Going Out in Style

“Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.” – Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts and died on April 17, 1790 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his autobiography, Franklin referred to himself as “the youngest Son of the youngest Son for five Generations back.” In reality, he was the 10th of 17 children born to a lowly soap and candle maker.

Young Ben only had one year of grammar school and one year under a tutor, after which his formal education ended at age 10. Shortly thereafter, he was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer, a learned that trade inside and out. Over the next decade, Franklin worked as a printer in Boston, an itinerant swimming instructor in London, and a newspaper publisher in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richards almanac made Franklin wealthy, famous, and increasingly influential in the American colonies. As a prominent citizen in Philadelphia, he established the first public library, organized a paid police force and a volunteer fire department, and founded the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin also dabbled in local and state politics, becoming clerk of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1736 and postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737.

In 1748, at age 42, Franklin was financially able to retire and become a “gentleman”. However, instead of simply enjoying the finer things in life, Franklin devoted his free time to public service and scientific experimentation. He became a member of the Philadelphia City Council in 1748, a justice of the peace in 1749, and a city alderman and a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751. By 1753, he was a royal officeholder, the deputy postmaster general in charge of all postal service throughout the northern colonies.

From 1757 to 1775, Franklin lived primarily in London where his fame grew as did his circle of influence. Planning to live out his life abroad, Franklin discovered that the British found him too American, and the Americans found him too British. As tensions increased between Mother England and the colonies, Franklin was forced to return to America where he was soon elected to the Second Continental Congress, served as an envoy to France, and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris… all as a septuagenarian.

In some ways, Ben Franklin reminds me of Caleb, one of my favorite Bible characters. At the age of 85, he asked Joshua to give him the most challenging and physically demanding task of his entire life.

That’s called going out in style!

“Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old, still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, so it is now for war, for going out, and for coming in. Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day, for you yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps with the LORD’s help I will drive them out, as the LORD has spoken.” Joshua 14:10-12 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President