his hands in which unchristian sentiments were
conveyed to his mind, by men of the highest intellectual character,
and whose writings were invested with the most fascinating charms of
eloquence.

Robert Boyle, an Irish nobleman of wealth and fervent piety, had
established at Oxford a lectureship, the object of which was to prove
the truth of the Christian religion. These lectures had found their
way in tracts to the little library of Franklin's father. When but
fifteen years of age the boy read them, with a far keener relish than
most school-boys now read the flashy novels of the day. In order to
refute the arguments of the deists, the lecturers were bound to
produce those arguments fairly and forcibly. But to this young boy's
piercing mind, the arguments against Christianity seemed stronger than
those which were brought forward to refute them. Thus the lad became,
not a positive unbeliever, but an honest doubter. He now sought
earnestly for other works upon that all-important subject.

The two most important, influential and popular writers of that day
were perhaps Anthony Collins and the Earl of Shaftsbury. These were
both men of fortune, of polished education, and of great rhetorical
and argumentative skill. Their influence over young minds was greatly
increased by the courtesy and candor which pervaded all their
writings. They ever wrote like gentlemen addressing gentlemen; and
the views they urged were presented with the modesty of men who were
earnestly seeking for the truth.

The main attack of both of these men was directed against the miracles
of the Bible. It was very evident that, the Divine authority of the
Bible being overthrown, the whole structure of the Christian religion
and morality must pass away. Mr. Parton, in his admirable Life of
Franklin, says,