Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd; Missionary to the Indians on the Borders of New-York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania: Chiefly Taken from His Own Diary
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David Brainerd was an American missionary to the Native-American Indians. He held his missionary work in states of New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania and became widely known and influential through the autobiography of his intensely pietistic life, left in the form of a diary.
Background
David Brainerd was born on October 9, 1747 in Haddam, Connecticut, the son of Hezekiah Brainerd, one of His Majesty's Council. His mother, Dorothy Hobart, was the daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, and granddaughter of Rev. Peter Hobart who, driven out of Hingham, England, by the Puritan persecutions, settled in Hingham, Massachussets.
Education
In 1739 David Brainerd entered Yale to prepare for the ministry. Here in 1742 an event occurred which long preyed upon his mind. He was sympathetic toward the Whitefield revival to which the college authorities were opposed, and in the company of two or three students of like mind remarked that a tutor, Mr. Whittelsey, had "no more grace than this chair. "
His utterance was reported to Rector Clap, who ordered him to apologize before faculty and students. Because he refused, and on the ground that he had attended a Separatist meeting, and made a derogatory remark regarding the Rector himself, though any memory of this he denied, he was expelled; and in spite of the fact that in 1743 he offered to make abject apology if he might receive his degree, it was denied him. This act was strongly disapproved by some of the clergy, and there is a tradition that it hastened the founding of Princeton College, the first three presidents of which had been among Brainerd's strongest supporters.
Career
After studying with Reverend Jedediah Mills of Ripton, Connecticut, he was licensed to preach by the Association of Ministers at Danbury, Connecticut, July 29, 1742, and the same year was appointed missionary to the Indians by the Correspondents of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. Beginning April 1, 1743, he labored for a year at Kaunaumeek, a settlement in the woods between Stockbridge and Albany, and then persuaded the Indians to move to Stockbridge, where they could be under Rev. John Sergeant.
On June 12, 1744, he was ordained by the Presbytery of New York at Newark, New Jersey, and took up work at the Forks of the Delaware, near what is now Easton, Pennsylvania. From here he went to Crossweeksung, not far from the present town of Freehold, New Jersey, where his work was notably successful. In May 1746 he removed from that place with all the Indians to Cranberry, about fifteen miles distant.
Early the following year, however, the condition of his health forced him to relinquish his work, and in October he died at the home of Jonathan Edwards, to whose daughter, Jerusha, he was engaged to be married.
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Religion
Although concerned for his soul, terrified by the thought of death, and driven to the performance of religious duties at the age of seven, it was only after many terrible struggles with their grim background of Calvinistic theology, that on July 12, 1739, he felt himself converted. Later Brainerd was ordained as a Presbyterian minister on June 12, 1744, at Newark, New Jersey.
Views
Brainerd was a mystic of saintly character, controlled absolutely by a sense of God and duty, indifferent to any labor or risk his devotion to these entailed, yet eminently practical in his missionary program. His religious experiences, elevations and depressions of spirit, physical weakness, travels and labors, doctrinal teachings, and methods of work are all set forth in his diary. For years this was to many a manual of religious guidance, and down to the middle of the nineteenth century, probably no person except Henry Martyn of England and India, who himself was made a missionary by reading Brainerd's life, did more to stimulate and direct missionaries in their form of work.
Quotations:
"Lord's Day, December 29 . .. After public worship was over, I went to my house, proposing to preach again after a short season of intermission. But they soon came in one after another; with tears in their eyes, to know, "what they should do to be saved. .. " It was an amazing season of power among them, and seemed as if God had "bowed the heavens and come down. .. " and that God was about to convert the whole world. "
"Wednesday, April 21 . .. and God again enabled me to wrestle for numbers of souls, and had much fervency in the sweet duty of intercession. .. "
"Lord's Day, April 25. This morning I spent about two hours in secret duties and was enabled more than ordinarily to agonize for immortal souls. Though it was early in the morning and the sun scarcely shined at all, yet my body was quite wet with sweat. .. "
"Saturday, December 15. Spent much time in prayer in the woods and seemed raised above the things of this world. .. "
"Monday, March 14 . .. in the morning was almost continually engaged in ejaculatory prayer. .. "
"Thursday, August 4. Was enabled to pray much, through the whole day. .. "
"Thursday, November 3. Spent this day in secret fasting, and prayer, from morning till night. .. "
Membership
Brainerd was a member of the Honourable Society in Scotland.
Personality
From childhood Brainerd was highly emotional, unhealthily introspective, over-conscientious, and subject to periods of dark depression. Probably many of the emotional experiences which Brainerd attributed to a Divine agency were pathological in origin. Certainly by the time he entered college, and very likely earlier, he was a victim of tuberculosis.
Quotes from others about the person
Encamped at the outskirts of the Indian settlement, Brainerd planned to enter the Indian community the next morning to preach to them the Gospel of Christ. Unknown to him, his every move was being watched by warriors who had been sent out to kill him. F. W. Boreham recorded the incident:
"But when the braves drew closer to Brainerd's tent, they saw the paleface on his knees. And as he prayed, suddenly a rattlesnake slipped to his side, lifted up its ugly head to strike, flicked its forked tongue almost in his face, and then without any apparent reason, glided swiftly away into the brushwood. "The Great Spirit is with the paleface!" the Indians said; and thus they accorded him a prophet's welcome. "
Connections
Brainerd was engaged once to be married to daughter of Jonathan Edwards, Jerusha.