David Brainerd - a brief biography by Michelle Buckman

David Brainerd (1718 – 1747) was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey. During his short life he was beset by many difficulties but his godly character and devotion have made his biography a source of inspiration and encouragement to many Christians. Missionaries such as William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, as well John Wesley among others have been helped by him.
(Recorded May 30, 2021)

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[This transcript has been edited for easier reading]

Today we are going to be looking at the life of David Brainerd. This is probably a name that's quite unfamiliar to you. But when I was researching this man, one thing struck me, and that was that this man has encouraged so many missionaries, preachers, and theologians through history. He has been a personal encouragement, and we'll see this later on, to the American theologian and preacher, Jonathan Edwards. But beyond that, he has also been a huge encouragement to people like John Wesley. John Wesley recommended to his various workers that they read the diaries and journals of David Brainerd. William Carey took his journal and diary to India with him. Adoniram Judson was much helped by reading this man's story and understanding his experience. And even Hudson Taylor, and many other people, were impacted by his life and how he worked amongst people. So I hope that we can join these men and come away really blessed by David Brainerd's example. 

So for this story, we are going to travel back to the 1700's - 1718 to be exact - to Connecticut in New England, one of the new colonies in America. David Brainerd was born to Hezekiah and Dorothy, who were both very strong Christians. And the whole family grew up with a really strong foundation in Biblical teaching. His father was quite well known - he was a counsellor in the colony, quite a well known individual - but he was also a deacon at the church. And his mother was the daughter of a reverend. So you can imagine this household - it was a very strict home, that's for sure. The children were not allowed to read or touch anything that was not spiritual on the Sabbath day. They were only to read the Scripture, and perhaps Pilgrims Progress. And if they criticised their mother's cooking, they went without food. It was a very large household - David was the sixth child of nine. Growing up in this home, David described himself as a very melancholy child. He talked   about finding very little joy in play, for example. He was quite serious, and he had, at a very young age, a real sense of God's authority and his own sin. He actually was really scared of dying, and the prospect of dying meant that he tended to be quite fearful of God, judgment and such things. 

But his childhood is very much marred by tragedy. When he was just nine years old, his father Hezekiah died very suddenly. He was only 46 at the time. And then, only a few years later, when he was 14, his mother died. So at the age of 14 he found himself an orphan and he had to live with his sister, who had recently been married, and she was only 18. 

During this time, he writes about how he was almost persuaded to be a Christian, but something held him back. Despite all that Biblical teaching and the strong foundation that he had in his childhood, he himself wasn't a believer. He used to distract himself in his teenage years by "frolicking amongst his young companions" as he wrote. But he always had a sense that this was not the answer, and he came away very unsatisfied. 

When he was about 20 years old he inherited the family farm and he turned his hand to farming, but it wasn't particularly his thing. He ended up giving that up after just a year. This then made him decide that he wanted to do something different - he wanted to enter college and become a minister. Of course in those days, this was a good career, and he was following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather, and also some of his older siblings.

But once he decided to do this, he really determined to do it. And because he was such a devoted and intense individual, he decided he would give it his absolute best. And so he devoted himself to very regular Bible reading and study. He read the Bible about twice through every year, and he spent a long time in prayer and fasting, trying to  study God's word. Now all this piety led to him to feel a great sense of his own righteousness. In fact, he writes later about this time, and he wrote that "he had a very good outside". 

Now, one winter on a Sunday morning, he was going for a walk, and suddenly, he had a really acute sense of danger and a strong sense of the wrath of God. And this made him stand still in amazement. Suddenly he realized that all of his righteousness was merely self-righteousness, and for the first time, he saw his real vileness. He saw his own pride, his sin, and this really distressed him. He feared suddenly the vengeance of God upon him, then and there. But this didn't lead to any significant change. In fact, he devoted himself even more to reading and studying the Word and to long prayers and fasting and all sorts dutiful actions. He felt that this would commend him before God. He actually felt that God would pity him. 

But as he continued praying, God did work in him and revealed himself to David Brainerd. It was really clear to David that he was a sinful man. But he struggled at this time because he felt very angry at God. How was it that all of the righteousness and all his duty, all of that piety, everything that he'd done, counted for nothing? He really struggled with Ephesians chapter two, where it talks about the grace of God, the gift of God being grace - he didn't like this idea. He wanted his diligence and His righteousness to count - he had done so much more than so many others. It was impossible that God wouldn't see that and recognize that! But after so much tumult of mind, he reached a point of utter despair and he sunk into a great depression. He was not able to pray, and all he could see was the sin of his own heart. He fought against God and the idea of this unattainable holiness that was expected of him.  He just couldn't lay down his own righteousness. 

So one day he walked out in the evening, and he came to a small wood, which he decided he would walk through - it was a place where he could definitely be all alone. And then suddenly, as he walked through this little grove, he describes an unspeakable glory, a light around him. But he clarifies in his journal, it wasn't actually a light that he saw. It was like a light in him. And as he walked, he suddenly had clarity. He saw something of God, something he'd never seen. No longer did he think about his own sin, and righteousness and all of those issues, but his soul rejoiced in God and in God's sovereignty. Suddenly, he saw something of the loveliness of God and God's great love for him. Brainerd was so astonished at this. He wanted God to be sovereign, and all of those battles that he'd had, the idea that God wasn't recognizing him - all of that just disappeared. And he wondered that the Lord Jesus should visit him, such a sinner, and love him so greatly. Well Brainerd didn't return from this walk until it was completely dark. And when he returned he felt he was in a new world. 

At the start of September, when he was 21 years old, he finally entered Yale College. This was where he was going to begin his training as a minister.

Now, we're going to pause here and try to understand a little about what was happening at the time in America. Now, the 1700's was a time when to be a minister was to have a respectable career, and so there were many ministers around who were not at all converted. They were preaching very academically, or going through theology  but they didn't know God personally. And so that that was the state of things - it was seen as a good and stable job. But also during this time, and particularly around the 1730's and in 1739, there was a great awakening happening in America, sweeping through. In 1740, George Whitfield had come and preached in the open air and for the first time, people were hearing the gospel. They were attending church every week but often they were being preached to by someone who was not himself converted. And so this was a time of great change. Many people were being saved - tens of thousands of people were being saved in America at this time. 

Now, back to Yale. Brainerd, when he entered, was just a new Christian, but he was quite shocked at the lack of true faith. Here he was going to be studying to be a minister, and yet it seemed like many of his tutors and many of the professors had no faith whatsoever. Anyway, within a short space of time, he contracted measles and had to leave. And then when he came back, he was only there for another short period and then he got sick. He started to cough and realized he was coughing blood. And so again, he had to leave. 

When he finally did come back, he found that the college was a very different place. In fact, George Whitfield had been while he was off sick, and there had been such a change amongst the students and so many students had been saved. There was a huge zeal - people wanted to follow the Lord really, truly, and it was a really different place. 

But unfortunately, the academic staff had not particularly changed - the change was amongst the students. It was the staff that wanted to put a lid on this - they felt it was improper, and they also didn't like the fact that their faith was being questioned by these little students. So the university decided that they would do something to really put a lid on all that was happening at the time. They decided to invite a speaker to speak to the whole university. Well, I'm not sure they really thought this through, because the speaker they invited was none other than Jonathan Edwards. And to the great disappointment of the faculty staff, he spoke very clearly on the work of the Holy Spirit, and how to distinguish His work.  He concluded that he believed that God was at work amongst the students there at Yale, and that this was the Holy Spirit, and therefore should not be stopped. 

Well, this change in the college was not welcomed. And the fact that Jonathan Edwards had done nothing to quell it meant that the staff decided that they would take severe action. They didn't want the students to attend separate meetings, they wanted them to attend the college meetings. Any student who questioned the faith or the authority of any of the academic staff would be severely punished, if not expelled. 

Well Brainerd was a very zealous student at this time, and he was meeting with other people, and he was meeting up with other students as well. They would talk together and discuss spiritual matters. Perhaps this marked him at this time as a troublemaker. But one day, after a college meeting, where his tutor had led the whole group of students in prayer, Brainerd was speaking to his friends, and he was alone in the hall. It was just him and his friends - the rest of the hall was empty. One of his friends said to David Brainerd, "What did you think of the tutor who prayed with us?" And Brainerd responded a little too hastily and said, "He has no more grace than this chair." Well that little comment happened to be overheard by someone walking outside the hall, who then told one of the ladies of the college, who then told the rector in charge, a man by the name of Thomas Clapp, and of course, Brainerd was called to see the rector. They demanded that he make a public confession in front of the whole university for his comment, which was so undermining and so hurtful. Brainerd acknowledged that his comment was wrong, and he really shouldn't have said that, but he thought it was unreasonable to make a public confession. He wanted to deal with this with the tutor, Mr Wittersly himself, to talk to him and apologize. He didn't feel that it needed to be brought before the whole university. 

Well, perhaps it was because Brainerd was seen as a troublemaker, or perhaps it was because he was seen as someone of influence, or perhaps it was just because there was an opportunity to make an example of someone, but the college declared that Brainerd would be expelled from Yale. David was in his third year, he was top of his class and it was almost at the end. But now it was all over. 

He appealed, but the college wouldn't change its mind. You need to remember that in the 1740's, to be ordained as a minister, you must have a degree, a degree from Yale or Harvard or another European institution. So the fact that he had no degree and was expelled, which means he couldn't return, meant that it put an end to all Brainerd's plans for his future. He could no longer be a minister, and he really did feel that this was what the Lord wanted him to do. He felt he was called to minister. And it was his sin, his silly comment, that had ruined everything. He had failed God. He tried to appeal again to the college. Jonathan Edwards helped him, and many others, and they appealed directly to the rector of the university, but it was all to no avail. 

This was a time of great questioning and confusion for Brainerd, and he wrote extensively in his diary, but he destroyed all of these parts of his diary at the end of his life. It was very, very painful time. 

So with no degree, no prospect of being a minister, he did not know what he was going to do. But in his diary, on the day when his peers were graduating, he wrote that he was afraid of this day, and afraid of how he would cope. But he thanked God for giving him grace for the day. He feared that he would be overcome with complete depression and perplexity. But he was surprised that on that day, he was truly able to say, "The will of the Lord be done". 

Now, there was a Scottish mission organization that had been sending people to work amongst the Scottish Highlanders, and also now they'd started sending people over to America to work amongst the native American Indians. It came to their attention that there was this man by the name of David Brainerd, and they addressed him and talked to him, and he agreed that he would become a missionary. 

This was something he had never actually thought of, but at the end of 1742, he was given a particular mission, and that was to go to the American Indians living near a place called Kaunameek. This was not seen by Brainerd as Plan B - he really took this as God's plan and he wrote about this prospect. He wrote in his diaries, "Here I am, Lord. Send me. Send me to the ends of the earth. Send me to the rough, to the pagans of the wilderness. Send me from all that is called comfort on this earth. Send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy kingdom." 

And so he went to the American Indians. Now we need to understand what things were like at this time, particularly with the American Indians and the colonies that were gradually expanding. The colonies were gradually encroaching on the Native American Indian land, and traders were venturing deeper into different parts of America. This was not a great thing. These traders were fairly ruthless, wanting profit, primarily. What they had done prior to the early 1700's, was to introduce alcohol to the tribes. This was a really ruthless thing to do because they provided free alcohol. They knew that this would then mean that they could take advantage of the chiefs and get some good deals from these people. And then of course, they would establish a dependence on alcohol. So these tribes became so dependent that they would do anything, they would sell anything, for some diluted rum, or a bit of brandy. These European traders were making huge profits, selling the worst type of alcohol, often hugely diluted, for skins, such as buffalo skins, which they could sell for so much in the big cities. The dependence on alcohol was completely ruining the tribes. By this time, already, there were so many problems - there was a huge amount of violence, there was a huge amount of crime amongst the Native Americans within the tribes and between the tribes. Men who had the role of providing for the tribe - they were hunters, they were the ones educating the younger children coming up - these men were now lying drunk in the middle of their tribal areas, and they were selling the clothes off their back, in order to buy another bottle of rum. Children were left abandoned and uncared for, there was certainly no education, even their own cultural education was being abandoned. Their fields were unsown, people were living in squalid and desperate conditions. 

On top of that, the Native Americans had their own spirituality. They had their own rituals, and, and some of these were quite severe. They had a lot of rituals that included self-mutilation - they would put hooks in themselves, they would have rituals that involved extreme physical endurance, dancing until they fainted from exhaustion. They would go out and survive in the wilderness with no food or water, hoping that they would, in their exhaustion, see a vision of God or make an offering, something like that. 

So into this mix, David Brainerd was called. He was to travel into really remote areas. These were places where there were no roads, there were no homesteads, there were no creature comforts at all. 

Now, Brianerd really struggled. He struggled both physically and mentally during this period, and his diaries give us quite a detailed look into his mind, day by day, as he struggled amongst these people. In every way, he was not the right person for the job. He clearly had tuberculosis, which probably started from that first sickness he had where he was coughing up blood. With tuberculosis he was so physically weak, he was so sick. He had night sweats that left his clothes ringing wet in the morning, he was often unable to move being in all sorts of fevers. Sometimes he was vomiting blood. And in this weak physical state, he was in these remote areas where he had to build his own shelter. He was sleeping for ages on a pile of straw on two wooden boards in the corner of a Dutch traders home. He lived off boiled corn, and anything that he could get his hands on. He suffered the same poverty as many of the Native American Indians did. And if he wanted bread, he had to ride some miles to get it, and often by the time he got it, it was completely mouldy and sour anyway. His horses were stolen, sometimes he would be riding off into the wilderness and on one occasion his horse became lame and he had to kill it because it broke its leg. And then he had to walk the remaining 30 miles. He would often have to stay the night in the woods, and to try and build a shelter to protect himself from the frost and the snow. Not the sort of place for a person with such physical weakness. 

But on top of this, he also struggled with severe depression. In fact, it would seem that morbid melancholy, as it was called in those days, was something that ran in his family. It seems that from the various accounts, his other siblings and perhaps his people before him, and people after him, suffered the same depression. He really struggled. At times he felt so completely dejected and empty. He struggled with his faith. One entry in his diary reads, "I was almost ready to renounce my hopes of living to God. How dark it looked. This I could not endure. The cry of my soul is echoed in Psalm 65, "iniquities prevail against me". He was lonely to the extreme. He had no fellow Christians to speak to at all. In fact, he didn't even have anyone he could speak to - he was still learning the language of the Indians, which he did struggle with. Most of the people who stayed with the other Dutch traders couldn't speak English either, so he had no one to unburden himself to. 

And on top of all this, the Indians treated him politely, but they were totally uninterested in his message. There was very little, if any, fruit and he struggled to love them. He felt so acutely his own unworthiness to even appear before them, to go and tell them of a living God. He writes about riding up to their settlement, and feeling no desire at all to speak to them. He had no desire for their souls. He prayed fervently that God would really change that attitude and change him so that he could really love them. And we will see how God answered him. 

During this time, in 1744, Brainerd received an offer to become a minister. This was something special that somehow had been arranged for him specifically. He actually got two offers, one for a parish that was near his home where his family was, and the other which was in New York, on Long Island, a beautiful place. He declined both. He now felt very clearly, despite all of the hardships, that he must continue with the Native American Indians, and this was where he was going to stay. Even though it seemed that these two offers were so unique for him. He would have a home with a fireplace, he would have the job that he initially intended to have. And yet he turned both down. 

Now Brainerd was by no means idle during this time of hardship. He did set up a school, he was trying very hard to learn the language and the culture and to be able to connect with the American Indian tribes. He was clearly a man of fervent prayer, really aware of his own weakness and unworthiness. He writes of being in such fervent prayer and meditating on God, that He hated the idea of sleep. He writes in his diary, "But oh, with what reluctancy do I find myself obliged to consume time with sleep." He also speaks a lot in his diaries about redeeming the time. He mourned the days when he was flat out with a fever and unable to do anything for the Lord. Also his depression meant that on those days where he was feeling so completely barren and dejected, that he'd struggle to accept God's grace in his life. But despite this, we see over and over again, his desire to ensure that every moment he could, he would use it well for his Lord.

After one year, Brainerd was reassigned to a different area. He was reassigned to a place called The Forks of the Delaware River, and this was where he was going to be working amongst various tribes. The Lenni Lenape tribe had their homeland along the Delaware River and he was going to stay with this tribe for a good year. And again, this was quite a discouraging time, with very little fruit and a lot of hardship. And when he moved to this place, he realized very quickly that he would have to start again and learn a new language. All of that effort that he'd put in to learn the tribal languages - now he had to start again as these Indians spoke a different dialect. He felt like giving up, he felt so dejected, he felt that he was a burden on the Mission Society, perhaps another failure. He wondered if he was even fit for the work. But there was something in him that made him want to hang on. And he did. He wrote, "To an eye of reason everything, respecting the conversion of the heathen is as dark as midnight. Yet I cannot but hope in God for the accomplishment of something glorious among them."

Now, I just want to give you a picture of what it was like to go to these various settlements and try and speak. Actually, it was his brother John that gave this picture. David rarely writes about these things - it was so normal to him after a while. But when David came to these settlements, he was often speaking in the long houses, which were the type of building that these particular tribes used to build. These were huge, and they would often be for numerous family members - extended families would live in these long houses. But these shelters were often filthy and full of smoke. David would be trying to speak in these houses to the people gathered. But there would be people lying drunk in the back mocking him, there would be dogs barking, going in and out, children running around screaming, crying, and the whole place would often be so filled with smoke that he struggled, particularly with his condition, to breathe. This was the normal state of things and he tried to be heard. And there were some that listened.

At this point, he was speaking through an interpreter. But what grieved him a lot was that this interpreter, a man by the name of Moses Tatamy, was not even saved, and he was someone who had to listen to everything Brainerd said. He listened as they travelled from settlement to settlement. He heard the gospel, he understood Christian things and he was someone who had received so much of Brainerd's output, and yet was completely unmoved. Brainerd really struggled with this. He prayed for this interpreter a lot. But his interpreter was not saved. But then, after one gathering, after Brainerd had spoken, it was his interpreter that seemed very affected by what had been said. And suddenly, this man had a great concern for his own eternity, so much so that he actually wasn't able to sleep or eat properly. He kept asking repeatedly, "What do I need to do? What can I do to be saved? How am I going to be saved?" Well, God had visited this man, and Brainerd was shocked. He was a man who had been so indifferent, and so indifferent to his way of life as well. But now he clearly saw his sin. He saw that he was a drunk, he saw that he could confess to theft, he knew that he had a life of violence. David at first was so shocked at the change that was so sudden that he doubted it, and he was very cautious. He didn't want it to be something that was just based on emotion, he wanted to make sure that this man was truly converted. But he could see the huge change in this man's life. 

Now, the two of them worked together. And what a change! Brainard would preach, and then Tatamy would take the words preached, and re-preach them back to the Indians. Sometimes Brianerd would finish and this man would stay for another two hours and re-preach everything that had been spoken. He pleaded with these Indians to hear God. What a change! 

In 1745, Brainerd had heard that there were some other tribes in quite a remote area, a remote area called Crossweeksung. It was going to be quite a difficult journey, 130 kilometres, by horse and foot. This was quite a physically difficult journey as well. It was very difficult for Brainerd in his current state - he had tuberculosis. After he found these really remote settlements, it was quite a shock that after the 130 kilometre journey, the settlements were fairly empty. There were two or three families when he got there, about four women and a couple of children, and all the men had perhaps gone hunting or something, but there was just a group of seven or eight people. But Brainerd wasn't too dejected about this - he didn't despair, he simply thought that he would speak to these four women and their children, and they were happy to hear him. They were happy to hear this message that he was bringing them. And then, like the Samaritan woman at the well, these women went and told other people and said, "You need to hear what this pale face has to say." And other Indians from other settlements around, 10 or 20 miles away, started to make the journey, and on the next day, there are a few more people. On the day following a few more had gathered. And soon that original meeting of the seven or so people turned into about 30. And they demanded that the pale face speak again - they wanted to hear the message. 

Brainerd preached again. And then God worked. He preached and suddenly people started to cry. They were crying for their souls in great distress. And Brainerd wrote in his diary that it was the power of God that descended on these people, like a rushing mighty wind. And it wasn't just the older people, it was also the children, their children as young as seven, crying out that they had such a bad heart, and they desperately needed to know this Jesus Christ. Brainerd was astonished. There were people pleading, scared of their sin, fearing the vengeance of God. And Brainerd hadn't spoken one word about Hell. He had spoken no words of terror at all. In fact, he was preaching on the love of God from First John. And yet, these people were so utterly convicted by their sin. They were crying out wanting desperately to be saved. It was so clear to David Brainerd that it was God at work and he was just a bystander. 

There was a very influential man who first heard David Brainerd speak at the Forks of the Delaware River. He was there with the Lenni Lenape tribe. And at this point, he was an alcoholic and a very violent man. In fact he had heard Brainerd speaking and just after that, he committed a murder - he killed a young Indian man. And this act put him in a real state of horror about what he'd done, and he refused to attend Brainerd's preaching. Brainerd actually sought him out and talked to him personally and told him of the forgiveness of Christ and that even the murder that he committed could be forgiven, and that he could come to the Lord Jesus. But this man was hard. And he rejected the gospel. In fact, Brainerd found out that he was the local conjurer, the powwow. He was a very, very influential man, because in the tribe, they felt that he was the great one. And so Brainerd really struggled, because, although he could see that this man had a great need, this man actually was stirring up more trouble, it seemed. Brainerd actually hoped that he would, in some way, leave, because of the trouble and the influence he had. 

But God had other plans. He really worked in this man. And after one particular meeting, this man came away with a real sense of his sin before God. He suddenly realized that he was going to be condemned, and there was nothing he could do to save himself, that God was the ultimate judge. He came to Brainerd and begged him to speak again to him about Jesus Christ. And finally, after a long period of struggle, this man turned to Christ who was totally changed. And in the moment, as this man said himself, "The moment when the Word of God touched my heart, all my power of conjuring just left me, and I could do nothing, even if I wanted to." 

Not long after Brainerd came to another settlement, Delaware River and another conjurer came, an older man, and was quite violent, and threatened David saying that he would curse him and bewitch him. At this time, David was traveling with this former conjurer, this new convert, and he was the one that stepped forward and said to this old man, "You do your worst. I too, was a great conjurer. But the moment God's word touched my heart, my conjuring left me. And so it will you." 

So many people like this were completely and utterly changed. People gave up their charms, the people stopped drinking, there was this immediate change that was occurring amongst these people. And it was so obvious that even the white traders, the Europeans who were living in the surrounding areas, heard about it, and they came to see what was going on. In fact, these Native American Indians ended up being a witness to the white folks. And soon Brainerd was having gatherings where there were white people, and Indians, listening, all of them with tears streaming down their face. 

So some of these white people, the ones who did have some faith, were really moved to see what was happening, to see that these Indians who had lived without hope, and without God in the world, were now brought near by the blood of Christ.

Soon there are about 113 new believers, and Brianerd really wanted now to disciple them. He knew that these new converts were illiterate and there was no Bible in their language. He needed to teach them, he needed to give them a strong foundation. He would meet regularly with them - he met in their homes - he would teach them, he would get them to recite things, he would get them to memorize things, and really ensure that they had a strong foundation in the Gospel. And he would travel with them to different settlements, so that they too would be evangelizing their own people. And sometimes Brainerd would retire exhausted after meeting with people and he would go back to his shelter, and he would hear the Indians continuing in prayer, sometimes for hours at a time. Such a change in these people! 

But beyond this, there was also the practical help that Brainerd had provided. He decided to move as many as wanted to a new place called Cranberry. It was not far from Crossweeksung - the Indian settlements were very much spread out. And there were people scattered and dotted all over the place. He found some land, - good farming land. Many of the Indians came and they lived around this place and it became quite a central community. He also helped them establish fields and get their lives together, to be able to be self-sufficient. Again, he established a school to help the kids get some sort of an education. But with all of this that he was doing he was really struggling with his health. 

It was very, very clear to Brainerd by this point that he was dying. He always had a clear sense of his own physical and mental weakness, and it did make him think about death and long for death, so that he could see his Lord. He lived with the sense that he had a very limited time on earth, and he wanted to ensure that he used it well, used it for the glory of God. He who would often pray, "May I never loiter on my heavenly journey." But his health was such now that he knew he couldn't continue. He asked his younger brother John to come and take his place. He didn't want to leave these people. He knew that they needed to be cared for. 

Every day there were more and more people coming, other Indians traveling through and he wanted to be to know that somebody would be caring for his people, as he called them. He wrote many letters to his brother John and encouraged him to spend and be spent for God. John was very much inspired by his older brother, and agreed to come and take his place. In fact, John Brainerd laboured amongst these Indians for a further 34 years. 

So once assured of John's coming, David had a very, very sorrowful farewell to his people at Cranberry, knowing that he would not be long for this world and he wouldn't see them again here. There were many, many tears that day, not perhaps unlike the tears shed by the Ephesians when they farewelled Paul. 

But he could only travel a little bit by horseback. His intention was to go back to his family at New Haven, but now he was in such weakness that he could only make it so far. He made it to the home of Jonathan Dickinson, and then from there he had enough strength to go on, and he made it to the home of Jonathan Edwards. 

Jonathan Edwards wanted to care for David in his illness, and we can see how much the Lord had worked in David. Because during this journey, when people asked him about his work amongst the people, particularly the tribes at Crossweeksung, every time he mentioned them, he dissolved into tears. He had such love for this people. And it was such a change wrought in this man's heart. 

The Edwards home was known for its hospitality, and not just the hospitality of having people over for a meal. Jonathan Edwards would invite people in and care for them in their sickness, and that's what he did for David. David Brainerd would spend his last days in the home of Jonathan Edwards.

Edwards had a 17 year old daughter by the name of Jerusha, and it was she that nursed him for close to five months, and she did this with great delight. Her father wrote at this time, "She devoted herself to attend him with great delight, because she looked on him as an eminent servant of Jesus Christ." Now some people say that they did love each other, but there is not a huge amount of evidence for that. But we can certainly see, the Brainerd had the highest opinion of her. He told Jonathan Edwards, "She's an eminent saint who has fitted herself to deny herself for God to do good beyond any young woman I know." 

These last days saw many people come and go out of the Edwards household, and people were really impacted by speaking with David Brainerd. At this point, he was fairly weak - there were times when he was able to get up, but there were also times when he he was in bed. People were impacted by his prayer, and in fact Jonathan Edwards himself was so encouraged. Sometimes it was when David Brainerd gave grace before a meal - they were so impacted by his clarity, his desire to see the Lord face to face, and the fact that it was almost like he lived with a great sense of his coming, heavenly future. 

One of Edwards' children brought the Bible to read with him. And when this girl entered the room, David exclaimed, "Oh that dear Book, that lovely Book! I shall soon see it opened, the mysteries that are in it, the mysteries of God's providence will all soon be unfolded." 

But even during this time, he still was plagued by his depression, and he feared that he might dishonour God with his impatience to die. He had such pain at this point, and if you know anything about tuberculosis, your lungs are literally being eaten away by bacteria, and turning into bloody mass, and that was what was happening. It was so painful for him to even take a breath that he wrote that he worried that he would dishonour God because one minute more in his pain would perhaps be more than he could bear. 

Finally, on Friday the ninth of October in 1747, that glorious day came, a day that Brainerd had longed for so much. It was the day that he would see his Lord. Some of his last words were, "He will come, He will not tarry. I shall soon glorify God with his angels." And at 6am his suffering was over and he saw the Lord. He was 29 years old. 

Jonathan Edwards preached at his funeral. And then, just over four months later, a grief stricken Jonathan Edwards would preach again at another funeral, this time for his beloved daughter Jerusha. She too became sick, perhaps as a direct result of caring for Brainerd. Jonathan Edwards spoke of Jerusha as the flower of the family, who had served the Lord faithfully in her 18 years of life. And she was buried next to David, in the family plot.

David Brainerd was a Christian for eight years. He was a missionary for four years. And in all of that time, he was physically very, very weak. He struggled with severe depression. There are 22 entries in his diary where he writes about longing desperately for death, a way of freeing him from his misery and despair. And yet, here is a man who can say with such great conviction, "The Lord lives and blessed be my Rock." 

Had this man graduated from Yale in the normal way, he may have become a minister in some parish and part of the colonies, and perhaps been completely unknown to us. And yet, isn't it a wonderful thing, that all things work together for good for those who love God, and that even when His servants fail, God can still work so mightily. 

Jonathan Edwards published David Brainard's journals and diaries, and at the beginning he wrote, "There are two ways of representing and recommending true religion and virtue to the world. The one is by doctrine. The other by example. May David's very short life, be a real witness to us, encouraging us to hang on through the trials, whether these trials might be within our own souls or without, and to live every moment of our lives with a sense of urgency, abounding in the work of the Lord."

We're going to finish with something that David Brainerd wrote in his own diary. He wrote this in 1744, before he saw God's great work amongst the Indian people. He wrote, "Sanctification in myself, and the ingathering of God's elect is all my desire, and the hope of its accomplishment, all my joy.