Dear Brother,
*I AM now just on the verge of eternity, expecting very speedily to appear in the unseen world. I feel myself no more an inhabitant on earth, and sometimes earnestly long to “depart and be with Christ.” I bless God, he has for some years given me an abiding conviction, that it is impossible for any rational creature to enjoy true happiness without being entirely “devoted to him.” Under the influence of this conviction I have in some measure acted: Oh that I had done more so! I saw both the excellency and necessity of holiness; but never in such a manner as now, when I am just brought to the sides of the grave. Oh, my brother, pursue after holiness: press towards the blessed mark; and let your thirsty soul continually say, “I shall never be sanctified till I awake in thy likeness.”
And now, my dear brother, as I must press you to pursue after personal holiness, to be as much in fasting and prayer as your health will allow, and to live above the rate of common Christians: so I must intreat you to attend to your public work; labour to distinguish between true and false religion; and to that end, watch the motions of God’s Spirit upon your own heart; look to him for help, and impartially compare your experiences with his word.
Charge my people in the name of their dying minister, yea, in the name of him who was dead and is alive, to live and walk as becomes the gospel. Tell them, how great the expectations of God and his people are from them, and how awfully they will wound God’s cause, if they fall into vice: as well as fatally prejudice other poor Indians. *Always insist, that their joys are delusive, although they may have been rapt up into the third heavens, unless the main tenor of their lives be spiritual, watchful and holy. In pressing these things, “thou shalt both save thyself, and those that hear thee.”—
God knows, I was heartily willing to have served him longer in the work of the ministry, although it had still been attended with all the labours and hardships of past years, if he had seen fit: but as his will appears otherwise, I can with the utmost freedom say, “The will of the Lord be done.” It affects me, to think of leaving you in a world of sin: my heart pities you, that those storms and tempests are yet before you, which through grace I am almost delivered from. But “God lives, and blessed be my rock:” he is the same Almighty friend; and will, I trust, be your guide and helper, as he has been mine.
And now, my dear brother, “I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” May you enjoy the divine presence, both in private and public; and may “the arms of your hands be made strong, by the right hand of the mighty God of Jacob!” Which are the passionate desires and prayers of
Your affectionate dying brother,
David Brainerd.
SOME
Reflections and Observations
ON THE
Preceding Memoirs of Mr. BRAINERD.