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The American Dictionary of the English language is based upon
God's written word, for Noah Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his
definitions.
Hardcover, over 1800 pages.
Biblical Definitions Restored.
Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the
English Language was produced during the years when the American home, church
and school were established upon a Biblical and patriotic basis.
Webster, descended on his mother's side from
Pilgrim Governor, William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, made important
contributions to an American educational system which kept the nation on a
Christian Constitutional course for many years.
The famous "blue-backed Speller," his "Grammars,"
and "Reader," all contained Biblical and patriotic themes and Webster
spearheaded the flood of educational volumes emphasizing Christian
Constitutional values for more than a century.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the 1828
American Dictionary should contain the greatest number of Biblical definitions
given in any reference volume. Webster considered "education useless without
the Bible" and while he cautioned against too extensive use of the Bible in
schools as "tending to irreverence," he reiterated,
"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. . . ."
Today when the Biblical basis of education is under
systematic attack we need to capitalize upon the availability of our first
American Dictionary–the only dictionary in the world to "draw water out of the
wells of salvation"–to utilize God's written word as a key to the meaning of
words. Historically, it documents the degree to which the Bible was America's
basic text book in all fields.
Today the field of lexicography has been
demoralized by those who would make “contemporary usage” and “slang” a
standard of reference for students in our schools. Pornographic terminology
has come to have educational significance in state schools where Dictionary of
American Slang has received academic acceptance.
Christian Constitutional Meaning Restored.
Upon Horace Mann rests the blame for removing from
the curriculum the study of an American philosophy of government. Opposed to
the fundamental conceptions of our American Constitution namely, property,
self-government and voluntary union, Horace Mann, “the father of progressive
education,” removed the spirit of Constitutionalism and allowed only the
letter to remain.
The Bible, which Noah Webster indicated as “the
source of republican government” was closed to its primary function–namely to
testify of God's redeeming grace for mankind through Jesus Christ. Actually,
it was Horace Mann in the 1840s who removed the Bible and its sacred purpose
from the schools, not the United States Supreme Court in the 1960s.
Through the European pilgrimages of Horace Mann and
his contemporaries, the alien seeds of foreign ideologies and philosophies of
education were implanted in American soil. The independence from European
“maxims of government” which Noah Webster had worked so diligently to achieve
was subverted during the early years when American education was made the ward
of the state.
A Federal Catechism, part of The American Spelling
Book, had introduced civics into the curriculum in 1794. It gave a short
explanation of the principles of the American Constitutional form of
government and defined America as a “representative republic.” The “defects of
democracy” were discussed and students learned distinctly why a “federal
representative republic” is “a better form of government.” Shortly after
schools became organized under state systems, the substitution of democracy
for republic was made.
Today the necessity for restoring the clarity and
identity of Constitutional meanings is obvious if we are to make substantial
progress in rebuilding the foundations upon which this nation was established.
Without a standard of reference for America's history and philosophy of
government students can not be expected to make the distinctions and
discriminations between similar terms used in history texts today.
Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the
English Language Now Faithfully Reprinted for Home, Church, and School.
The 1828 facsimile reprint of the first American
Dictionary, published by F.A.C.E., documents the quality of Biblical education
which raised up American statesmen capable of forming our Constitutional
Republic. Roots are traced in 26 languages. Examples come from classical
literature and the Bible.
One Christian scholar described it as the greatest
reprint of the twentieth century.
It also contains the following:
Noah Webster's dissertation origin, History, and
Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe
Noah Webster's concise Grammar of the English
Language
Biography of Noah Webster, Founding Father of
American Scholarship and Education by Rosalie Slater, which describes his
significant contributions to a wide variety of fields and records his
conversion to Christ.
2,000 pages
A forest green vellum hardcover
Embossed gold-stamped Paul Revere eagle.
This
dictionary is sure to enlighten and enrich your whole family's understanding
of American English and Christian history.
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