Ben Franklin Virtue Analysis

The excerpt I read from Ben Franklin's autobiography demonstrated Rationalism from the most basic, new standpoint. Ben Franklin was one of the leading figures in the Great Awakening, which went hand in hand with the Rationalism period. Ben Franklin may have not always been the perfect example for the people to follow, but he did set out a group of virtues for people to go by that made a great deal of sense. Sure, you could call him a hypocrite, but at least he proposed well planned ideas for people to keep in mind as they lived their day-to-day life in the Rationalism period. 
In the autobiography, Franklin talks about his virtues, and makes people really think about the lives that they are living. This was the entire point of the Rationalism period. People opened their eyes to the world and began questioning their surroundings and responding logically instead of just religiously. He wanted religion to be important still, just not the leading factor in everyone's lives (Franklin 80). I interpreted this as a way of making everyone more aware and awake to how much more the world can be outside of the Bible. Sure, he was raised Presbyterian, and he knew that religion was important to a lot of people, it gave them purpose, but he still saw that the world had a lot more to offer apart from religion.
His virtues made a lot of sense for people to follow. They were pretty basic morals, but they were so simple that people preferred them over the complex system of the Christian religion. His virtues included basic elements such as Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, etc. (Franklin 83). These virtues were straightforward, and they were easy enough to follow so people did no complaining. I do not know about everyone else, but I would have much rather attempted to live by Ban Franklin's virtues than the Bible. Their obviousness and simplistic manner make them much more appealing to the imperfect human. 
In the Rationalism period, people were trying to get past the heavy barriers of orthodox religion. The church was ridiculously overbearing on the people before the Rationalist period. The Enlightened ones became the most popular figures of that time period, especially because what they were doing was significantly easier than following popular religious beliefs. They knew what they stood for and they were able to focus on life more than trying to please a god that not even the religious figures focused on. Of course, they all focused most of their time on religion, but that was only because the churches were focusing on making them fearful of Hell rather than uplifting them towards heaven. They needed to be motivated with positivity rather than with fear. When Franklin published his autobiography, he was already a very popular Rationalist throughout the United States. Everyone wanted to listen to what he had to say, so when he basically presented an alternative to the forceful tactics of the Christian religion. Franklin's virtues were easily used by many people after the Puritan era overwhelmed the Americans. This came as a sort of salvation to the people of the United States. 

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895. Print.