344 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Mather (C.) — Continued. 



Title verso blank 1 1. letter to the honourable 

 Robert Ashhurst, Esqr. pp. i-ii, text pp. 1-51, 

 52-55, 52-55 (double numbers), 56-61, 62-87, 62-87 

 (double numbers), appendix pp. 88-94, corri- 

 genda 1 page, 16°. Pp. 52-55, 52-55 are alternate 

 Indian (versos) and English (rectos) ; pp. 62-87, 

 62-87 are alternate Latin and Enaiish. See the 

 fac-.-imiles of the title-page and the two pages 

 numbered 52. 



Page 51 ends as follows: II. Verus Chris- 

 tianismus. Or, The Sum of the Christianity, 

 Taught unto the Indians. That Strangers may 

 see the Nature, and Marrow, and Spirit of the 

 Religion, wherein our Indians are instructed ; 

 and that the more Curious may also have a 

 Taste of the Language wherein their Instruct- 

 ors give it unto them ; We shall here insert, 

 the Ensuing Instrument. 



The Indian heading, p. 52, is as follows: 

 "Wame wunetooog Wu.sketompaog pasukqun- 

 nineaout ut yeunnag peantamweseongash. 



Copies seen: British Museum, Congress, 

 Lenox, Massachusetts Historical Society, 

 Trumbull. 



[A monitor for communicants. 



Boston, 1716.] (") 



"In English and Indian. Boston. 1716. pp. 

 20 & 20." This description is from the Rev. 

 Thomas Prince's manuscript catalogue in his 

 own handwriting, in the library of the Massa- 

 chusetts Historical Society, as quoted in the 

 bibliography of Cotton Mather in John Langdon 

 Sibley's Biographical sketches of graduates of 

 Harvard University, vol. 3 (1885), p. 118. 



The book was first printed anonymously in 

 English at Boston in 1714, with the title: "A 

 Monitor for Communicants. An Essay to Ex- 

 cite and Assist Religious Approaches to the 

 Table of the Lord. Offered by an Assembly of 

 the New English Pastors, unto their own 

 Flocks, and unto all the Churches in these 

 American Colonies." It was reprinted several 

 times. 



The Indian version is mentioned by Dr. 

 Mather in his India Christiana (Boston, 1721), 

 p. 32, at the end of the following extract: 

 "This Great Light [the Indian Bible] had sev- 

 eral Satellits waiting on it; Primers, and 

 Grammars, and Catechisms, and The Practice 

 of Piety, and, our Baxters Call to the Uncon- 

 verted, and some other Composures. Unto 

 which Indian-Library, there have been since 

 added, The Confession of Faith; and, A71 Epis- 

 tle giving the Indians an Account of what the 

 English desire them to Enow and to Do, in order 

 to their Happiness : And, A Discourse concern- 

 ing the Institution and the Observation of the 

 Lords-Day ; And, Family -Religion Excited 

 and A ssisted ; And, A Monitor for Communi- 

 cants.'' 



No copy of this edition has been found. 



Cotton Mather, eldest son of Increase Ma- 

 ther, was born at Boston, Feb. 12, 1663, and 

 died there, Feb. 13, 1728. At twelve years of 

 age he entered Harvard College, where he 



Mather (C.) — Continued. 



graduated in 1678. In 1680 he began to preach, 

 and in 1685 he was ordained as his father's col- 

 league over the North Church in Boston. 



For a period of nearly forty-three years he 

 ofiiciated as minister of that church. He took 

 a prominent part in many civil and other af- 

 fairs, notably in the Salem witchcraft delusion 

 of 1692, in introducing the practice of inocu- 

 lation for the small-pox in 1721, and in educat- 

 ing and christianizing the negroes and Indians. 

 He was also one of the commissioners for In- 

 dian affairs in Massachusetts. In 1710 he was 

 honored with the degree of D. D. by the Uni- 

 versity of Glasgow, and three years later he 

 was chosen a member of the Royal Society of 

 London. 



Mr. Mather is best known, probably, by his 

 numerous published writings, numbering over 

 four hundred separate books and tracts. His 

 library was the largest of any in America at 

 that time, and his learning was more varied 

 and extensive than that of any of his contem- 

 poraries in New England. His piety, talents, 

 and industry were considered wonderful ; but, 

 notwithstanding these attainments, it is evi- 

 dent, as one of his biographers remarks, "that 

 his judgment was not equal to his other facul- 

 ties." He was weak, credulous, superstitious, 

 vain, and conceited; and his passions, which 

 were naturally strong and violent, were unduly 

 excited by disappointed ambition. 



According to his own account, Mr. Mather 

 was able to write in seven languages. It seems 

 that he had given some attention to the Massa- 

 chusetts Indian language as early as 1688. In 

 his life of John Eliot (Boston, 1691), pp. 85-86, 

 he writes : 



"There is a Letter or two of ottr Alphabet 

 which the Indians never had in theirs,- the 

 there were enough of the Dog in their Temper, 

 there can scarce be found an R in their Zan- 

 guage ; save that the Indians to the North- 

 ward, who have a peculiar Dialect, pronounce 

 an R where an N is pronountjed by our Indians ; 

 but if their Alphabet be short, I am sure the 

 words composed of it are long enough to tire 

 the patience of any scholar in the world ; they 

 are Sesquipedalia Verba which their Linguo is 

 composed of; one would think, they had been 

 growing ever since Babel, unto the Dimensions 

 to which they are now extended. For in- 

 stance, if my Reader will count how many 

 Letters there are in this one Word, Nummat- 

 chekodtantamooonganunnonash, when he has 

 done, for bis reward I'letell him, it signifies 

 no more in English than, our Lusts,- and if I 

 were to translate, our Loves, it must be nothing 

 shorter than, Noowomantammooonkanunon- 

 nash. [To these specimens, as reprinted in his 

 Magnolia Christi Americana, are added the 

 words : "Or, to give my Reader a longer Word 

 than either of these, Kummogkodonattoottum- 

 mooetiteaongannunnonash, is in English, Our 

 Question : But I pray, Sir, count the Letters!"! 

 Nor do we find in all this Language the least 



