The Forgotten George Washington Bible Hardback

Author: Dale T. Mason

It is time to unveil and return to the forgotten (and hidden!) realities that made America the blessed bastion of freedom and liberty which God in His providence used to spread the gospel throughout the world!

There are numerous fascinating stories behind President George Washington and his copy of this “forgotten” Bible. They range from implausible to miraculous, yet each is true and documented here.

What led to the unanimous election as President of the beloved hero of America’s war for independence? Why was the “father of his country” reticent to take on that powerful and now aggressively sought role? What part did the first-ever US printing of the Self-Interpreting Bible have in the life of the retired general and the multiple generations which followed after him?  What was so special about this particular Bible and it’s voluminous study notes?

The historic facsimile Bible you see, and the illustrated new Prologue that precedes it, unlocks a treasure of truth sure to excite and guide our world today.

The mammoth undertaking originally published in America as “Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible” received the high approval of both branches of the legislature of New York, It was generously illustrated by young American artists and included an exceptionally patriotic engraving that featured multiple symbols of God’s guiding hand on America. Though largely unknown to historians today, a two-page advertisement for this King James version Bible even appeared in an official printing of the USA’s first-ever congressional record. That ad—which promised refutations of unbiblical beliefs such as deism, is included here.

This 1792 edition of Brown’s Bible, retitled for modern readers as “The Forgotten George Washington Bible”, prominently included President George Washington as the first of 1,279 “subscribers”. It took nearly two years for this massive book to be typeset and print in forty parts on the Gutenberg-like wooden presses of that day. And though many VIPs of America’s founding era are listed together with President Washington—including Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Supreme Court justice John Jay, Secretary of War Henry Knox and a myriad of ordinary citizens—over time it was essentially lost to America’s history of key antiquities.

Thankfully, what was lost has been found!

The account of the spiritual journey of George Washington is both fascinating and inspiring. Though he was born into a society that approved and even endorsed slavery, he yearned and worked throughout the last twenty-five years of his life to see an end to the practice, and in the end did the only thing that he knew would ensure their freedom upon his death. The story of his transition from enslaver to emancipator—and America’s story of transition from post-war trauma to spiritual awakening—is woefully incomplete without Rev. John Brown of Haddington, the humble Scottish pastor whose practical notes and inspiring devotionals fill the family study Bible that re-defined America and took the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world for over a century to come.

This beautiful Bible also features; (in no particular order)

• Insightful mini-biographies of both Washington and Brown

• Jefferson’s handwritten 168 words against slavery (which are not in the final version of the Declaration of Independence)

• President Washington’s secret and near-fatal illness only weeks after his inauguration

• How a call to fasting and prayer by the extremely thankful Washington led to America’s first national Thanksgiving celebration (and was later the basis for Lincoln’s proclamation)

• Two-page ad for the Self-Interpreting Bible that appeared—along with the first public printing of the US Constitution in the 1789 Acts of Congress

• The story behind England’s use of the American colonies to offload and “enslave” over 50,000 British prisoners.

• Why Washington had to take out a loan to travel to his own inauguration.

• The doctrine behind the notes of Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible, silently endorsed by Washington’s prominent subscription.

• The amazing true story of Jacob Brush, the soldier & horse-preacher evangelist who was the original owner of this facsimile copy.

• The evolution-espousing reference Bible that eventually replaced the Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible

• The intriguing true story behind Washington’s teeth

• Proof that Washington was not a deist, but rather a self-described Christian.

• Washington’s firm belief in God the Creator, His creation, the reality of the Ark and Noah

• The account of God’s miraculous preservation of young Washington in the devastating Battle at Monongahela

• The story behind the Sally Fairfax controversy, and the lesson we must apply to our own lives today

• The Self-Interpreting Bible’s tremendous popularity and inspiration for other family Bibles

• The origin of Sunday-only schools (and the Bible as the primary textbook)

• Detailed explanation of the symbolism in the patriotic frontispiece (by George Washington-authority Dr. Peter L. Lillback)

• How the first-ever edition of the Self-Interpreting Bible came about . . . in Scotland

• Who tore a priceless half-page from the deceased president’s Bible and how it came to be buried 21 feet beneath the towering Washington Monument obelisk

• The heartwarming true account of Martha Washington’s part in fulfilling her beloved husband’s compelling deathbed request.

• An appendix section with ideas of how to use this book/Bible with students

• a classic yet modern “Family Tree” form for easy and permanent genealogical record

• The government’s endorsement of the massive 1792 publication

• How the Self-Interpreting Bible disproves the controversial modern interpretation of the “Separation of Church and State

“Features the highly patriotic  illustration that pictorially affirmed the godly heritage and biblical basis of both the US Constitution and the United States itself.”)