I wanted to share a little story with you from the life of Ben Franklin and the founding of our nation, because I believe it is instructive for our time. In the summer of 1787, the newly independent United States of America sent delegates to Philadelphia for a constitutional convention. Government under the Articles of Confederation, adopted during the Revolutionary War, had already proven itself untenable. General George Washington, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, feared “ruin” unless the fledgling nation established a new constitution, “well-guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments.”
The challenge would be to fashion a government powerful enough to keep the country together, but not so powerful as to trample on the rights of the people and the states. The delegates soon discovered that challenge was going to be greater than they had anticipated.
The Convention’s oldest delegate at 81, Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Franklin, watched with increasing concern as the weeks ticked by with little progress being made. In fact, he said he often looked at the chair George Washington was sitting on as he presided over the convention, which depicted a sun on the horizon, and wondered if the image (and symbolically the United States) was to be a rising or setting sun. By late June, a setting sun seemed the more probable. New York’s delegation had already left in frustration; others threatened to do the same.
Franklin, who had done so much to help secure America’s independence, realized there was something missing that was central to the success of the Revolutionary War. With the delegates assembled for what promised to be another fruitless day, he signaled Washington, that he wished to speak. James Madison recorded Franklin’s words, “Mr. President, the small progress we have made after four or five weeks of close attendance and continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes—is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding…
“In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights, to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were in the struggle must have observed the frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor…
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of man.” Then referencing Jesus’ words, Franklin noted, “And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.’”
We have reached another defining moment in our nation’s history. We know the nation faces ruin not only financially if we continue down our current path, but also in the loss of our sacred freedoms the Founders and generations of Americans since did so much to secure. The list of scandals and actions taken by this Administration that run directly contrary to constitutional government is myriad: AP, IRS, ObamaCare, surveillance state, Bureau of Land Management, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, non-recess appointments, and the list continues to grow.
We all know how the story of the Constitutional Convention ended. The delegates came together in what has been called the “Miracle at Philadelphia” and fashioned the longest standing form of government in the world today. Following Franklin’s speech, the delegates, in fact, did all attend a church service together on the Fourth of July, and the whole atmosphere of the proceedings seemed to change when they reconvened after the break. Franklin, a few days after his call to prayer, was chosen to serve on a committee, which successfully addressed one of the most difficult issues the convention faced: how representation would work in the new form of government.
On September 17, 1787, as the delegates came forward to sign the document they had just crafted, Madison overheard a tearful Franklin discussing how often he had looked at Washington’s chair with the question of the Sun’s position in his mind. He could now report, “I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun.”
I am convinced that it can be morning in America again. I am just as convinced that human wisdom and effort alone will not be enough to address our current crisis and reverse the encroachments on our constitutional rights. Franklin had it right, “God governs over the affairs of this world.” We must pray for God’s wisdom and divine hand of favor to be upon our efforts and to stir the hearts of the people to act.
