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David Brainerd
David Brainerd (1718–1747). Born on April 20, 1718, in Haddam, Connecticut, to Hezekiah and Dorothy Brainerd, David Brainerd was an American missionary and preacher whose brief life profoundly influenced evangelical missions. Orphaned by 14—his father died in 1727, his mother in 1732—he was raised by relatives, inheriting a modest estate. Converted at 21 in 1739 during a spiritual awakening, he sensed a call to ministry and enrolled at Yale College in 1739, but was expelled in 1742 for criticizing a tutor’s faith, aligning with New Light revivalists. Licensed by the New York Presbytery in 1742, he began preaching to Native Americans under the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. From 1743 to 1747, he ministered to tribes in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, notably the Delaware Indians at Crossweeksung, where his fervent sermons, translated by Moses Tunda Tatamy, led to a 1745–1746 revival with over 100 conversions. Battling tuberculosis and depression, Brainerd kept a diary, later published by Jonathan Edwards as The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (1749), which inspired missionaries like William Carey and Jim Elliot. His books, Mirabilia Dei inter Indicos (1746) and Divine Grace Displayed (1746), detailed his work. Unmarried, he died at 29 on October 9, 1747, in Edwards’ home in Northampton, Massachusetts, saying, “I am going into eternity, and it is sweet to me to think of eternity.”
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David Brainerd reflects on the faith, zeal, and power of Elijah the prophet, longing for a deeper faith and a 'double portion of that spirit' to rest on him. He experiences a revival of hope in being used by God for special service, despite feeling unworthy. Through prayer and reading the story of Moses in Exodus, he is moved by the glory and majesty of God, finding unspeakable sweetness in the Scriptures and rejoicing in God's deliverance.
Keep Hoping
"... I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously…" (Exod. 15:1). Thursday, November 3. Spent this day in secret fasting and prayer, from morning till night. Early in the morning, I had some small degree of assistance in prayer. Afterwards, read the story of Elijah the prophet, I Kings 17,18, and 19, and also 11 Kings 2 and 4. My soul was much moved observing the faith, zeal, and power of that holy man and how he wrestled with God in prayer. My soul then cried with Elisha, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah!" Oh, I longed for more faith! My soul breathed after God and pleaded with Him that a "double portion of that spirit," which was given to Elijah, might "rest on me. That which was divinely refreshing and strengthening to my soul was that I saw that God is the same as He was in the days of Elijah. Was enabled to wrestle with God by prayer in a more affectionate, fervent, humble, intense, and importunate manner than I have for many months past. Nothing seemed too hard for God to perform; nothing too great for me to hope for from Him. I had for many months entirely lost all hopes of being made instrumental of doing any special service for God in the world. It has appeared entirely impossible that one so black and vile should be thus employed for God. But at this time God was pleased to revive this hope. Afterwards read the third chapter of Exodus and on to the twentieth, and saw more of the glory and majesty of God discovered in those chapters than ever I had seen before. Frequently in the meantime I fell on my knees and cried to God for the faith of Moses and for a manifestation of the divine glory. Especially the third and fourth, and part of the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters, were unspeakably sweet to my soul. My soul blessed God that He had shown Himself so gracious to His servants of old. The fifteenth chapter seemed to be the very language which my soul uttered to God in the season of my first spiritual comfort, when I had just got through the Red Sea, by a way that I had no expectation of. Oh, how my soul then rejoiced in God! And now those things came fresh and lively to my mind. Now my soul blessed God afresh that He had opened that unthought-of-way to deliver me from the fear of the Egyptians, when I almost despaired of life.
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David Brainerd (1718–1747). Born on April 20, 1718, in Haddam, Connecticut, to Hezekiah and Dorothy Brainerd, David Brainerd was an American missionary and preacher whose brief life profoundly influenced evangelical missions. Orphaned by 14—his father died in 1727, his mother in 1732—he was raised by relatives, inheriting a modest estate. Converted at 21 in 1739 during a spiritual awakening, he sensed a call to ministry and enrolled at Yale College in 1739, but was expelled in 1742 for criticizing a tutor’s faith, aligning with New Light revivalists. Licensed by the New York Presbytery in 1742, he began preaching to Native Americans under the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. From 1743 to 1747, he ministered to tribes in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, notably the Delaware Indians at Crossweeksung, where his fervent sermons, translated by Moses Tunda Tatamy, led to a 1745–1746 revival with over 100 conversions. Battling tuberculosis and depression, Brainerd kept a diary, later published by Jonathan Edwards as The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (1749), which inspired missionaries like William Carey and Jim Elliot. His books, Mirabilia Dei inter Indicos (1746) and Divine Grace Displayed (1746), detailed his work. Unmarried, he died at 29 on October 9, 1747, in Edwards’ home in Northampton, Massachusetts, saying, “I am going into eternity, and it is sweet to me to think of eternity.”