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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 emphasizes the importance of seeking God wholeheartedly and keeping His testimonies, highlighting the need for intense and persevering prayer, engaging with divine things, and maintaining a good conscience as preparation for approaching God. He distinguishes between self-confidence based on personal achievements and the confidence that comes from a good conscience before God, as seen in the example of Hezekiah. Brainerd encourages filling up time with profitable spiritual labor and secret duties to experience spiritual peace and boldness in God's presence.
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Pray Constantly
"Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart" (Ps. 119:2). Thursday, August 4. Was enabled to pray much, through the whole day; and through divine goodness found some intenseness of soul in the duty, as I used to do, and some ability to persevere in my supplications. I had some apprehensions of divine things that were engaging and which afforded me some courage and resolution. It is good, I find, to persevere in attempts to pray if I cannot pray with perseverence, that is, continue long in my addresses to the Divine Being. I have generally found that the more I do in secret prayer the more I have delighted to do, and have enjoyed more of a spirit of prayer; and frequently have found the contrary when with journeying or otherwise I have been much deprived of retirement. A seasonable, steady performance of secret duties in their proper hours, and a careful improvement of all time, filling up every hour with some profitable labor, either of heart, head, or hands, are excellent means of spiritual peace and boldness of access to God. But a good conscience void of offense is an excellent preparation for an approach into the divine presence. There is a difference between self-confidence or a self-righteous pleasing of ourselves--as with our own duties, attainments, and spiritual enjoyments--which godly souls sometimes are guilty of, and that holy confidence arising from the testimony of a good conscience which good Hezekiah had when he says, "Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart." Then, says the holy Psalmist, "shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments." Filling up our time with and for God is the way to rise up and lie down in peace.
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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.”