Bishop Thomas Wilson published the first book in Manx, Coyrle Sodjeh, in 1707. He began with the catechism, moved to Coyrle Sodjeh, and kept going, book by book, because a people who spoke Manx deserved to pray in Manx. His successor Hildesley continued the work: the complete New Testament in 1767, the full Bible in 1772. The 1765 Manx Prayer Book was both a monument and a marker: it preserved the language in print and marked the moment after which no institution on the Island would fight for the language the way Wilson had fought for it.