The Sermonic Closings of C. L. Franklin

The Sermonic Closings

of C. L. Franklin

CDs by C.L. Franklin

My Favorite Sermons / Sermons and Hymns / Legendary Sermons / Only a Look (with Aretha Franklin)

The Eagle Stirreth in Her Nest / And He Went a Little Farther

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The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest

My soul is an eagle / in the cage that the Lord

has made for me. / My soul, / my soul, / my soul

is caged in, / in this old body.

Yes it is, / and one of these days

the man who made the cage / will open the door

and let my soul go. / Yes he will.

You ought to be able to see me / take the wings

of my soul / YES, YES, / YES, YES!

YES, one of these days. / One of these old days.

One of these old days./ Did you hear me say it?

I’ll fly away / and be at rest.

Moses at the Red Sea

Don’t lose faith / and don’t give up courage

Oh, wait on the Lord. Oh, wait on the Lord,

Oh / Just wait on him. Just wait on him.

He’ll lead you across your Red Seas.

He’ll make you overcome your enemies.

He’ll bring every Pharaoh down

to be your footstool

if you’ll just wait a little while.

If you’ll just wait a little while.

You may be standing now / before your Red Seas,

you may be standing now / before your enemies,

but oh, wait on the Lord. / Did you hear what I said?

I said, just wait on the Lord. / O!

Oh, wait on the lord. / He’ll make sure

He’s with you. / He’ll make sure.

Jacob Wrestling the Angel

O Lord. You know / there are wrong things about us all

that we do not admit even to ourselves, we ought to face ourselves. / One night you ought to get down

on your knees, / on the lonely mountainside

of prayer / and talk to God about yourself.

O LORD! / Wrestle with him / all night long.

Wrestle with him / struggle with him / struggle with the demon

that’s in you, / struggle with all those evil spirits

that are within you. / O LORD!

Tell the Lord, / just tell the Lord / O

Ohh / tell the Lord / Ohh / just tell the Lord / Ohh

Tell the Lord, / "I want to be a better child,

I know I’ve been wrong, / I know I’ve even thought wrong,

I now my whole outlook on life was wrong,

but O Lord, / Ohh, / I want to be a better child, / YES!

Make me / strong where I’m weak, / prop me

up where I’m leaning, / YES!

Build me up / where I’ve been torn down, / YES!

O LORD! / LORD! / YES ! / LORD!

Lord, here’s my life, / Lord, here’s my heart,

LORD! / here’s my all. / YES! / YES!

Here’s my all. / Make out of me

what you want me to be. / LORD! / LORD! / Ohh!

Lord, Lord,

Source: Jeff Todd Titon, ed. Give Me This Mountain: Life History and Selected Sermons (1989)

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updated 3 October 2007

Clarence Vaughn Franklin (C.L.Franklin)--born 1915 in a Mississippi sharecropper family--became a nationally known and respected Baptist minister of Detroit, Michigan. He was known as the "man with the golden voice," not only for his singing, but also for his command of the classical style of Negro preaching. His parents were Rachel and Henry Franklin.

Precocious, he was Baptized at ten and at sixteen nominated for ordination and then accepted as an associated pastor of St. Peter's Rock Baptist Church in Cleveland Mississippi.

He later served as pastor in Memphis at New Salem Baptist Church and then at Friendship Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY. he then settled down for 33 years at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit.

C.L. Franklin married Barbara Siggers, a church pianist, and had five children: Erma, Cecil, Aretha and Carolyn, as well as half-brother Vaughn. At Bethel, Franklin started a food ministry for those who could not afford sustenance for themselves or their families, offered financial and legal help for the homeless, and conducted a prison ministry.

He also became involved in politics by urging voters to go out to the polls and vote for the qualified candidates he was endorsing and was an active member in the civil rights movement.

He co-organized the 1963 "Walk Toward Freedom March" with his close friend, Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also actively involved in such organizations as the Urban League, NAACP, and on the Executive Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.

C.L.'s sermons were broadcast on radio nationwide under the Chess Recording Company banner. Rev. Franklin also released 76 live recordings of his sermons and music. He preached at churches all over the country and often brought his daughter, Aretha, though all the children joined CL in his road entourage at one time or another.

His life was shorten, in June 1979, when he was shot during a robbery attempt on his house in Detroit. He remained in a coma for 5 years and died on July 27, 1984. Over 10,000 people attended his funeral at New Bethel Baptist Church.

Detroit's mayor, Coleman A. Young, renamed Linwood Street as C. L. Franklin Boulevard, and renamed the park, (located 2 blocks from C. L. Franklin's house), C. L. Franklin Park.