Study Guide Island Christianity
Table of Contents
Psalms
The publication of Experience Mayhew’s Algonquian translation of The Massachuset Psalter (1709) was a milestone for the religious community on Martha’s Vineyard. Although Experience Mayhew had taken over his father John Mayhew's mission in 1693/94, the book marked an important stage in his ministry on the island and in New England more generally. While John Eliot’s Mamusse wunneetupanatamwe (1663) had contained a metrical version of the Psalms, Mayhew’s knowledge of Wôpanâak, particularly the version spoken on the island, was unsurpassed (Scott III. 231). Thus although Mayhew’s version was based on Eliot’s work, according to James Hammon Trumbull "every verse underwent revision and scarcely one remains without some alteration” (Dictionary of Eliot’s Bible [1886]). By printing the book in parallel “columns of Indian and English,” Mayhew also took an important step in aiding bilingual education on the Vineyard.
As Indian Converts attests, Psalms played a crucial place in New England devotional practice for men, women, and children alike. Psalms educated and entertained, and they were used socially at church and a home, as well as for private meditation and study. When sung, Psalms became, in minister John Cotton’s phrase, a “converting ordinance,” that is, a religious act through which God’s grace might work in the worshipper's heart (Hambrick-Stowe 113 quotes Mather’s Singing of Psalmes 5-6, 48). Singing affected both the singer and listener: for the singer, singing allowed one to communicate with God and receive grace. Moreover, worshippers had a duty to sing God’s praise, as explained in the opening of Psalm 149: “Halleluyah [cry out to God]. Sing God a new song, His praise in the congregation of the devout” (Psalm 149.1). These praises were also sung in the form of hymns. Some Algonquian ministers such as Samson Occom taught Christian hymns to their congregations using Algonquian melodies. (Love 180-81). For English speakers, The Bay Psalm Book (1640) was the New England standard, until it was replaced in popularity during the seventeenth century by Isaac Watts' Psalms of David. Algonquian speaking Wampanoags on the Vineyard, however, measured their days with the cadences the Psalms found in Eliot’s “Indian Bible” and Mayhew’s Massachuset Psalter.
Items Related to Psalms in the Archive
Biblical Marginalia < Previous | Next > The Practice of Piety