Noah Webster

On this day, June 4, 1800, Noah Webster announced he was completing a "Dictionary of the American Language.” Webster worked at a round table in his second-floor study from sunrise until four in the afternoon, usually standing while reading and writing, using a quill pen and pad, and surrounded by reference works. But the mental strain, financial worries, and constant criticism nearly broke him. That is, until he came to faith in Jesus Christ. Rev. Moses Stuart, a local pastor, was a powerful preacher during the Second Great Awakening, and Webster’s teenage daughters were converted under his preaching. Webster, disturbed, requested a meeting with Stuart. For several weeks, Webster struggled with the gospel message, but one morning in April 1808, he said, “I instantly fell to my knees and confessed my sins to God, implored His pardon and made my vows to Him.” Calling his family, Webster announced his decision to follow Christ, and his inner turmoil ceased. “From that time,” he said, “I have had a perfect tranquility of mind.” When his brother criticized him for “religious enthusiasm,” Webster replied in a letter, which later became one of America’s premier apologetic pamphlets. He recalled that when the apostle Paul was accused by King Agrippa of going insane because of his extreme intelligence, Paul had replied, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason” (Acts 26:24). Webster wrote: These sentiments may perhaps expose me to the charge of enthusiasm. Of this I cannot complain, when I read in the Gospel that the apostles, when they first preached Christ crucified, were accused of being full of new wine; when Paul was charged by Felix with being a madman; and when Christ Himself was charged with performing miracles through the influence of evil spirits. If, therefore, I am accused of enthusiasm, I am not ashamed of the imputation. It is my earnest desire to cherish evangelical doctrines and no other . . . for nothing is uniform but truth; nothing unchangeable but God and His works. . . . To reject the Scriptures as forgeries is to undermine the foundation of all history; for no books of the historical kind stand on a firmer basis than the Sacred Books. Noah Webster published his dictionary in 1828, defining more than sixty-five thousand words, shaping American English for the lifetime of the nation, and making Webster a household name that has spanned the centuries. Many secular critics accuse Christians of inferior intelligence and faulty reasoning; they think Christianity is untrue. But the evidence for the truthfulness of the Christian faith is greater than they realize, and it’s as true today as in the days of Noah Webster: no other books in history can compare to the reliability and life-changing power of God’s Word, the Bible.