The Life and Diary of David Brainerd [Paperback]

Jonathan Edwards (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2006

This compilation, taken from Jonathan Edwards’s edited versions of David Brainerd’s Diary and Journal, offers a highly readable record of the life and labors of David Brainerd as he presented the gospel to American Indians in the face of many obstacles, both the external challenges of life in what was still the frontier of eighteenth-century America, and internal battles as he persevered through bouts of depression during his short but fruitful life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Brainerd (1718–1747) was an early American missionary to the American Indians in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. Christians all over the world continue to be inspired by his life of self-denial, his sincere and strenuous labor on behalf of others, and his devotion to prayer.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was an American Puritan theologian, preacher and prolific author. When Brainerd died at the age of 29, Jonathan Edwards preached the funeral sermon and published the diary which David had kept.

Product Details

• Paperback: 365 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers; First Edition edition (November 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598560530
• ISBN-13: 978-1598560534
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "There Is Laid Up For Him A Crown Of Righteousness.", December 7, 2000

By 

Daniel A. Learned (Newcomerstown, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Paperback)

Beware! Danger ahead! This man's life and death will change you.

Are you comfortable with your "lot" Christian reader? Content with your religious practice? Satisfied with your progress in things spiritual? Should you be led to feast on the diary of David Brainerd with mind open (to God) and heart sensitive, you won't be. Do you sense that God must be quite pleased with you and all of the efforts you expend for His kingdom? Should you persevere and finish the book, such a sense will be dismantled by God's Spirit!

Buried within the private, personal journals of a young missionary (chronologically speaking - he went home to heaven at age 29) is a depth of spiritual wisdom, fervor for God's kingdom and glory, and love for the Savior, quite unparalleled (if not unrecognizable) in modern Christianity. The mystics would acknowledge in Brainerd what they themselves longed for, a wholesale abandonment to God - His purposes and His will.

Brainerd's growth in grace began with his conversion in 1739. His own words best describe: "My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious divine Being...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...I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely by the righteousness of Christ."

One who has been so entirely apprehended by the Almighty is enabled to see his own soul very clearly; and this Brainerd did. The depth of his own depravity was before his eyes each day of his new life and most certainly played a part in his frequent melancholy. But it was balanced and fueled by the awareness of Christ's perfection and the beauty of His perfect remedy for sin.

The missionary was fixated on the promotion of God's kingdom; among the heathen Indians in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ignorant settlers, and even the clergy, whom he endeavored to instruct, exhort and encourage, even on his deathbed. The hardships and privations he endured in the preaching of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ are quite beyond our ability to imagine. Total self-denial marked him clearly. He faced death at many turns. He was willingly and joyfully spent for his Savior. But, oh what fruit God brought forth! Read and see.

Listen, as he describes for us the essence of true Christianity and its counterfeit, from his journal entry on the Lord's day, May 24, 1746: "Could not but think, as I have often remarked to others, that much more of true religion consists in deep humility, brokenness of heart, and an abasing sense of barrenness and want of grace and holiness, than most who are called Christians imagine; especially those who have been esteemed the converts of the late day. Many seem to know of no other religion but elevated joys and affections, arising only from some flights of imagination, or some suggestion made to their mind, of Christ's being their's, God loving them, and the like." Another entry; June 18,1747, just months before his death in Jonathan Edward's home: "Especially, I discoursed repeatedly on the nature and necessity of that humiliation, self-emptiness, or full conviction of a person's being utterly undone in himself, which is necessary in order to a saving faith; and the extreme difficulty of being brought to this, and the great danger there is of persons taking up with some self-righteous appearance of it...being never effectually brought to die in themselves, are never truly united to Christ, and so perish."

Can we at all identify, dear reader?

Take a journey through the early years of our great land with a courageous servant of God. This is a book to touch the soul, to be re-visited time and again, to be worn out with handling.

But perhaps what makes this journal so compelling, is not the chronicling and inspiration of a remarkable missionary life, so much as the MESSAGE that God anointed. The Church mystical and corporate needs to recover this message today. Delve in and be changed!

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better "Biographies" written, October 16, 2000

By 

Christopher B. Prentiss (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Paperback)

This is not a true biography as the title let's on, although it is almost always filed as a biography in any Christian bookstore. Jonathan Edwards, who knew Brainerd personally writes a short biographical sketch, but the book is largely Brainerd's on writings and journals. The journals were not written to ever be published, and the reader will recognize this right away. Therefore they contain honesty and transparency that a typical biography would never come close to.

Largely a prayer journal, it communicates Brainerd's wrestling with God, his confusion, and his incredible heart for holiness. Your heart will be thrilled as you work through this great work. You will refer back to it years after you read it.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daily insight into the life of a man of prayer., May 28, 1999

By 

Christian and Amanda Merlino - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Paperback)

The life and Diary Of David Brainerd is a convicting testimony of a life of pray. Giving great encouragement and insight to one seeking truth that is only revealed to the humble in heart. In these writing we have a glimpse of the inner chamber of a mans heart, the most secret place of a holy man. Brainerd's diary gives great hope and encouragement to the necessity of prayer. In this diary you see the life of prayer affecting the man and the ones prayed for. You see how the glory of god is places above one's self and their desires. How powerful is the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon the heathen, breaking down all bearers, because of the prayers of David Brainerd. I highly recommend this book for those seeking truth, truth beyond intellect and reasoning, truth revealed to the heart.

I first heard of David Brainerd while reading 'E. M. Bounds, Man Of Prayer'. The Diary Of David Brainerd was one of the books read often by Bounds. I recommend reading 'The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds on Prayer.