"E" is for the Eliot Mission

     Perhaps few disciples are as truly dedicated to the Lord and the building of His kingdom as was John Eliot (1604-1690), Apostle to the American indigenous peoples of Massachusetts.  The entirety of the beautiful yet tragic story of the "Praying Indians" of Massachusetts cannot be set forth in this brief entry.  Suffice it to say that there are saints in heaven as a result of the work of John Eliot.  His career epitomized the ideals of New England Puritanism, and, many of his converts were sanctified through the fires of martyrdom. 

Below, a leaf from Bishop Lewis Bayly's "Practice of Piety" translated by John Eliot

 

 

     This page is from Bishop Lewis Bayly's "Practice of Piety", considerably abridged and translated into the Algonquian language by Rev. John Eliot.  This page is from the lst edition printed in 1665 by Samuel Green, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the 95th book to be published in America.  Only three or possibly four complete copies of this book are known to have survived.  Obtained by the OCHF Library from the collection of Mrs. Adam P. Carroll, Natick, Massachusetts. 

Below, leaves from "Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God

     These leaves are from the second edition of the Eliot Bible, revised with the assistance of John Cotton, printed in Cambridge by Samuel Green, 1685.  The Eliot Indian Bible was first printed in 1663.  It was the first Bible printed in America, and, the first Bible to be printed in a new language as a means of evangelism.

     John Eliot performed the Herculean task of learning the difficult Algonguin tongue, of translating, unaided, the entire Bible in this unknown and unwritten language, of overcoming many technical difficulties, and of then teaching the Native Americans of Massachusetts to read their own tongue.  Samuel Green, the printer, was aided greatly by James Printer, and Indian compositor and corrector of the press.
     By 1675, copies of Eliot's first edition of the Bible, were becoming increasingly scarce.  The Reverend Eliot petitioned the Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel for funds to print a second edition.  He was successful in his request, and printing commenced in 1678, with the New Testament being completed in 1680 and the entire Bible in 1685.  Costs for the production of this Bible amounted to 500 GBP, a vast sum for the time.  The quantity of the paper used in the production of the two editions of the Bible was greater than all the paper used in all other printing in the American Colonies in the seventeenth century.
     This edition was carefully revised by Eliot with the assistance of the Reverend John Cotton, Minister of Plymouth.  The new edition was needed because of the general attrition rate of the first edition through usage by the "Praying Indians" and, sadly by the destruction of many copies during King Philip's War.
     Printing on the New Testament began in 1680 and was completed in late 1681.  The Metrical Psalter was completed in 1682.  The Old Testament was begun in 1682 and completed in 1685, at which time the full work was published.  This second edition is notable for its opening summation paragraphs in English for each chapter.
     The importance of the John Eliot Indian Bible is impossible to overstate.  It is unrivalled in the history of American printing, in the history of books for Native Americans, and in the history of Christian evangelical movements--a work of singular importance and recognized as such even upon its publication.  These original pages of the OCHF Library here displayed were a part of a collection compiled by Otto F. Ege, of the Cleveland School of Art, and, Western Reserve University, 1938.

Below, a leaf from one of the famed "Eliot's Tracts"

     This leaf is from a 1652 publication (one of a series of pamphlets known as "Eliot's Tracts") put forth to encourage financial support for missionary activities in New England.  This particular leaf is from the first of Eliot's Tracts to be published by the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Indians in New England, and it covers John Eliot's labors during 1651.  This particular leaf contains a letter by John Endecott.  The full title of the tract is "Strength Out of Weakness:  Or a Glorious Manifestation of the Further Progresse of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England:  Held forth in Sundry Letters from Divers Ministers and Others to the Corporation Established by Parliament for Promoting the Gospel Among the Heathen in New England; and to particular members thereof since the last treatise to that effect, formerly set forth by Mr. Henry Whitefield, late Pastor of Gilford in New England".  London:  Printed by M. Simmons for John Blaque and Samuel Howes, 1652.