154 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



and Early Progress of Indian Missions in New 

 England. 



In September, 1672, all of the remaining 

 copies of tlie first edition of the Indian bible 

 were ordered by the Commissioners to be 

 bound. It is probable that the edition was 

 soon exhausted. Many copies were lost or de- 

 stroyed in the Indian war of 1675-76. As a new 

 edition was muchneeded, Mr. Eliot began, about 

 the year 1677. to revise the whole work. He 

 also petitioned the Commissioners to reprint it. 

 From the records it appears that it was resolved, 

 at the meeting held in Plymouth, March 20, 

 1678, "In reference vnto the Reuerend Mr. El- 

 liotts motion for reprinting the bible in the 

 Indian Language; The Comissioners haueing 

 had some Debate about that matter doe Judge 

 it most expedient to Kefer the determination 

 therof to the next meeting of the Comission- 

 ers." Accordingly, when they met again, in 

 Boston, August 25, 1679, "Appeared, the Rev- 

 erend Mr. John Eliot, and made a motion re- 

 ferring to the re-printing of the Bible." Con- 

 cerning the extent of Mr. Eliot's labor on the 

 new edition. Dr. Trumbull remarks: "In the 

 revision he was greatly assisted by the Rev. 

 John Cotton, of Plymouth, but it is not true 

 that 'the second edition of the Indian Bible 

 was,' as Cotton Mather asserts, 'wholly of Mr. 

 Cotton's correction and amendment.' Eliot's 

 correspondence with Boyle proves that he was 

 himself actively engaged in the work, though 

 he acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. Cot- 

 ton, who, he writes [July 7,1688] 'has helped 

 me much in the second edition.'" The Rev. 

 Thomas Prince, in the manuscript catalogue 

 of his New England Library, makes the follow- 

 ing statement: "Y^ Rev M'' John Cotton of 

 Plimouth being well acq-i. w"' y^ Ind" Lange 

 was des"i by y« Ind" Comis"" to correct m'" 

 Eliot's vers" of 1663 ; took this method — while 

 a good Reader in his study read y« Eng Bible 

 aloud, M"^ Cotton silently look'd along in y« 

 same Place in y« Ind" Bible : & wh"" He thot of 

 Ind° words w" He judg'd c^ express y® sense 

 better, There He substituted y™. &this 2<'Edit'' 

 is accords to M'' Cotton's correction." Mr. Eliot 

 himself, in the Boxhury Church Records (Boston, 

 1881), 'p. 196, wrote: "When the Indians were 

 hurried away to an Hand at half an hou''s 

 warning, pore soules in terror y^' left theire 

 goods, books, bibles, only some few caryed y 

 bibles, the rest were spoyled & lost. So y' w° 

 the wares w flnishd, & y«' returned to y places 

 yei y^r greatly impov'ished, but y«' especially 

 bewailed y want of Bibles, y^ made me medi- 

 tate upon a 2^ imp''ssion of o"" Bible, & accord- 

 ingly tooke pains to revise the first edition. I 

 also intreated m"" John Cotton to help in yt 

 work, he having obtained some ability so to doe., 

 he read over the whole bible, & whatever 

 doubts he had, he writ y™ downe in order, & 

 gave y" to me, to try y°> & file y™ over among 

 o^ Indians. I obteined the favor to reprint the 

 New testam* & pgalmes, but I met w^i" much ob- 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



struction for reprinting the old testam', yet by 

 pray re to God, Patience & intreatye, I at last 

 obteined y' also, praised be the Lord." 



The desired authority having been obtained, 

 the printing of the new testament was at once 

 begun. This was probably early in 1680. In 

 the summer of the same year the two Labadists, 

 Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluy ter, visited Bos- 

 ton and Cambridge, on their return from New 

 Netherland to Holland. The following extract 

 of their journal for July 7th and 8th, 1680, is 

 from the translation made by Mr. Henry C. 

 Murphy : ' ' The best of the ministers whom we 

 have yet heard, is a very old man, named John 

 Eliot, who has charge of the instruction of the 

 Indians in the Christian religion. He has 

 translated the Bible into their language. "We 

 had already made inquiries of the booksellers 

 for a copy of it, but it was not to be obtained in 

 Boston. They told us if one was to be had, it 

 would be from Mr. Eliot. We determined to' 

 go on Monday to the village where he resided, 

 and was the minister, called Roxbury. . . . 

 %th, Monday. We went accordingly, about 

 eight o'clock in the morning, to Roxbury, 

 which is three-quarters of an hour from the 

 city. ... On arriving at his house, he was 

 not there, and we, therefore, went to look 

 around the village, and the vicinity. We found 

 it justly called JRocksbury, for it was very rocky, 

 and had hiUs entirely of rocks. Returning to 

 his house we spoke to him, and he received us 

 politely. Although he could speak neither 

 Dutch nor French, and we spoke but little 

 English, and were unable to express ourselves 

 in it always, we managed, by means of Latin 

 and English, to understand each other. He 

 was seventy-seven years old, and had been 

 forty -eight years in these parts. He had 

 learned very well the language of the Indians, 

 who lived about there. We asked him for an 

 Indian B ible. He said in the late Indian war, 

 all the Bibles and Testaments were carried 

 away, and burnt or destroyed, so that he had 

 not been able to save any for himself ; but a new 

 edition was in press , which he hoped would be 

 much better than the first one, though that was 

 not to be despised. We inquired whether any 

 part of the old or new edition could be obtained 

 by purchase, and whether there was any gram- 

 mar of th at language in English. Thereupon 

 he went and brought us the Old Testament, 

 and also the New Testament, made up with 

 some sheets of the new edition, so that we 

 had the Old and New Testaments complete. 

 He also brought us two or three small speci- 

 mens of the grammar. We asked him what we 

 should pay him for them ; but he desired noth- 

 ing." The later history of this copy of the old 

 testament is given in the list of copies of the 

 first edition, under no. 39. 



On November 4th, 1680, Eliot wrote to the 

 Hon. Robert Boyle: "Our praying Indians, 

 both in the islands, and on the main, are, con- 

 sidered together, numerous; thousands of 



