Benjamin Franklin's Table of Virtues
This article is taken from the June 2021 issue of Fraternal Review titled, “Stoicism and Freemasonry”.
To expect people to be good, to be just, to be temperate, &c., without showing them how they should become so, seems like the ineffectual charity mentioned by the Apostle, which consisted in saying to the hungry, the cold, and the naked, “Be ye fed, be ye warmed, be ye clothed,” without showing them how they should get food, fire, or clothing. [1]
Benjamin Franklin shouldn’t need an introduction. He is well known as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, and among our fraternity, even more well known for his contributions to early American Freemasonry.
These contributions include both the publication of the first book on Freemasonry in the New World and early involvement in colonial Provincial Grand Lodges. From 1771 to 1790, Franklin worked on his memoirs, a work known today as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. This book has become perhaps the most famous and influential example of an autobiography in the United States, if not the world. It is split into four parts, each written at a different year and location and covering a different period of his life.
Part two was begun in 1784 in Passy, France, where Franklin had spent nine years during the American Revolutionary War. These were remarkable years for Franklin. He negotiated the critical military alliance between the burgeoning American government and France; helped investigate Franz Mesmer and “animal magnetism” on behalf of the French king; and advocated for religious tolerance. While in France, he also met Voltaire, and both of them joined the famous and controversial Lodge of the Nine Sisters. [2]
For Freemasons, part two of The Autobiography contains something even more remarkable. According to Franklin's account, around the time of his initiation into St. John's Lodge in Philadelphia, he created a methodology for practicing and increasing virtue that has had lasting impact, influencing everything from the self-help movement to the system of Jewish ethics known as Mussar. [3]
THE BOLD AND ARDUOUS PROJECT FOR ARRIVING AT MORAL PERFECTION
“It was about this time that I conceiv’d the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection. I wish’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; I would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined.” [4]
Franklin’s plan for arriving at moral perfection involved working on a list of 13 virtues. Each week, he would focus on one virtue and strive to uphold it, marking his progress each day in a grid. He would cycle through all 13 virtues, one after another. At first, he thought that perhaps he could achieve moral perfection in just 13 weeks, but he discovered that this goal was never ending, and would require repeating the sequence over and over again.
FRANKLIN’S VIRTUES
Silence Order
Resolution
Frugality
Industry
Sincerity
Cleanliness
Chastity
Humility
Anybody familiar with Masonic ritual and symbolism can see that there is quite a bit of overlap in the lessons of our degrees. Further, in line with Masonic ideals, Franklin believed that his scheme, though not “wholly without Religion,” would be “serviceable to People in all Religions.” [5] He intended his method to be a universally applicable system of morality.
COMPARISON WITH MASONIC VIRTUES
“To [the canopy of heaven] the Mason’s mind is continually directed, and thither he hopes at last to arrive, by aid of the theological ladder which Jacob in his vision saw ascending from earth to heaven; the three principal rounds of which are denominated Faith, Hope, and Charity.” [6]
Freemasonry also extols its adherents to pursue a virtuous path. Though the lectures of Preston and Webb didn’t come into existence until well after Franklin’s autobiography was written, they echo the same concept of practicing virtue. This practice is given a much loftier goal, as can be seen in the excerpt above, from the Preston-Webb lecture on the Entered Apprentice degree.
A common Masonic depiction of Jacob’s Ladder holds a wealth of additional symbolism; but most salient for this description are the letters and symbols on the ladder itself.
The top three rungs of the ladder hold a shield, anchor, and winged heart, well-known symbols for the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. The four bottom rungs are decorated with the letters T, F, P, and J, which stand for Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice, which the lecture names the four cardinal virtues. [7]
Though the public portions of the Preston-Webb lectures don’t reveal a scheme for the individual Freemason to work on this list of virtues, it is interesting to note that he is extolled to figure out some way of working on them. While we can’t know for certain which Masonic virtues were impressed upon Franklin at his own initiation, it is interesting to speculate that his own art of virtue system could have been inspired by his ritual experience. [8]
Written by Erik Larson
REFERENCES
Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Lord Karnes, 1760. Quoted in Franklin, Benjamin. Benjamin Franklin’s the Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living, Edited by George L. Rogers, 3rd edition. (Midvale, Utah: Choiceskills, 1996), 2.
Isaacson, Walter, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 344-56, 426-7.
Afsai, Shai, “The Sage, the Prince & the Rabbi.” Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters, Vol. 64, No. 3 Summer 2011, 101–9, 128.
Franklin, Benjamin, and Carl Van Doren, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: Now Printed from the Manuscript as Franklin Wrote It, and Including His Preliminary Outline. (Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 2004), 106.
Franklin, 116-7.
Webb, Thomas Smith, and John Sherer, The Freemason’s Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry. (Cincinnati: R.W. Carroll & Co., 1867), 26-7.
Webb, 33.
Franklin, 117.