Life and Diary of David Brainerd

Life and Diary of David Brainerd
Author: David Brainerd
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2017-10-28
Genre:
ISBN: 9781979222099

This landmark biography concerns David Brainerd, one of the most successful missionaries to live in the colonial era of North America. Although he lived a short life, perishing at the age of twenty-nine, David Brainerd distinguished himself as a missionary of supreme talent and capacity. Working in the barely charted wildernesses of North America in the early 18th century, his missions aimed to convert the Native American population to the Christian creed. Many converted, partly as Brainerd was capable of preaching sermons in the open air across the untrammeled countryside. After his missions lasted a little over three years, David was already famous for his successes. Overcoming fears of the Native Americans, he established whole communities of converts, and received several offers of work in large, existing churches in the safer, colonial towns. In rejecting these, he expresses his desire to keep converting the multitude of heathens naive to the greatness of God. A sensitive soul, David Brainerd suffered from a form of intermittent but severe depression, which was compounded by his lack of company in the wilderness. At times he was malnourished, and his mental and physical condition would become so poor that he was immobile. Eventually illness forced him to give up his ministry; retiring home, he was informed by a doctor that he had tuberculosis, and died in pain only a few months later. Brainerd's brief life, beset with struggles, was considered inspirational by many Christians. This biography, by Jonathan Edwards, is adapted from the journal that Brainerd kept throughout his life.

The Life of David Brainerd; Missionary to the Indians; with an Abridgment of His Diary and Journal. from President Edwards

The Life of David Brainerd; Missionary to the Indians; with an Abridgment of His Diary and Journal. from President Edwards
Author: John Styles
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2013-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9781230212388

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1812 edition. Excerpt: ... ment itself new motives for unwearied and increased exertions. The Savior well knew the difficulties which the apostle Peter must encounter in fulfilling his apostolic mission; and before he sent him forth, he asked, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" And unless Brainerd could have answered this question aright, he would soon have abandoned a station, and an employment, which promised him nothing but poverty, hardships, and an untimely grave. But the love of Christ constrained him; and notwithstanding he had, for two years, almost labored in vain, compassion for perishing souls, a portion of that divine affection which led Jesus Christ to the accursed tree, and which would not suffer him " to come down from the cross, made him resolve though standing on the shore of a sea of dangers, "To go forward." CHAP. VII. Mr. Brainerd's reception at Crosweeksung. His preaching. His journies. His amazing success. An abridgment of his journal, and ei* tracts from his private diary. His illness, and return from his last journey to Susquahannah. IN the book of human life DEGREES there are generally a few bright pages; and it is now the pleasing task of the biographer of Brainerd, to record events the most delightful and satisfactory. Hitherto, we have seen him the pious missionary, going forth weeping, bearing precious seed. But now, the smile of joy lightens up his countenance, the days of his mourning are ended, and his reception and success t Crosweeksung, abundantly prove, that the conversion of untutored, uncivilized men to Christianity, by the simple means of preaching, is not an impossible, nor a wild and imaginary thing. The Gospel, among bond and free, the civilized and barbarous, when accompanied with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, ...

The Life of David Brainerd

The Life of David Brainerd
Author: John Styles
Publisher: Legare Street Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-07-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781019395820

This biography tells the story of David Brainerd, a missionary who devoted his life to working with Native American tribes. With insights from his journal and diary, this book provides a detailed look at Brainerd's life, the challenges he faced, and the impact he had on the communities he worked with. Written by John Styles, with an abridgment of Brainerd's diary and journal by Jonathan Edwards, this book is an important historical document and an inspiring read. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Peoples of the River Valleys

Peoples of the River Valleys
Author: Amy C. Schutt
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812203798

Seventeenth-century Indians from the Delaware and lower Hudson valleys organized their lives around small-scale groupings of kin and communities. Living through epidemics, warfare, economic change, and physical dispossession, survivors from these peoples came together in new locations, especially the eighteenth-century Susquehanna and Ohio River valleys. In the process, they did not abandon kin and community orientations, but they increasingly defined a role for themselves as Delaware Indians in early American society. Peoples of the River Valleys offers a fresh interpretation of the history of the Delaware, or Lenape, Indians in the context of events in the mid-Atlantic region and the Ohio Valley. It focuses on a broad and significant period: 1609-1783, including the years of Dutch, Swedish, and English colonization and the American Revolution. An epilogue takes the Delawares' story into the mid-nineteenth century. Amy C. Schutt examines important themes in Native American history—mediation and alliance formation—and shows their crucial role in the development of the Delawares as a people. She goes beyond familiar questions about Indian-European relations and examines how Indian-Indian associations were a major factor in the history of the Delawares. Drawing extensively upon primary sources, including treaty minutes, deeds, and Moravian mission records, Schutt reveals that Delawares approached alliances as a tool for survival at a time when Euro-Americans were encroaching on Native lands. As relations with colonists were frequently troubled, Delawares often turned instead to form alliances with other Delawares and non-Delaware Indians with whom they shared territories and resources. In vivid detail, Peoples of the River Valleys shows the link between the Delawares' approaches to land and the relationships they constructed on the land.

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd
Author: David Brainerd
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-04-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

David Brainerd (1718-1747) was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey. During his short life he was beset by many difficulties. As a result, his biography has become a source of inspiration and encouragement to many Christians, including missionaries such as William Carey and Jim Elliot, and Brainerd's cousin, the Second Great Awakening evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829). Much of Brainerd's influence on future generations can be attributed to the biography compiled by Jonathan Edwards and first published in 1749 under the title of An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd. Edwards believed that a biography about Brainerd would have great value and set aside the anti-Arminian treatise he was writing (later published as Freedom of the Will) in order to create one. The result was an edited version of Brainerd's diary, with some passages documenting Brainerd's despair removed. It gained immediate recognition, with eighteenth-century theologian John Wesley urging: 'Let every preacher read carefully over the Life of David Brainerd. The most reprinted of Edwards's books, it has never been out of print and has thus influenced subsequent generations, mainly because of Brainerd's single-minded perseverance in his work in the face of significant suffering. Clyde Kilby summarised Brainerd's influence as being based on the fact that, 'in our timidity and our shoddy opportunism we are always stirred when a man appears on the horizon willing to stake his all on a conviction'. From the eighteenth century, missionaries also found inspiration and encouragement from the biography. Gideon Hawley wrote in the midst of struggles: 'I need, greatly need, something more than humane [human or natural] to support me. I read my Bible and Mr. Brainerd's Life, the only books I brought with me, and from them have a little support'. Other missionaries who have asserted the influence of Jonathan Edwards's biography of Brainerd on their lives include Henry Martyn and Adoniram Judson.