Testimonies About the Bible
Following are a few statements about the Bible by America’s founding fathers and early political leaders:
Noah Webster (1758-1843), judge, legislator, educator, author of the American Dictionary of the English Language. “The moral principles and precepts found in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. … All the … evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible” (Webster, History of the United States, 1832, “Advice to the Young, p. 339). “… our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion” (History of the United States, 1832, p. 6). “The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society–the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men” (The Holy Bible … with Amendments of the Language, 1833, p. v).
Roger Sherman (1721-1793), signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Bill of Rights. “The volume which he consulted more than any other was the Bible. It was his custom, at the commencement of every session of Congress, to purchase a copy of the Scriptures, to peruse it daily, and to present it to one of his children on his return” (The Globe, Washington D.C., Aug. 15, 1837).