The New England Primer (Part 1) (2022)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Recent Ministry Updates and Upcoming Travel

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and let�s see what�s new around here. I just finished a five-part series, five episodes filmed for American Gospel Television. Brandon Kimber, I�m still kind of post-pneumonia here, bacterial pneumonia, so I don�t know why I kind of feel wheezy today, but we�ll just power through anyway.

I�ve had worse. So sanctification, I did five episodes. The definition of sanctification was episode one. Episode two, the pursuit of holiness, we respond to God�s sanctifying work. Episode three, some clarifying questions like how to sanctification our response, how do those go together?

Episode four, motivations to obey, how are we motivated to obey God�s commands? And then lastly, some errors regarding sanctification slash holy living. So that probably will be out this fall. Speaking of future dates, 2023 in February, we�re going to go to Israel.

NOCO Radio along with the Pactum, Pat Abendroth, we�re going to head out on February 21st. He will leave Omaha, I will leave Boston, we�ll meet in Newark, fly to Tel Aviv. On the way back, it�s direct for me to Boston, and for the Omaha people, I think they have three flights, so sorry about that, Omaha Bible Church, but that�s just the way it goes.

Pat�s a lot closer to flying to the West Coast than I am, so sometimes it works the other way. What else? By the time you hear this, you should be able to go, or close to hearing this, go to Amazon and order the book Gospel Assurance.

I basically wrote the introduction, collated it, formatted some quotes, stuff like that. 31-day devotional on assurance. So if you�ve got it, that is assurance, and you want to keep it, this would be a good book for you.

If you struggle with assurance, and you�re a Christian, this would be also a good book. I mainly write it for you, because it was Rome that took away assurance, and of course, when you hear about the grace of the Lord Jesus, you think about the four comfortable words that Thomas Boston gives, that you say, �Mmm, this is good.

I can look to myself and wonder if I could ever be saved Luther said, and then he also quipped, �When I look to the Lord Jesus, I don�t know how I could ever be lost. So that is what�s going on here at No Compromise Radio Ministry.

New England and the Christian Heritage of Education

What else is happening? Well, we�re working through Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings, and that means many times I do that here on the radio show. But today�s a little different. I�m thinking about New England a lot here, and what has New England offered evangelicalism?

Well, if you go back a few hundred years, you could think New England has offered evangelicalism Jonathan Edwards, right? And then some of the new divinity, New England has offered Harvard, Havad, Yale, Princeton.

It�s not quite New England, but pretty close. Hey, Jersey, what do we care? You could think a lot about evangelicalism in New England, and of course, now, these days, Park Street, who�s at Park Street these days?

Is Gordon still there? I�m not sure. But New England, difficult place, that�s true. A lot of rocks and granitey hearts, and the gospel�s powerful to salvation, right? But the thing I want to talk about today is the New England Primer.

The New England Primer as a Tool for Reading and Theology

The New England Primer. And it was published in Boston in 1777, and what I like you to do is you can always get a New England Primer online, or the one that I�m using is by Mark Wahlberger. No, I�m just kidding.

By Wahlbilder, that�s one word, Press, PO Box 397, Aledo, Texas, 76008, Wahlbilder Press, 1991, the New England Primer. You think they�d be here in Boston reprinting, but no. The subtitle to the New England Primer, �Improved for the more easy attaining�, easy with E-A-F-Y, remember the old F�s had the S sound, �for more easy attaining the true reading of English, to which is added the assembly of divines and Mr. Cotton�s catechism.

The New England Primer. And of course, this was one of those books that, of course, almost everyone had here that would help people learn to read. Benjamin Harris first introduced this book in 1690, and for all intents and purposes, out of all the books people had for textbooks, which was your first one?

Which was your primer? Which was your primary one, your first one? It was this very booklet. I mean, not the one I�m holding in my hand, but this contains what they have. You would have the Bible, of course, and the New England Primer.

One of the things that it helps you with is, of course, theology, but it also helps you to read. And here, we have the 1843 reprint quotes for this primer, �Our Puritan fathers brought the Shorter Catechism with them across the ocean and laid it on the same shelf with the family Bible.

Talking about the Westminster Shorter Catechism. �They taught it diligently to their children. If, in this Catechism, the true and fundamental doctrines of the Gospel are expressed in fewer and better words and definitions than in any other summary, why ought we now not to train a child in the way he should go?

Why not now put him in possession of the richest treasure that ever human wisdom and industry accumulated to draw from So what happens is, you�ve got the Westminster Shorter Catechism in this primer, and so why wouldn�t we use this wonderful Catechism, and let�s put that in the primer.

Here�s another cool thing about the New England Primer. It�s got pictures. Okay, not truly pictures, but illustrations. It has illustrations, and you�ve got hand engraving things, you�ve got special hand printing things, and you read it, and you think, �Oh, it�s kind of attractive.

It�s set up well. It�s formatted well. Here�s what it says in the last little intro in 1991, �Originally, the New England Primer was a text for students just beginning to read. Since there were no grade classifications in American schools until the 19th century, it was simply called the Primer, a small elementary book for teaching children to read.

It is the current equivalent of a first grade text or reader. However, it is probably well above the reading and vocabulary level of today�s typical first graders, a potent commentary on the difference between education system of our founders and that of today.

Wall Builder Press, Aledo, Texas. Well, I�m not going to read the whole Primer, but I want to hit a few things in the Primer to get you to say, �Oh, that was an interesting radio show. Because you can always change the channel or fast forward or click to the next show.

And I also want you to get a copy because it�s fun to have. First page has got a picture of the Honorable John Hancock, who�s the President of the American Congress. So you would learn, right? This is reminiscent of, at least in my mind, I think of Jay Leno streetwalking when he asked people on the streets about who�s the President of the United States.

They don�t know. Who�s the Vice President? They don�t know. Then it has an Isaac Watts song of praise to God for a child. Isn�t this wonderful? How glorious is our heavenly King who reigns above the sky.

How shall a child presume to sing his dreadful majesty? How great his power is none can tell, nor think how large his grace. Nor men below, nor saints that dwell on high before his face, nor angels that stand around the Lord.

I�m pausing because I�m translating in my mind the F�s to the S, because it�s F-T-A-N-D. Now, nor angels that stand around the Lord can search his secret will, but they perform his heavenly word and sing his praises still.

Then let me join this holy train and my first offerings bring. The eternal God will not disdain to hear an infant sing. My heart resolves, my tongue obeys, and angels shall rejoice to hear their mighty Maker�s praise sound from a feeble voice.

And then it has a young infant�s morning prayer from Dr. Watts. What will you teach your children to pray in the morning? Almighty God and Maker of everything in heaven and earth, the darkness goes away and the daylight comes at thy command.

Thou art good and does good continually. I thank thee that thou hast taken such care of me this night, and that I am alive and well this morning. Save me, O God, from evil all this day long, and let me love and serve thee forever, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son.

Amen. Then it has letters, smaller case, A-B-C-D all the way to Z. It gives the vowels, A-E-I-O-U, and does give Y, sometimes Y. It gives consonants, our confidants, with that F there. It gives double letters, C-T-F-F-F-I-F-L, etc.

Then it gives italic letters, and then italic double letters. We work our way to great letters, all capital, then we work our way to syllables. Okay, next, words with one syllable, age, babe, cat, deaf, cake, dead, crown, cup.

Then it gives words with two syllables, absent, babble, eagle, father, apron. Words with three syllables, barbarous, damnify, a lot different than as many genders as you want. Here's a word that children need to learn because so many children don't know anything about it, funeral, happiness, holiness.

Words of four syllables, ability, February, fidelity, glorifying. Words with five syllables, abominable, beneficial, fornication. It gives five syllables for the shun there. Words for six syllables. Oh no, the first one was abominable.

Now they give five syllables, abomination. It gives the T-I and the O-Ns too. Then it's got a lesson for children. Pray to God, love God, fear God, serve God, take not God's name in vain, etc. Okay, all that is intro.

The Alphabet Rhymes and Biblical Lessons in the Primer

Today is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio, going through a little bit of the New England Primer. We're already maybe only 1 16th of the way, but this is where I want to go today because these are where the pictures are, i .e. the carvings.

It has one carving and one little rhyme, little kind of, I don't know what a limerick is. Does limerick have two syllables, so they're limerick? But it's got the alphabet and these are the ones that you know for certain that you've heard in the past.

A. In Adam's fall, we sinned all. B. Heaven defined, the Bible's mind. C. Christ crucified, for sinners died. D. The deluge drowned, the earth around. So every letter is found in this little rhyme and then there's a little carving of that.

The next one shows a man and it looks like there's a bird bringing him some food. What do you think that is? E. Elijah hid, by ravens fed. And you're learning the alphabet and you're also learning something about theology.

The judgment made, Felix afraid. That's F. Okay, that's interesting. We're thinking about Acts and Paul before Felix. There's an hourglass here for G. As runs the glass, our life doth pass. Teaching children that life is short.

They need to know that lesson. When I had little kids, I'd take them to the cemetery and we'd look at cemetery tombstones and some of them had Red Sox players on them and the older ones had death angels or Bible verses or something that talked about the resurrection and the life, the Lord Jesus, John 11.

And there'd be a four-year-old there, they're a gravestone, and I'd say to Gracie, Gracie, how old are you? And she'd say, four. And then we talk about life and death and eternal life. H. My book and heart must never part.

I. Job feels the rod, yet blesses God. H-I, where's the I in that? Oh, you know what, maybe there's no I. H-I-J. There's actually, that's funny, I never knew that. It goes from H to J. K. Proud Korah's troop was swallowed up.

L. Lot fled to Zoar, saw a fiery shower on Sodom poor. That doesn't really rhyme, but teaching children about Sodom and Gomorrah. M. Moses was he who Israel's host led through the sea. It's H-O-F-T, and I'm thinking, what is going on?

Hoft. N. Noah did view the old world anew. There's a picture of a boat. It looks like there's three kings here for O. Young Obadiahs, David, Josias, all were pious. That was a stretch. Adam's sin was the best one so far.

P. There's a person there and a rooster. Peter denied his Lord and cried. Q. A woman before a king, Queen Esther, sues and saves the Jews. Young pious Ruth left all for truth. Young Samuel's dear, the Lord did fear.

T. Young Timothy learned sin to fly, run from sin. And that's got a boy. It looks like he's running from a dragon. Run from the dragon, running from Satan. If I was a little boy about four years old, I'd be thinking that's the best picture so far.

Here's a W, but it gives me the V word because U, V are the same one here. Vashti for pride was set aside. W, it shows a whale's tail coming out of the ocean. Whales in the sea, God's voice obey. Doesn't really rhyme, but that's a really good truth.

While youth do cheer, death may be near. Show some people kind of at a little party and then a skeleton next to it. That one's an important one, similar to the early ones with the tombstone. And then Z, what would you put for Z?

Zacchaeus, he did climb the tree, our Lord to see. No Compromise Radio, the New England Primer. I'd love to have you get a copy of this. Hey, by the way, great stocking stuff because it's a cool kind of, it's not hardbound, but it almost seems like it is.

It is. I think this one cost me six bucks and it doesn't have page numbers, so I wouldn't know what page I'm on. Okay, the next section in How to Teach Children How to Read and How to Teach Them Theology.

Catechism Questions, Table Blessings, and Moral Proverbs

It's got questions and answers. I wonder if you know the answers to these. Who was the first man? Adam. Who was the first woman? Eve. Who was the first murderer? Cain. Who was the first martyr? Abel. Who was the first translated?

Enoch. Who was the oldest man? Methuselah. Who built the Ark? Noah. Who was the patientest man? Job. Who was the meekest man? Moses. Who led Israel into Canaan? Joshua. Who was the strongest man? Samson.

Who killed Goliath? Saul. Just kidding. David. Who was the wisest man? Solomon. Who was in the whale's belly? It's not a whale, it's a fish. Jonah. Who saves lost men? Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ?

The Son of God. Who was the mother of Christ? Mary. Who betrayed his maker? Judas. Who denied his maker? Peter. Who was the first Christian martyr? Stephen. Who was the chief apostle of the Gentiles? Paul.

Those are good, aren't they? Now, it teaches us how to say grace before and after the meal. That is one interesting thing that I've noticed, and I think it goes back to some Jewish folks. The meal's blessing said before and after.

You know how sometimes you think, all right, should we pray we have the appetizer, or do we need to pray again for dessert? Well, you can always pray. It's never wrong to pray, is it? And lots of times we don't pray after.

But here you teach a child to say, bless me, oh Lord, and let my food strengthen me to serve thee for Jesus Christ's sake. And then afterwards, I desire to thank God who gives me food to eat every day of my life.

Well, this is sure good. I love this little primer. And as I'm reading it, I'm talking, so I get to kill two birds with one proverbial primer stone. I get to read it, and I've got another show done. Do you know radio show is like the leech's sister?

Give, give. It never ends. It never stops. The next section is an alphabet of lessons for youth. These are little proverbs that you want to try to teach children, right? And you could expand and explain them the way you wanted, but here we go.

A, a wife's son maketh a father glad, but a, oh no, not a wife's son. See, that's why it's so hard to read. A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. B, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble wherein.

So, you see right where these are coming from, do you not? Come unto Christ, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and he will give you rest. I'm not going to read all these, but here's E, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.

Holiness, this H, becomes God's house forever. N, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. So, Bible verses from the New Testament, Old Testament, Proverbs, some Gospels. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth.

R, right there from Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. X, you have to put an E in front of it to get. Exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Closing Prayers, Creed, and the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" Prayer

And then to wrap this up, since we only have a couple more minutes on NoCo today, I'll do part two maybe later. It's got the Lord's Prayer, it has the Apostles' Creed, then it has Dr. Watt's Cradle Hymn, hush my dear, lie still and slumber, holy angels guard thy bed.

That type of thing. It goes on for two pages. Then it's got verses for children, which are very good. And then we have some other prayers. And we have some exhortations for children. What do you think is next?

Well, here is what is next. A prayer to go to sleep by, the New England Primer, No Compromise Radio. Now you'll perk up. This is what I was trying to find. Now I lay me down to sleep. Or hear the way it's written.

Now I lay me down to take my sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Now, when I was a kid, we switched it and said, if I pray the Lord my soul to take, like he would take it.

Well, we said, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. We said that both times. Keep and keep. That's right there from the New England Primer. Now I lay me down to take my sleep. I pray that the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Isn't that nice? That's the New England Primer. Well, you can order those from Wall Builder Press. I'm going to just put my little thing right here, my little note.

Start here. We've got Beza Briefings and the Primus, the New England Primus. You can email me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. If you want to go to Israel, you can go to the website, or you can email me, and I'll send you the website that has registration information as well.

$34 .99 is the price roundtrip from Boston. If you want to come from another city, you can. You just have to get here to Newark or arrange it with the travel agent. This is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio, the New England Primer.

Get a copy.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at BBCChurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.