David Brainerd
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. 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
Jim Elliot
Philip James Elliot was an evangelical Christian who was one of five missionaries killed while participating in Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Waodani people of Ecuador.-Early life:...
, and Brainerd's cousin, the Second Great Awakening evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801–1829).
Early life
Haddam, Connecticut
Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,157 at the 2000 census. The town was also home to the now decommissioned Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Reactor.-Geography:...
, the son of Hezekiah, a Connecticut legislator, and Dorothy. He had nine siblings, one of whom was Dorothy's from a previous marriage. He was orphaned at the age of fourteen, as his father died in 1727 at the age of forty-six and his mother died five years later.
After his mother's death, Brainerd moved to East Haddam to live with one of his older sisters, Jerusha. At the age of nineteen, he inherited a farm near Durham
Durham, Connecticut
Durham is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Durham is a former farming village on the Coginchaug River in central Connecticut. The population was 6,627 at the 2000 census. Every autumn, the town hosts the Durham Fair, the largest volunteer agricultural fair in New...
, but did not enjoy the experience of farming and so returned to East Haddam a year later to prepare to enter Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. On 12 July 1739, he recorded having an experience of 'unspeakable glory' that prompted in him a 'hearty desire to exalt [God], to set him on the throne and to "seek first his Kingdom"'. This has been interpreted by evangelical scholars as a conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
experience.
Preparing for ministry
Two months later, he enrolled at YaleYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. In his second year at Yale, he was sent home because he was suffering from a serious illness that caused him to spit blood. It is now believed that he was suffering from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, the disease which would lead to his death seven years later. When he returned in November 1740, tensions were beginning to emerge at Yale between the faculty staff and the students as the staff considered the spiritual enthusiasm of the students, which had been prompted by visiting preachers such as George Whitefield
George Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
, Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent was a religious leader. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America, along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield...
, Ebenezer Pemberton and James Davenport
James Davenport (clergyman)
James Davenport was an American clergyman and itinerant preacher noted for his often controversial actions during the First Great Awakening.Davenport was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to an old Puritan family...
, to be excessive. This led to the college trustees passing a decree in 1741 that 'if any student of this College shall directly or indirectly say, that the Rector, either of the Trustees or tutors are hypocrites, carnal or unconverted men, he shall for the first offense make a public confession in the hall, and for the second offense be expelled'. On the afternoon of the same day, the faculty had invited Jonathan Edwards to preach the commencement address, hoping that he would support their position, but instead he sided with the students. In the next term, Brainerd was expelled
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...
because he commented that one of his tutors, Chauncey Whittelsey, 'has no more grace than a chair' and that he wondered why the Rector 'did not drop down dead' for fining students perceived as over-zealous. He later apologized for these comments.
This episode grieved Brainerd, especially as a recent law forbade the appointment of ministers in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
unless they had graduated from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Yale or a European institution, meaning that he had to reconsider his plans. In 1742, Brainerd was licensed to preach by a group of evangelicals known as 'New Lights'. As a result, he gained the attention of Jonathan Dickinson
Jonathan Dickinson
Jonathan Dickinson was a Quaker merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica who was shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida in 1696, along with his family and the other passengers and crew members of the ship....
, the leading Presbyterian in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, who unsuccessfully attempted to reinstate Brainerd at Yale. Instead, it was therefore suggested that Brainerd devote himself to missionary work among the Native Americans, supported by the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. He was approved for this missionary work on 25 November 1742.
Entering mission
On 1 April 1743, after a brief period serving a church on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Brainerd began working as a missionary to Native Americans, which he would continue until late 1746 when worsening illness prevented him from working. This illness, generally considered to be tuberculosis, had begun to affect him at Yale, but worsened when he entered the mission field. In his final years, he also suffered from a form of depression that was sometimes immobilising and which, on at least twenty-two occasions, led him to wish for death. He was also affected by difficulties faced by other missionaries of the period, such as loneliness and lack of food.
His first missionary task was working at Kaunameek, a Housatonic Indian settlement near present day Nassau, New York, twenty or thirty miles from missionary John Sergeant who was working in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Brainerd remained there for one year. During this period he started a school for Native American children and began a translation of the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
.
Subsequently, he was reassigned to work among the Delaware Indians
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
along the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
northeast of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
, where he remained for another year, during which he was ordained by the Newark Presbytery. After this, he moved to Crossweeksung in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, where he had his most fruitful ministry. Within a year, the Indian church at Crossweeksung had 130 members, who moved in 1746 to Cranbury where they established a Christian community.
In these years, he refused several offers of leaving the mission field to become a church minister, including one from the church at East Hampton on Long Island. He remained determined, however, to continue the work among Native Americans despite the difficulties, writing in his diary:
'[I] could have no freedom in the thought of any other circumstances or business in life: All my desire was the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God: God does not suffer me to please or comfort myself with hopes of seeing friends, returning to my dear acquaintance, and enjoying worldly comforts'.
Death
In November 1746, he became too ill to continue ministering, and so moved to Jonathan Dickinson's house in ElizabethtownElizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
. After a few months of rest, he travelled to Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
, where he stayed at the house of Jonathan Edwards. Apart from a trip to Boston in the summer of that year, he remained at Edwards's house until his death the following year. In May 1747, he was diagnosed with incurable consumption; in these final months, he suffered greatly. In his diary entry for 24 September, Brainerd wrote:
'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'.
During this time, he was nursed by Jerusha Edwards, Jonathan's seventeen-year-old daughter. The friendship that grew between them was of a kind that has led some to suggest they were romantically attached. He died from tuberculosis on 9 October 1747, at the age of 29. He is buried at Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, next to Jerusha, who died in February 1748 as a result of contracting tuberculosis from nursing Brainerd. His gravestone reads:
Sacred to the memory of the Rev. David Brainerd. A faithful and laborious missionary to the Stockbridge, Delaware and Sasquehanna TRIBES OF INDIANS WHO died in this town. October 10, 1747 AE 32.
Impact on the church and mission
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
The Life of David Brainerd
The Life of David Brainerd, also called The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, is a biography of David Brainerd by evangelical theologian Jonathan Edwards, first published in 1749 under the title "An Account of the Life of the Late Rev. 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
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
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
Gideon Hawley
Gideon Hawley was a missionary to the Iroquois Indians in Massachusetts and on the Susquehanna River in New York.-Biography:He was born in the Stratfield section of Stratford, now Bridgeport, Connecticut, in New England on November 5, 1727. The son of Gideon Hawley and Hannah Bennett who was the...
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
Henry Martyn
Henry Martyn was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance encounter with Charles Simeon led him to become a missionary...
, William Carey, Jim Elliot
Jim Elliot
Philip James Elliot was an evangelical Christian who was one of five missionaries killed while participating in Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Waodani people of Ecuador.-Early life:...
. and Adoniram Judson
Adoniram Judson
Adoniram Judson, Jr. was an American Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Adoniram Judson became the first Protestant missionary sent from North America to preach in Burma...
.
A new edition, with the Journal and Brainerd's letters embodied, was published by Sereno E. Dwight
Sereno Edwards Dwight
Sereno Edwards Dwight was an American author, educator, and Congregationalist minister, who served as Chaplain of the Senate.- Early years:...
at New Haven in 1822; and in 1884 was published what is substantially another edition, The Memoirs of David Brainerd, edited by James M Sherwood. Brainerd's writings contain substantial meditation on the nature of the illness that eventually led to his death and its relation to his ties with God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
David Belden Lyman
David Belden Lyman
David Belden Lyman was an early American missionary to Hawaii who opened a boarding school for Hawaiians. His wife Sarah Joiner Lyman taught at the boarding school and kept an important journal. They had several notable descendants.-Family life:David Belden Lyman was born in on July 28, 1803 in...
(1803–1868), missionary to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, was one of many in nineteenth-century America that named their son after David Brainerd (David Brainerd Lyman, 1833–36, and another David Brainerd Lyman, 1840–1914).
Impact on higher education
Brainerd's life also played a role in the establishment of Princeton College and Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. The 'College of New Jersey' (later Princeton) was founded due to the dissatisfaction of the New York and New Jersey Presbyterian Synods with Yale; their expulsion of Brainerd and subsequent refusal to readmit them was an important factor in driving individuals such as Jonathan Dickinson and Aaron Burr to act on this dissatisfaction. Indeed, classes began in Dickinson's house in May 1747, while Brainerd was recovering there. Dartmouth College originated from a school founded by Eleazar Wheelock for Native Americans and colonists in 1748, and Wheelock had been inspired by Brainerd's example of Native American education.
Despite Brainerd's expulsion from Yale, the University later named a building after him (Brainerd Hall at Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...
), the only building on the campus to be named after a student who was expelled. David Brainerd Christian School
David Brainerd Christian School
David Brainerd Christian School was a Christian school located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school was named for the missionary named David Brainerd. DBCS was established to meet the needs of students of Brainerd Baptist School, a Chattanooga elementary school...
was also named after him.
See also
- Moses Tunda TatamyMoses Tunda TatamyMoses Tunda Tatamy or Tashawaylennahan was a Lenape translator and guide.He was born around 1690 in New Jersey and was a translator and guide for the early settlers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the early 18th century...
(ca. 1690–1760), the first Native American baptized by Brainerd.
- Brainerd MissionBrainerd MissionThe Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1817 and named after David Brainerd. It ended with the Cherokee removal in 1838....
to the CherokeeCherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
Indians (1817–1838)
- David Brainerd Christian SchoolDavid Brainerd Christian SchoolDavid Brainerd Christian School was a Christian school located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school was named for the missionary named David Brainerd. DBCS was established to meet the needs of students of Brainerd Baptist School, a Chattanooga elementary school...
(2002–June 9, 2009), former middle and high school in Chattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
.
- James Brainerd Taylor (1801–1829), maternal cousin of Brainerd; born Middle Haddam, Connecticut; buried in Hampden-Sydney CollegeHampden-Sydney CollegeHampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...
Church cemetery, Virginia; obeliskObeliskAn obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
in Union Hill Cemetery, Middle Haddam, Connecticut, and Princeton CemeteryPrinceton CemeteryPrinceton Cemetery is located in Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. It is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church. John F. Hageman in his 1878 history of Princeton, New Jersey refers to the cemetery as: "The Westminster Abbey of the United States."...
of Nassau Presbyterian ChurchNassau Presbyterian ChurchThe Nassau Presbyterian Church is located at 61 Nassau Street in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The church operates the Princeton Cemetery. The current pastor is The Reverend Dr. David A. Davis.-First church:...
, Princeton, New JerseyPrinceton, New JerseyPrinceton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
; Lawrenceville SchoolLawrenceville SchoolThe Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....
(N.J), Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and Yale Divinity SchoolYale Divinity SchoolYale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...
-educated Second Great AwakeningSecond Great AwakeningThe Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be...
evangelist; primary founder of Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
's Philadelphian Society of Nassau HallNassau HallNassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton University in the borough of Princeton, New Jersey . At the time it was built in 1754, Nassau Hall was the largest building in colonial New Jersey. Designed originally by Robert Smith, the building was subsequently remodeled by notable American...
(1825–1930, now called Princeton Evangelical Fellowship); one of some 20,000 Americans listed in Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography (6 vol., 1887–89). See John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice, Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (American Tract SocietyAmerican Tract SocietyThe American Tract Society is a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization founded on May 11, 1825 in New York City for the purpose of publishing and disseminating Christian literature. ATS traces its lineage back through the New York Tract Society and the New England Tract Society to...
, 1833, online edition) and Fitch W. Taylor, A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (John S. Taylor [no relation], 1838, online edition). And I. Francis Kyle III, An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of AmericaUniversity Press of AmericaUniversity Press of America is an academic book publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, it was founded in 1975 and boasts of having published "more than 10,000 academic, scholarly, and biographical titles in many disciplines"...
, 2008, Foreword by John F. Thornbury, contains the appendix "David Brainerd and James Brainerd Taylor: A Comparative Chart"), Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of AmericaUniversity Press of AmericaUniversity Press of America is an academic book publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, it was founded in 1975 and boasts of having published "more than 10,000 academic, scholarly, and biographical titles in many disciplines"...
, 2008, Foreword by James M HoustonJames M HoustonJames Houston is Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Houston emigrated to North America in 1969, and became one of the founders of Regent College, a leading institution of Christian theology and spirituality. From 1970 - 1978,...
, Epilogue by Peter Adam), God's Co-worker: 21st-century Evangelism with Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (forthcoming, published doctoral dissertation), Uncommon Christian Devotional: Living the Uncommon Christian Life with James Brainerd Taylor (forthcoming) and Uncommon Christian Ministries' online biographical sketch and timeline on Taylor (http://www.UncommonChristian.com or http://www.JamesBrainerdTaylor.com ).