What did Benjamin Franklin mean?

[Lozzer]

When he said:

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It means he was donating to the Quote Mining Hall of Fame.

[Rum]

I would have thought it was pretty clear - that the hand and will of god is in all things. Given that human beings have free will, according to the Bible, I am not quite sure how that works.

At a time when large numbers of mysteries remained exactly that I suppose it was understandable as a means of comprehending the world.

Hitches is of the view that a number of the founding fathers were at best agnostic though. I don't know the history well enough to comment either way.

[Lozzer]

I would have thought it was pretty clear - that the hand and will of god is in all things. Given that human beings have free will, according to the Bible, I am not quite sure how that works.

At a time when large numbers of mysteries remained exactly that I suppose it was understandable as a means of comprehending the world.

Hitches is of the view that a number of the founding fathers were at best agnostic though. I don't know the history well enough to comment either way.

Yeah, but it's the implication in reference to 'empire' that confuses me. It infers the 'British Empire', and seems to suggest he supported it because it was aided by God? I don't know.

[stripes4]

It implies, not infers. You did the inferring that this was what it implied.

[Atheist-Lite]

Was that before or after the incident with the lightning and the kite?

[Rum]

I would have thought it was pretty clear - that the hand and will of god is in all things. Given that human beings have free will, according to the Bible, I am not quite sure how that works.

At a time when large numbers of mysteries remained exactly that I suppose it was understandable as a means of comprehending the world.

Hitches is of the view that a number of the founding fathers were at best agnostic though. I don't know the history well enough to comment either way.

Yeah, but it's the implication in reference to 'empire' that confuses me. It infers the 'British Empire', and seems to suggest he supported it because it was aided by God? I don't know.

I suspect he meant 'empire' in a generic sense.The 18th century was an age of empires after all and nearly all known parts of the world were part of one empire or another.