Fortunately, Prof. John Winthrop,
of Harvard, showed himself wise in this, as in so many other
things: in a lecture on earthquakes he opposed the dominant
theology; and as to arguments against Franklin's rods, he
declared, "It is as much our duty to secure ourselves against
the effects of lightning as against those of rain, snow, and
wind by the means God has put into our hands."
Still, for some years theological sentiment had to be regarded
carefully. In Philadelphia, a popular lecturer on science for
some time after Franklin's discovery thought it best in
advertising his lectures to explain that "the erection of
lightning-rods is not chargeable with presumption nor
inconsistent with any of the principles either of natural or
revealed religion."[366]
In England, the first lightning conductor upon a church was not
put up until 1762, ten years after Franklin's discovery. The
spire of St. Bride's Church in London was greatly injured by
lightning in 1750, and in 1764 a storm so wrecked its masonry
that it had to be mainly rebuilt; yet for years after this the
authorities refused to attach a lightning-rod.
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