George-Whitefield-Field-Preacher

J9EJVJAMIN FRANKLlN t
and agreeable as any he ever made in any place. All places
of worship were open to him, all ministers favourable to him ;
and when he left the ordinary religious buildings to preach
from the steps of the court-house to congregations no building
could hold, and which listened in solemn silence while the
prolonged twilight of the late autumn days filled the sky, he
must have felt an unusual joy in his work. Once when the
night was far advanced, and lights were shining in the windows
of most of the adjoining houses, he felt as if he could preach
all night ; and indeed the night after, which was Saturday, the
people, not feeling the pressure of a coming day's work, seemed
so unwilling to go away after they had heard an hour's sermon,
that he began to pray afresh, and afterwards they crowded his
house to join in psalms and family prayer.
Franklin was a constant and delighted hearer. Calm and
self-controlled under most circumstances, his temperament
caught fire at the glowing words of Whitefield ; and if he did
not become a convert to his views, he became an attached and
lifelong personal friend. It seems to have been during this
visit that Whitefield triumphed so signally over Poor Richard's
prudence. The story is well known, but too good to be
omitted here. Whitefield consulted Franklin about the orphan-
house, for which he was still making collections wherever
money could be obtained. Franklin approved the scheme,
but urged that the house should be built in Philadelphia, and
not in a settlement which was thinly populated, where material
and workmen were scarce, and which was not so prosperous as
it had been. Whitefield did not heed this counsel, but deter-
mined to follow his own plan. This made Franklin decide
not to subscribe.
' I happened soon after,' he says, ' to attend one of his sermons, in the
course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I
silently resolved he should* get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a
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