by Ronald Kirk
Noah Webster was America’s original and sole Bible-minded dictionary maker. Young Noah was a Puritan by heritage and upbringing. The Lord converted a middle-aged Webster’s heart and soul to Christ when Mrs. Webster dragged him, er, uh, persuaded him to attend a revival meeting—which he had before dismissed as emotionalism. He received his conversion a short time before he began work on the dictionary.
After a first aborted attempt to compile a dictionary, Webster realized that the common current level of knowledge in the English language was insufficient to the task. He thus undertook a full-time, world-traveling quest to determine the etymologies (roots and history) of English words. In the process, Webster mastered 26 languages, including the dead languages of Hebrew and Chaldean. His work first culminated in his “Dissertation on Language,” and then the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.1
Besides his work in language, he was a studied master of Christian liberty. George Washington and Webster consulted together and corresponded. Thus, Webster’s Dictionary not only brings philosophical and historical meaning to words, but Biblical ones, with an emphasis on Christian liberty.
Here are excerpts from the Dictionary on government and politics:
Government, n.
Direction; regulation. These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.
2. Control; restraint. Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.
3. The exercise of authority; direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies or states; the administration of public affairs, according to established constitution, laws and usages, or by arbitrary edicts…
4. The exercise of authority by a parent or householder. Children are often ruined by a neglect of government in parents. Let family government be like that of our heavenly Father, mild, gentle and affectionate. Kollock.
5. The system of polity in a state; that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a nation or state is governed, or by which individual members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions; a constitution, either written or unwritten, by which the rights and duties of citizens and public officers are prescribed and defined; as a monarchial government, or a republican government. Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without the pretence of miracle or mystery, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind. J. Adams.
Politics, n. [Fr. politique; Gr. πολιτικη. See Policy.]
The science of government; that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government of a nation or state, for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity; comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals. Politics, as a science or an art, is a subject of vast extent and importance. (Emphases added.)
Note that government is a general term. Self-government or self-restraint in civil manners is the first sphere of civil government. Little external government is needed for a people governed by the Holy Spirit, so liberty prevails (2 Cor. 3:17). Constitutions are properly covenants or compacts of agreement between the constituents of a given community. Constitutions are the supreme law or operating rules only of a given covenantal or compacted community. God’s Law governs all men and so fundamentally men cannot legislate morality. Rather, constitutions and the statutes of men, properly speaking, merely define the working terms of their peculiar association. Godly people govern themselves personally and civilly by the Word of God.
Politics are thus an elevated service intended for the best minds and characters to represent the people who send them. Elevated representation requires an elevated constituency. Justice and mercy—personally and in civil institutions are every Christian’s responsibility.
- All references to Webster in this article were culled from Foundation for American Christian Education Facsimile Edition of the 1828 Dictionary and from Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: The Principle Approach.
Ron is manuscript review and theology editor for Nordskog Publishing. He seeks to complete the polishing and publication of his life’s work on applied Biblical faith and Biblical, non-Darwinian education. His forthcoming new book Thy Will Be Done on Earth: A Vision for the Future speculates on what the world will look like and why when the Gospel has generally filled Christ’s people with mature wisdom and grace. NPI has scheduled publication for mid-2013.
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