This general disposition to subject the slight and fleeting influence of human example and opinions, for the controlling authority of divine commands, is among the most gloomy presages of the present times. Without a great change of public taste … the progress of depravity will be as rapid, as the ultimate loss of morals, of religion, and of civil liberty, is certain. God has provided but one way, by which nations can secure their rights and privileges … by obedience to his laws. Without this, a nation may be great in population, great in wealth, and great in military strength; but it must be corrupt in morals, degraded in character, and distracted with factions. This is the order of God's moral government, as firm as his throne, and unchangeable as his purpose; and nations, disregarding this order, are doomed to incessant internal evils, and ultimately to ruin.

The first part of his Grammatical Institute of the English Language, often revised, was his famous Elementary Spelling Book, or Blue-backed Speller, with which he helped to standardize American spelling.