Ojibwa Bible History (3)

**List: Ojibwa Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Ojibwa... CHIPPEWAY. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. THE Chippewas, or Ojibways, are dispersed through a considerable portion of British North America, and are also to be found in the United States.   According to Catlin, they inhabit the eastern, north- eastern, and northern shores of Lake Huron, also the northern and southern shores of Lake Superior, the headwaters of the Mississippi, and even extend over an immense tract of country to the north and west of the Lake of the Woods, reaching nearly to Lake Winnepeg and Hudson Bay.   They are divided into thirty bands, each of which is governed by a chief, and in number they collectively amount to about 25,000 individuals. II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.    The Chippeway and the other languages forming the northern branch of the Algonquin-Lenape family (namely, the Cree, Algonquin, Ottawa, Pottawattomie, and Mississague) are very closely allied in vocabulary and structure; and it is said that the tribes to whom these languages are respectively vernacular are more or less intelligible to each other.   The Chippeway is particularly harmonious and dignified in sound: it differs from the Cree in the nasal character of its vowels, and also in possessing two negatives, like the French, one of which is interwoven with the verb through all its forms: the Cree vowels, at least in the northern districts, have no nasal sound, and a regular negative form does not appear to exist in that language. III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    The first attempts to obtain a version of the Scriptures in Chippeway emanated from the York Upper Canada Auxiliary Bible Society.   After much inquiry, only two individuals could be found willing and competent to undertake the translation, namely, two brothers named John and Peter Jones. They were native Indians of the River Credit district (in Western or Upper Canada) and had been employed to assist in the spiritual instruction of their countrymen by the Methodist Society.   In 1831 they commenced the translation of the Gospels; Captain Anderson, of the Rice Lake, undertaking to revise the work, and the British and Foreign Bible Society agreeing to defray the expenses.   In 1832 the Gospel of St. John was completed; and Peter Jones visited England for the purpose of carrying it through the press.   In the correction and revision of the proof sheets, he was aided by the lamented Mr. William Greenfield, who had acquired considerable acquaintance with the language. The edition consisted of 1000 copies, and was completed during the course of the same year.   It has been remarked of this edition that, in point of mechanical execution, it is "by far the best volume of Indian translation which has been sent among the sons of the forest."   The version itself is highly esteemed, by mies. of all denominations, as a faithful and accurate translation, and it has been several times reprinted.   In 1838 an edition was issued at the expense of the American Bible Society, with the orthography altered, in conformity with the system adopted in the publications of the American Board.    In 1833, when the Gospels of St. John, St. Matthew, and St. Mark only had been completed, the American Bible Society undertook the superintendence of the translation of the New Testament, and the Messrs. Jones directed their attention to the translation of the Old Testament.   It was reported the following year that the whole New Testament had been translated by Dr. James, of the United States army, and that it was then passing through the press at Albany.   Little is known concerning this edition, although the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society expressed their willingness to purchase copies, provided it should prove a faithful version.    In 1835 a commencement was made towards the translation of the Old Testament, by the publi- cation of part of the book of Genesis, translated by Peter Jones, the above- mentioned native my. His version of the Gospel of St. Matthew was reprinted in 1839 by the American Board, at Boston. The Gospel of St. Luke had been printed two years previously by the same Society, from a translation executed by George Copway, a converted and educated Chippeway, and the Rev. Sherman Hall, of the La Pointe Mission, Lake Superior.   These two translators were agents of the Methodist Episcopal Mission of Canada: they also effected a translation of the Acts, which was published at Boston in 1838.   The Epistles of St. John were published at the same place in 1840; and in 1844 an edition of the entire New Testament appeared at New York, under the auspices of the American Bible Society.   The edition consisted of 1000 copies, but no intimation was appended respecting the names of the translators or the history of the translation.   A new and revised edition of this version of the Ojibway New Testament was published by the American Bible Society in 1856, under the superintendence of the Rev. Sherman Hall.    A translation of the New Testament into Ojibway has subsequently been undertaken by the Rev. Dr. O’Meara, a zealous and devoted my. who has laboured for many years among the Indians of Lake Huron, and has been printed at Toronto, at the expense of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.   The value of this version (which issued from the press in 1854) has been generally acknowledged, both by intelligent natives and by the mies. of various denominations who are engaged among them.   The Society have undertaken to print another edition as soon as Dr. O’Meara shall have completed a revision upon which he has for some time past been engaged.   The importance of such a work can hardly be over-estimated.   "The Ojibway language (writes the Bishop of Toronto) is the most extensively used of all the North American Indian tongues."   A version of the Prayer Book, accompanied by the Psalms, by the same indefatigable labourer in Christ's vineyard, has also been printed at Toronto, at the cost of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (1854). Immediately on the issue of the volume, 2000 copies of the Psalms contained in it were ordered from the printer in Toronto, by the Upper Canadian Bible Society. IV.--RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.    The influence of this version is to be witnessed at several Indian settlements, where the consistent life and deportment of the converted natives contrasts forcibly with their former wild and sanguinary practices.   Near the River Credit, in West Canada, for instance, there was in 1840 a village inhabited by about 220 Chippeway Indians, who but a few years ago were wandering in pagan darkness over the expanse of the country; now some among them are probably truly converted to God, while all make a profession of Christianity, and live in the outward observance of the Divine law.   The same may be said of La Pointe, and other my. stations, where Chippewas have been reclaimed from savage life, and taught to read the Word of God in their own tongue.   And even among those members of this nation who have not yet been led within the pale of Christian and civilised life, there is said to be, in many districts, a preparedness of heart to receive the Gospel.   The following gratifying testimony is borne to the value of the Ojibway translation of the Liturgy, in a letter to the Rev. the Warden of St. Augustine's College, from the Rev. J. L. Breck, of the Chippeway Mission, Canada West:--"Whilst the Indian is making gradual improvement in several respects, yet no feature of the mission is so attractive as the religious.   The daily Ojibway service is attended, with great regularity, by a large number of Indians who are still pagans; thereby affording us the very best opportunity for instructing them in Christianity.   They conform with the greatest apparent interest to all the usages of the Church as regards posture, and are beginning to respond and sing.   We use the Anglican Prayer Book, which has been translated into Ojibway by an English my., the Rev. Fred. A. O’Meara, D.D., who ministers to the Chippewas on the Manitoulin Islands in Lake Huron.   This help, in administering religion to a pagan people, is valuable beyond computation.""-- The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] CHIPPEWAY.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.] OJIBWAY.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]

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