***The article was taken and adapted from David Brainerd: A Constant Stream by David B. Calhoun, Ph.D.
Brainerd’s influence grew remarkably within the
transatlantic evangelical community through The Life of David Brainerd,
Edwards’s most frequently reprinted and widely read book. It was the first
American biography to reach a large European audience. It became the
best-selling religious book in nineteenth-century America (with more than
thirty different editions) and remains in print to the present day.
John Wesley prepared an abridged version of Edwards’s book
and recommended it with the words:
“Let every preacher read carefully over The Life of David Brainerd. Let us be followers of him, as he was of Christ, in absolute self-devotion, in total deadness to the world, and in fervent love to God and man.”
In 1769 John Newton wrote:
“Next to the Word of God, I like those books best which give an account of the lives and experiences of His people… No book of this kind has been more welcome to me than the life of Mr. Brainerd of New England.”
Brainerd’s missionary career spanned less than five years,
but Edwards’s Life of David Brainerd revealed a missionary hero whose impact
was astounding. The little book made a significant contribution to the new era
of missions that sent British and American Christians to many parts of the
world.
As William Carey prepared to go to India, Brainerd’s Life
was “almost a second Bible.” When Carey, Ward, and Marshman signed the historic
agreement that laid down the principles of their missionary work at Serampore,
they agreed to “often look at Brainerd in the woods of America, pouring out his
very soul before God for the perishing heathen without whose salvation nothing
could make him happy.”
Robert Murray McCheyne was deeply moved when he first read
Brainerd’s Life in 1832. He remarked that as a result of Brainerd’s example he
was “more set upon missionary enterprise than ever.” A few years later McCheyne
wrote in a letter: “O to have Brainerd’s heart for perfect holiness.”
In the preface to an 1851 reprint of The Life of David
Brainerd, Horatius Bonar warned against taking Brainerd’s life as a perfect
life and points out some few defects, but goes on to hold up his life as a
protest “against the easy-minded religion of our day.” If Brainerd’s life,
Bonar stated, is used to quicken our consciences and urge us forward in the
“same path of high attainment,” we will find it “an unspeakable blessing.” The
example of Brainerd’s “life of marvelous nearness to… God, which he lived
during his brief day on earth,” continues to inspire Christians, Bonar wrote.
“His life was not a great life, as men use the word,” Bonar concluded, but it
was “a life of one plan, expending itself in the fulfillment of one great aim,
and in the doing of one great deed—serving God.”
Two hundred and fifty years after Brainerd’s death, The Life
of David Brainerd still challenges and inspires readers.
Oswald J. Smith, founding pastor of the People’s Church in
Toronto, paid tribute to Brainerd with these words:
So greatly was I influenced by the life of David Brainerd in the early years of my ministry that I named my youngest son after him. When I was but eighteen years of age, I found myself 3,000 miles from home, a missionary to the Indians. No wonder I love Brainerd! Brainerd it was who taught me to fast and pray. I learned that greater things could be wrought by daily contact with God than by preaching. When I feel myself growing cold I turn to Brainerd and he always warms my heart. No man ever had a greater passion for souls. To live wholly for God was his one great aim and ambition.3
A few years ago, John Piper wrote:
I thank God for the ministry of David Brainerd in my own life—the passion for prayer, the spiritual feast of fasting, the sweetness of the Word of God, the unremitting perseverance through hardship, the relentless focus on the glory of God, the utter dependence on grace, the final resting in the righteousness of Christ, the pursuit of perishing sinners, the holiness while suffering, the fixing the mind on what is eternal, and finishing well without cursing the disease that cut him down at twenty-nine.
The “constant stream” still flows.
To read the whole article, click on the link below.
So extraordinarily was I impacted by the life of David Brainerd in the early years of my service that I named my most youthful child after him. When I was however eighteen years old, I got myself 3,000 miles from home, a preacher to the Indians. No big surprise I cherish Brainerd! Brainerd it was who taught me to quick and implore. I discovered that more noteworthy things could be fashioned by day by day contact with God than by lecturing. When I feel myself developing frosty I swing to Brainerd and he generally warms my heart. No man ever had a more noteworthy energy for souls. To live entirely for God was his one awesome point and aspiration
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