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Find some books!By Peter Barnes
I first read Jonathan Edwards’ edition of David Brainerd’s Diary and Journal while in Vanuatu in the early 1980s. Its impact was not unlike being hit with a hammer. After a relatively short ministry of missionary work amongst the North American Indians, Brainerd died in much pain and physical anguish in 1747 in the home of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards went on to publish his biography in the form of his diary and his journal. George Marsden commented that it was like Edwards’ Religious Affections, only in the form of a spiritual biography. The impact was immediate, and it was to encourage the likes of William Carey, Henry Martyn, Philip Doddridge, and even Samuel Marsden.
Was there ever a soul so earnest and self-renouncing? He has been accused of having an over-developed sense of sin, and there is probably some truth in that, but this is strong meat indeed. In places it is very raw, and there are competing tugs on the heart strings of the reader. As he was dying, he saw a young woman, presumably Jerusha Edwards (Jonathan’s daughter), come into the room with a Bible in her hand. Brainerd cried out: ‘O that dear book! that lovely book! I shall soon see it opened! the mysteries that are in it, and the mysteries of God’s providence, will be all unfolded!’
We are transported to read into the soul of a man who lived in another world. It must surely stimulate us to holiness, prayer, and concern for the spread of the gospel
Originally published in the AP magazine: https://ap.org.au/2024/04/05/book-review-david-brainerd/