The First Bible Printed in America
One of the joys of writing history is getting to learn new stories, as well as, further details of stories I learned long ago. Today I’d like to share some new details I learned recently.
My current project for Notgrass History is a new American history curriculum for families with children in grades 1-4. Our target publishing date is this summer. It is our plan to finish it and have it back from the printer in time for families to use it this fall. So far those plans are coming together. I would appreciate your prayers for that to continue.
Below is an excerpt from one of those lessons. Keep in mind that it is for children in grades 1-4, so the writing style is simple.
Lesson Excerpt
On the last Sunday in October 1646, John Eliot prayed for God’s blessings. John Eliot was a minister. On that day, John Eliot would preach for the first time in the village of Nonantum. He would tell native people about God.
Eliot told the villagers at Nonantum ahead of time that he was coming. He and three other settlers walked five miles to the village. Waban and other villagers came to welcome them. Waban was a leader in Nonantum.
The Nonantum villagers and the Englishmen walked into Waban’s wigwam. They found many people waiting to listen. John Eliot preached to them in Algonquin, their native language. He taught them that God made the world. He told them about Adam and Eve and their sin in the Garden of Eden. He told them about Jesus, the Savior of the world.
John Eliot had prepared for this day for many months. He had invited a native person who spoke English to live with his family. We do not know the name of this man. He taught John Eliot Algonquin. Eliot taught him how to write.
John Eliot asked the people of the village if they understood what he had told them. Many voices answered that they did understand. He asked if they had any questions. They did. The people in Waban’s wigwam wanted to know:
How can we know Jesus Christ?
Can God or Jesus Christ understand our prayers if we pray in our own language?
Was there ever a time when the Englishmen did not know about God?
John Eliot answered their questions. This first meeting lasted three hours. The people told Eliot that they were not tired and they asked him to come again.
I am excited to introduce children to the story of John Eliot. Eliot was born in England in 1604. His parents taught him to respect God, to pray, and to study the Bible. Eliot went to Cambridge University in 1618, just seven years after the King James Bible was published. One of the professors in John Eliot’s college at Cambridge had worked as one of the translators of the King James Bible.
After John Eliot settled in America, he became a minister at a church near Boston. He continued to minister both to native people and to his local congregation until he was in his 80s.
John Eliot was part of the group who translated the Whole Booke of Psalms, also called the Bay Psalm Book. It was the first book printed in America. Eliot, along with native people, translated the Bible into Algonquin. It was the first Bible printed in North America.
There is great joy in the opportunity to be the first person to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with other people. John Eliot got to do that with native people in Massachusetts. You get to do that with your children.
John Eliot wrote:
“Prayer and pains through faith in Christ Jesus will do anything.”
With prayer and pains through faith, you homeschool your children. It’s worth it! Good job!
I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13