Noah Webster
Lately, I have been interested in how the USA was formed and for what purpose. I blogged a few weeks ago about this when I was pondering the question of why American schools were in the sad state that they are… actually why the nation was in the sad state that it is in. I have no answers to that one yet. But, as I have looked more and more into why the early Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower came over I have learned more and well, honestly, I just need to get some of it out on paper… or screen.
So, here is what I found this week : Now, this is some time after the Pilgrim’s came to America. What has me captivated this week is Noah Webster. You actually have heard of him and, you have even read his book… If you haven’t guessed it yet, he is the guy that wrote the dictionary.
Now, get this : It took him nearly 26 years to write the book and by the time he finished it, he had mastered 26 languages. Mastered 26 languages! He wrote the definition of hundreds upon hundreds of English words from various languages in one source. I think we can all agree that this guy was pretty smart, right?
Well, as I learn more about this man, I also learn a few interesting things :
- He loved God
- He was married and had 7 kids
- In 1783 he wrote a book that was used for about 100 years in homes and schools – The Blue Backed Speller. Approximately, 100 million copies were sold in a century. This book was written to instill into the mind of the youth “the first rudiments of the language and some just ideas of religion, moral, and domestic economy.”
- He wrote the dictionary with EXTENSIVE biblical knowledge and scriptural references. Everyone, even to this day, agrees that the book is priceless. But, this is a perfect example of how something that was profoundly bearing a Biblical World View has been secularized and thousands of scriptural references were removed and the definitions were tweaked so they weren’t so “religious.”
- He also served in state government, published a magazine and newspaper, founded a college, and translated the first American revised version of the Bible. And, while doing all these things his family was not neglected and he lovingly raised his family.
- He also said some pretty thought provoking things outside of his two major top selling books.
So, with that said, I am going to share a few of the notable things Noah Webster said way back in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s that are still relevant to this day.
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
~ Noah Webster, preface to the 1828 Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language
“Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for yourselves rulers, ‘just men who will rule in the fear of God’ [Exodus 18:21]. The preservation of a republican governemnt depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good, so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. ”
~ [Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, 49]
“[T]he religion which has introduced civil liberty, is the religion of Christ and his apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every persona a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.”
~ Noah Webster, Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 300, Sec. 578.
He declared government was responsible to: “Discipline our youth in early life in sound maxims of moral, political, and religious duties.”
~ Noah Webster
“Education is useless without the Bible”
~ Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5
So, why go back? Why look back at history to go forward? Because what was “back there” is what we need to “go forward.”
