“I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the seas, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” 2 Corinthians 11:26-27 NASB
Those words, written by the apostle Paul, also resemble the experience of a little-known servant of God named David Brainerd. In the short stint of three and one-half years, he traveled over 3,000 miles on horseback, taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to Indian tribes in what is now the northeast United States. Born on April 20, 1718 in Haddam, Connecticut he was orphaned at the age of nine and raised by an older sister.
All through his adult life he maintained a journal. Its timeless words have inspired many to take seriously the Great Commission. “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15
In his teen years Brainerd obsessed with the condition of his soul, which he knew to be corrupt before a holy God. He read the Bible incessantly and adhered tenaciously to the outward disciplines of the Christian faith, yet found no rest within.
“But after a considerable time spent in such like exercises and distresses, one morning, while I was walking in a solitary place…I at once saw that all my contrivances and projects to …procure deliverance and salvation for myself, were utterly in vain….I saw it was self-interest had led me to pray, and that I had never once prayed from any respect to the glory of God….I stood still, wondered, and admired!..My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God, that I was even swallowed up in Him….At this time, the way of salvation opened to me…that I…was amazed that I had not dropped my own contrivances, and complied with this lovely, blessed, and excellent way before….I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely by the righteousness of Christ.”
In September, 1739 Brainerd entered Yale to train as a minister. But in his second year he began spitting up blood, probably from tuberculosis, and had to drop out for a time. Health issues plagued him his entire life.
He returned the following November to discover that many of the students had been stirred by visiting “New Lights” preachers of the Great Awakening, such as George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Jonathan Edwards. Their zeal made the faculty at Yale appear spiritually dead by comparison. Brainerd was expelled for reportedly saying that one of his professors “has no more grace than a chair.”
His expulsion ended his chances of becoming a licensed minister in Connecticut. Instead, he was encouraged to take the gospel to the Indians. On April 1, 1743 he began his work, first at Kaunemeek, a Housatonic Indian settlement near present-day Nassau, New York. At first, progress among the Indians was slow.
May 18, 1743 “I have no fellow Christian to whom I may…lay open my spiritual sorrows; with whom I may take sweet counsel in conversation about heavenly things, and join in social prayer. I live poorly with regard to the comforts of life. Most of my diet consists of boiled corn, hasty-pudding, etc. I lodge on a bundle of straw, my labors hard and extremely difficult, and I have little appearance of success to comfort me. The Indians have no land to live on but what the Dutch people lay claim to; and these threaten to drive them off. They have no regard to the souls of the poor Indians; and…they hate me because I come to preach to them.”
He remained among them for one year, saw some converts, started a school for the Indian children, and began a translation of the Psalms. He was next assigned to the Delaware Indians, a tribe with a reputation for ferocity.
May 1, 1744 “Having received new orders to go to a number of Indians on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania…I this day…rode several hours in the rain through the howling wilderness, although I was so disordered in body, that little or nothing but blood came from me.”
May 8 “Travelled about forty-five miles to a place called Fishkffl….Spent much of my time, while riding, in prayer that God would go with me….My heart sometimes was ready to sink with the thoughts of my work, and going alone in the wilderness, I knew not where….The next day I went forward on my journey, crossed the Hudson…and so traveled across the woods…about a hundred miles, through a desolate and hideous country…in which journey I suffered much fatigue and hardship.”
After another year he moved to Crossweeksung, New Jersey. Within a year, the Indian church there had 130 members. During all this time he suffered from paralyzing depression that sometimes made him wish for death. Yet he refused offers to leave the mission field for an easier life as a minister in a colonial church.
August 23, 1745 “Spent some time with the Indians in private discourse and afterward preached to them from John 6:44-50. There was…a great attention and some affection among them. Several appeared deeply concerned for their souls, and could not but express their inward anguish by tears and cries.”
August 24 “Spent the forenoon in discoursing to some of the Indians in reference to their publicly professing Christ. Numbers of them seemed to be filled with love to God, delighted with the thoughts of giving themselves up to Him, and melted and refreshed with the hopes of enjoying the blessed Redeemer. Afterward I discoursed publicly from I Thessalonians 4:13-17….There were several Indians newly come, who thought their state good…because they had sometimes lived with the white people under gospel light, had learned to read, were civil, etc., although they appeared utter strangers to their own hearts, and altogether unacquainted with the …doctrines of grace….Yet after much discourse, one appeared in a measure convinced that ‘by the deeds of the law no flesh living can be justified’ and wept bitterly, inquiring ‘what he must do to be saved’.”
Lord’s day, October 6, 1745 “Preached in the forenoon from John 10:7-11. There was a considerable melting among my people; the dear young Christians were refreshed, comforted and strengthened; and one or two persons newly awakened. In the afternoon I discoursed on the story of the jailor, Acts 16; and in the evening expounded Acts 10:1-2. There was at this time a very agreeable melting spread throughout the whole assembly. I think I scarce ever saw a more desirable affection among any people. There was scarcely a dry eye to be seen among them….Those who I have reason to hope were savingly renewed were first affected, and seemed to rejoice…with brokenness of spirit and godly fear.”
In November, 1746 David Brainard’s health broke. He found his way to the home of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts. There Edwards’ seventeen-year-old daughter Jerusha cared for him. The doctors recommended fresh air, which he partook of through regular horseback riding.
After a few weeks he and Jerusha left on horseback for Boston, over 100 miles away. The trip normally took two days. For them it took four. By the time they arrived, the doctors thought that he might die any day, but he recovered enough to return to Northampton. There he continued with horseback rides until by early September, 1747 he was confined to bed. Jerusha continued to care for him.
September 24, 1747 “In the greatest distress that ever I endured, having an uncommon kind of hiccough; which either strangled me or threw me into a straining to vomit.”
On October 4 he spoke to Jerusha. “Dear Jerusha, are you willing to part with me? I am willing to part with you…though, if I thought I should not see you and be happy with you in another world, I could not bear to part with you. But we shall spend an happy eternity together!”
Five days later David Brainerd passed away at the age of 29. Four months later Jerusha died from an acute fever on February 14, 1748, most likely having contracted tuberculosis in her selfless care for the man she loved.
She “was like a flower that is cut down, a fit emblem of a young person in the bloom of life, with amiable, pleasant, and promising qualifications, not only with a blooming body, but mind also; with desirable natural and moral endowments….she declared in words, showed in deed, ever more ready to deny herself, earnestly inquiring in every affair which way she could most glorify God,” spoke her famous father.
She was buried next to David Brainerd in the hope that they would rise together in the next resurrection.
