David Brainard (1718 - 1747)

David Brainard (1718 - 1747)

If you want a hero, someone to emulate, chose David Brainard. He is well suited to be a hero, because he was a very ordinary man, whose strength lay in doing what he knew he should do. We know of him through his journal/diary, which Jonathan Edwards published posthumously. Brainard would have been Edwards son-in-law had he not died. He was engaged to one of Edwards' daughters, who cared for him in the Edwards' home, during the last days of his illness. So powerful is the testimony of his life, that John Wesley said, "Let every preacher read carefully the life of David Brainard."

Brainard spent four years among the Delaware Indians, mostly along the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania; he literally poured out his life for them, spending days on horseback to reach them, and hours in prayer for them.

"Last year, I longed to be prepared for a world of glory, and speedily to depart out of this world; but of late all my concern, almost, is for the conversion of the heathen; and for that end I long to live."

"Towards night my burden respecting my work among the Indians began to increase much; and was aggravated by hearing sundry things, which looked very discouraging; in particular, that they intended to meet together the next day for an idolatrous feast and dance. I thought that I must in conscience go and endeavor to break them up; yet knew not how to attempt such a thing. However, I withdrew for prayer, hoping for strength from above."

He usually preached to small gatherings of Indians in their villages, visiting these groups over and over, and spending time at each location.

He sought to stir them up to seek salvation in Christ: preaching on sin, forgiveness, Christ's work on the cross, and heaven. When preaching of Mat 25, "Come ye bless of my Father enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," many in that particular crowd cried out with tears, "We want to go there."

Another time, "I insisted on I John 4:10, Herein in love, etc. They seemed eager to hearing; but there appeared nothing very remarkable, except their attention, till near the close of my discourse; and the divine truths were attended with a surprising influence, and produced a great concern among them. There were scarcely three in the forty who could refrain from tears and bitter cries. They all as one seemed in an agony of soul to obtain an interest in Christ; and the more I discoursed of the love and compassion of God in sending His Son to suffer for the sins of men, and the more I invited them to come and partake of his love, the more their distress was aggravated, because they felt themselves unable to come. I was surprised to see how their hearts seemed to be pierced with the tender and melting invitations of the gospel, when there was not a word of terror spoken to them."

How those of us who preach Christ's Gospel, long for God the Spirit to so work through us, and yet here again is the aptness of Brainard as an example: he was an average man - but he was faithful. He spoke the simple Gospel with conviction, and God owned His Word, as He has promised, "My word shall not return void, but shall accomplish the purpose to which I send it." David Brainard's desire was to do what the Lord had told him to do, and that was to bring the Gospel to the Indians.

"I began to find it sweet to pray; and could think of undergoing the greatest sufferings in the cause of Christ, with pleasure; and found myself willing, if God should so order it, to suffer banishment from my native land, to suffer among the heathen, that I might do something for their salvation, in distress and deaths of any kind."

"In the forenoon, I felt the power of intercession for precious, immortal souls; for the advancement of the kingdom on my dear Lord and Savior in the world; and, withal, a most sweet resignation, and even consolation and joy, in the thought of suffering hardships, distress, and even death itself, in the promotion of it; and had peculiar enlargement in pleading for the enlightenment and conversion of the poor heathen."

He sought the Lords will, and did it when told; he sought to be used "where the need was greatest, and the laborers fewest;" he went despite the danger and difficulty; he gave his all, and it did, in fact, cost him his life.

To understand the difficulties attendant with such a work, we need to remember most colonists distrusted the Indians, and the Indians distrusted them. The colonists generally looked down on the Indians, and anyone who sought to befriend them was considered a fool at best, or a "savage lover" at worst. Generally unbelievers did not view favorably Brainard's work, and even within the churches, few cared. Language too was a barrier; Brainard worked to learn it, and made progress, but the learning of an unwritten language takes longer than 4 years. Living conditions were primitive and hard. Travel was on horse, often at night, often sleeping out of doors, in both summer and winter - all with the thought of winning them for Christ.

"Came on my way from Rockciticus to the Delaware. Was very much disordered with a cold and pain in my head. About six at night, I lost my way in the wilderness, and wandered over rocks and mountains, down hideous steeps through swamps, and most dreadful and dangerous places; and the night being dark, so that few stars cold be seen, I was greatly exposed. I was much pinched with cold, and distressed with an extreme pain in my head, attended with sickness at my stomach; so that every step I took was distressing to me. I had little hope for several hours together, but that I must lie out in the woods all night, in this distressing case. But about nine o'clock I found a house, through the abundant goodness of God."

What a contrast to life as we know it.

It is not for melodramatic effect I say, "Consider David Brainard," but with a true desire to stir some of you up to the work of winning the lost to Christ. The point is, it IS work; work to which our God commands us, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."

Jonathan Edwards published his biography of Brainard under the title of, "The Life and Diary of David Brainard." Think of it, so impressed was the great Edwards with Brainard, that he publishes this book about a man who was to be his son-in-law. It is an excellent missionary book (especially for anyone considering missions) and an excellent devotional book to help you wrestle with God. There are several excerpts available, but the full biography is by far the best.

As D.L. Moody said, "The world has not seen what God can do with a man wholly given to him."

28 October 2025