Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd

A sermon preached in Back Free Church on 2 Corinthians 5:8: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

I am taking this text tonight in connection with our continued studies in the work and the thought of Jonathan Edwards. The words of our text were the basis for a sermon preached by Edwards at the funeral of David Brainerd, the missionary, with whom Edwards had an important and interesting connection. The funeral sermon is important as a piece of mature reflection on the life of Brainerd, and serves as a fitting introduction to the man whose biography Edwards would write. So I wish to reflect this evening on the friendship between Edwards and Brainerd, in the light of the historical connection between the two men, as well as the information we have in the sermon and the biography.

The funeral sermon is yet another example of Edwards' skill in mastering, explaining and applying the biblical text. He sets it in context, and says that he wishes simply to insist on the observation which is plainly set before us in the words of 2 Cor 5:8 -- that "the souls of true saints, when they leave their bodies at death, go to be with Christ".

Edwards asks: what does this mean? In what sense do Christians go to be with Christ when they die? He suggests the following:

First, "they go to dwell in the same blessed abode with the glorified human nature of Christ" (2:27). "There is a place," Edwards says, "to which Christ is gone" (2:27), and this is where the inheritance of the saints of God is. Edwards cites several biblical examples to highlight this point.

Second, he says that "the souls of true saints, when they leave their bodies at death, go to be with Christ, to dwell in the immediate, full and constant view of him" (2:28). Here, while we are in the body, Christ is in some respects 'out of our view', but in Heaven the saints behold his glory: "they see everything that tends to kindle, enflame and gratify love, and everything that tends to satisfy them: and that in the most clear and glorious manner, without any impediment or interruption" (2:28). Edwards compares our vision of the Saviour here to the sunrise at dawn, in which light is mingled with darkness, but to be separated from the body is to see the sun "showing his whole disk above the horizon" (2:28).

Third, "the souls of true saints, when absent from the body, go to be with Jesus Christ, as they are brought into a most perfect conformity to, and union with him" (2:28). This is the fulfilling and perfecting of the work which was begun here below.

Fourth, "departed souls of saints are with Christ as they enjoy a glorious and immediate intercourse and converse with him" (2:28). All that interrupted their fellowship here will be done away with, and they will go to their marriage with him; here they are in a state of betrothal, prepared for the day of the marriage to the King. They will see him as he is, and express their love to him as they never could while they were in the body. "Thus," he says, "they shall eat and drink abundantly, and swim in the ocean of love, and be eternally swallowed up on the infinitely bright, and infinitely mild and sweet, beams of divine love; eternally receiving that light, eternally full of it, and eternally compassed round with it, and everlastingly reflecting it back again to its fountain" (2:29).

Fifth, "the souls of the saints, when they leave their bodies at death, go to be with Christ, as they are received to a glorious fellowship with Christ in his blessedness" (2:29). Edwards explores the implications of this: the saints have fellowship with Christ in the enjoyment of his Father, in 'the glory of that dominion to which the Father hath exalted him' (2:30), in 'his blessed and eternal employment of glorifying the Father' (2:31).

That is the doctrine of the text: that for the believer, death does not mean the end; it merely means relocation; it does not mean that I cease to exist, but it does mean that my place in one location is empty, while I am taken elsewhere. In that relocation there is an immediate sense of being face to face with Jesus.

So when Edwards comes to the application of this sermon, he says:

Let us all be exhorted hence earnestly to seek after that great privilege, that when "we are absent from the body, we may be present with the Lord." We cannot continue always in these earthly tabernacles; ? they are very frail, and will soon decay and fall, and are continually liable to be overthrown by innumerable means. Our souls must soon leave them, and go into the eternal world. ? O, how infinitely great will the privilege and happiness of such be, who at that time shall go to be with Christ in his glory, in the manner that has been represented! (2:32)

For the remainder of the sermon, Edwards spoke of David Brainerd. This is how he puts it:

But here, as a special enforcement of this exhortation, I would improve that dispensation of God's holy providence, which is the sorrowful occasion of our coming together at this time, viz. the death of that eminent servant of Jesus Christ, in the work of the gospel-ministry, whose funeral is this day to be attended; together with what was observable in him, living and dying. (2:32)

For Edwards, Providence was a call from God; and the circumstance of Brainerd's funeral was a 'dispensation' of providence which required 'improvement'. That is a fundamental Puritan concept. We are to use our Providences and privileges as occasions for improvement, by which Edwards meant a deepening of our relationship with God, and a closer walk with him. And in the funeral sermon, Edwards had no difficulty in reminding those present of what they could observe in Brainerd, which exhorted them all to seek for the great privilege of being at last with the Lord when we are absent from the body.

So Edwards speaks of Brainerd's considerable learning, his knowledge of men, his pulpit gifts, his 'sociable disposition', his grasp of 'experimental religion', his experience of the Holy Spirit, his devotion to Christ, and so on. He also highlighted some of Brainerd's failings; for a while, Edwards says, he was deceived by false religion, and was susceptible to sorrow and depression. But, says Edwards, he is "now wearing a crown of glory, of distinguished brightness" (2:35).

So who was David Brainerd, of whom Edwards gave such eloquent testimony and commended as an example of living and dying well? Brainerd was born on 20 April 1718 in Haddam, Connecticut, the sixth child in a family of ten children. He lost his parents during his formative years, and lived with one of his sisters and her husband. He tried a career in farming, but his heart was not in it, and decided instead that he would enter Yale to study for the ministry.

At this point in his life (in his late teens), Brainerd was religious, but was not saved. He had many difficulties with working out the meaning and the terms of salvation. Among the intellectual difficulties he had, Brainerd cites the following:

3. Another thing was that I could not find out what faith was; or what it was to believe and come to Christ. I read the calls of Christ to the weary and heavy laden; but could find no way that He directed them to come in. I thought I would gladly come if I knew how, though the path of duty were never so difficult. I read Mr. Stoddard's Guide to Christ (which I trust was, in the hand of God, the happy means of my conversion), and my heart rose against the author; for though he told me my very heart all along under convictions, and seemed to be very beneficial to me in his directions; yet here he failed, he did not tell me anything I could do that would bring me to Christ, but left me as it were with a great gulf between, without any direction to get through. For I was not yet effectually and experimentally taught that there could be no way prescribed whereby a natural man could, of his own strength, obtain that which is supernatural and which the highest angel cannot give. (2:318)

This was a soul struggling to find the Lord, but not knowing how. At last, he says, on a Sabbath evening in July 12 1739,

as I was walking in a dark thick grove, unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. I do not mean any external brightness, for I saw no such thing. Nor do I intend any imagination of a body of light somewhere in the third heavens, or anything of that nature; but it was a new inward apprehension or view that I had of God, such as I never had before, nor anything which had the least resemblance of it.

I stood still, wondered, and admired! I knew that I never had seen before anything comparable to it for excellency and beauty; it was widely different from all the conceptions that ever I had of God, or things divine. I had no particular apprehension of any one Person in the Trinity, either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost; but it appeared to be divine glory. My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious Divine Being; and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that He should be God over all for ever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfection's of God, that I was even swallowed up in Him. At least to that degree that I had no thought (as I remember) at first, about my own salvation, and scarce reflected there was such a creature as I.

Thus God, I trust, brought me to a hearty disposition to exalt Him and set Him on the throne, and principally and ultimately to aim at His honor and glory, as King of the universe (2:319).

And, at last, that is what it means to be a Christian: to set Christ upon his throne and exalt him as King. To be able to do that is to have found Christ, or, rather, to have been found by him, for the natural man will not, and cannot, bow before the throne of Christ in humble submission.

Brainerd entered Yale in 1739, but was absent from January to November 1740 because of illness. When he returned in November, many of the College students had been affected by the first wave of the Great Awakening, and this led to a division between many of the god-fearing students, and the staff, who were less spiritually alert. A throwaway comment that one of his College professors had no more grace than the chair he sat on was probably right, but resulted in Brainerd's expulsion from the College in 1742. This was followed by a spiritual struggle, in which Brainerd had to assess his calling and his life's work. Expecting to devote himself to ministry, he could not apply for license since he had not graduated from one of the recognised Colleges.

A group of ministers sympathetic to Brainerd licensed him as a minister, and tried to get him reinstated in Yale. This did not work, however, and for several months he wondered how he would be able to serve the Lord. He writes in his journal for 19 November 1742:

Received a letter from the Reverend Mr. Pemberton of New York desiring me speedily to go down thither and consult about the Indian affairs in those parts; and to meet certain gentlemen there who were intrusted with those affairs. My mind was instantly seized with concern so I retired with two or three Christian friends and prayed. Indeed it was a sweet time with me. I was enabled to leave myself and all my concerns with God; and taking leave of friends, I rode to Ripton and was comforted in an opportunity to see and converse with dear Mr. Mills (2.329).

The gentlemen referred to were the correspondents or commissioners in the United States of the Society in Scotland for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), who appointed Brainerd their missionary to the Indians in 1743. Brainerd applied himself to that work with diligence and enthusiasm, serving in different locations, beginning a school for the Indian children, and translating some of the Scriptures into their native dialect. For a period of about two years he seemed to have little fruit for his labours. During that time he declined a call to be pastor of a congregation in New England, preferring to bring the gospel to those who had not heard it before. But in 1745, in a place and among a people largely forgotten by men, God did a wonderful work. Brainerd saw some remarkable spiritual awakenings among the Indians. He writes, for example, in his journal for the winter of 1745 that

It was a remarkable season of power among them, and seemed as if God had 'bowed the heavens and come down'. So astonishingly prevalent was the operation upon old as well as young that it seemed as if none would be left in a secure and natural state, but that God was now about to convert all the world. And I was ready to think then, that I should never again despair of the conversion of any man or woman living, be they who or what they would (2.404).

The ministry among the Indians was carried out through preaching and catechising, and was remarkably blessed by the Spirit of God. He concludes his journal in June 1746 by saying:

This day makes up a complete year from the first time of my preaching to these Indians in New Jersey. What amazing things has God wrought in this space of time for these poor people! What a surprising change appears in their tempers and behavior! How are morose and savage pagans in this short space of time transformed into agreeable, affectionate, and humble Christians, and their drunken and pagan howlings turned into devout and fervent prayers and praises to God! They "who were sometimes darkness are now become light in the Lord." May they walk as children of the light and of the day. And now to Him that is of power to stablish them according to the gospel, and the preaching of Christ-to God only wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen (2:415)

In November 1746 his sickness again forced him to recuperate, and he spent the winter with Jonathan Dickinson, one of the ministers who took a deep interest in him following his expulsion from Yale. He was able to visit the Indians once more in Spring 1747, but his ill-health meant that he had to forego any further ministry. It was in May 1747 that he came to the home of Jonathan Edwards.

Apart from a brief meeting at Yale in 1743, there had not been much communication between the two men. Almost immediately, however, a deep friendship was established. For a short spell in the Summer of 1747, Brainerd left Edwards' home in Northampton to spend some time in Boston, having been examined by Edwards' doctor. All were hopeful that there would be an improvement in Brainerd's condition, but it was not to be. Edwards' daughter, Jerusha, accompanied Brainerd back to Northampton in July 1747, and nursed him during the last weeks of his life until he died on 9 October that year.

Brainerd's life had not been an easy one. As John Piper reminds us, he constantly struggled: against incessant and unrelenting sickness, against depression, against loneliness, against external hardships, against a bleak view of nature; he struggled to maintain his love for the Indians and to remain true to his missionary calling (http://www.desiringgod.org/library/biographies/90brainerd.html). But his singular passion for the glory of God, which he had in common with Edwards, enabled him to move forward and to persevere in the work of the kingdom.

Lessons From the Life of Brainerd

My purpose this evening, however, is not to preach David Brainerd but to preach Jesus Christ, and to take the life and death of Brainerd as a means to that end. What can we learn about Jesus from this slice of history involving the lives of these remarkable men of God, Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd?

Jesus Is Lord Over the Providence of the World

The Shorter Catechism defines Providence as 'God's holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions'. That is a statement to which both Brainerd and Edwards would have signed up. In his reflections on Brainerd's life and work, Edwards looks at the circumstances which God ordered for the life of his servant and says "I doubt not but that they will be acknowledged as a notable instance of God's fatherly care, and covenant faithfulness towards them that are devoted to him ... both in life and in death they are owned and taken care of as his" (2:458).

Take, for example, the providence of Brainerd's expulsion from Yale. A careless word was all that it took, a word for which Brainerd would later express contrition. Yet the word secured his expulsion, the expulsion denied him a regular ministry, and was the means of propelling him into the Indian wilderness to minister to the world's forgotten people. The journals and diary, which became the staple reading diet of many later evangelical missionaries, in turn fuelled widespread missionary activity, so that John Piper can say: "I am tempted to speculate whether the modern missionary movement, that was so repeatedly inspired by Brainerd's missionary life, would have happened if David Brainerd had not been expelled from Yale and cut off from his hopes to serve God in the pastorate!"

(http://www.desiringgod.org/library/biographies/90brainerd.html)

But Aaron Burr, Edwards's son-in-law, draws our attention to something else. He wrote, "If it had not been for the treatment received by Mr. Brainerd at Yale, New Jersey College would never have been erected" (Murray, 301; Marsden 330; Calhoun 1.5). New Jersey College was the original name of Princeton College, of which Burr, then his father-in-law Edwards were to serve as President before their untimely deaths. This would later become Princeton College, where Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge and B.B. Warfield, would later teach, and out of which would grow Westminster Theological Seminary, which has had so many Scottish connections since its formation in1929.

This illustrates my point clearly. Here was this disappointment in the life of Brainerd; his plans and dreams, his enthusiasm and energy seemed to be sapped. Ministry was all he wanted, yet God closed the door. And he closed it so that a wave of his Spirit would sweep across the Indians, and carry Gospel truth like a stream down through the generations.

Let me illustrate this just with one other example. In his reflections, Edwards draws attention to "the special and remarkable disposal of divine providence with regard to the circumstances of his last sickness and death". Edwards sees in the timing of his last illness God's remarkable care. He did not take sick, says Edwards, until he had seen his heart's desire in the conversion of many of the Indians. He did not take sick until he had completed his journal and prepared it for publication. He did not take sick until his brother was placed in a position where he could succeed him in the work. Edwards also remarks that it was 'the merciful disposal of Providence' which ensured that he did not die among the Indians in the wilderness, or that he did not have all his private papers destroyed. But above all, says Edwards,

I would not conclude my observations on the merciful circumstances of Mr. Brainerd's death, without acknowledging with thankfulness, the gracious dispensation of Providence to me and my family, in so ordering that he (though the ordinary place of his abode was more than two hundred miles distant) should be brought to my house, in his last sickness, and should die here. So that we had opportunity for much acquaintance and conversation with him, to show him kindness in such circumstances, to see his dying behavior, to hear his dying speeches, to receive his dying counsels, and to have the benefit of his dying prayers. May God in infinite mercy grant that we may ever retain a proper remembrance of these things, and make a due improvement of the advantages we have had in these respects! (2:458)

Running through these lives is an acknowledgement of the absolute, sovereign, gracious rule of God over the lives of his people, down to their minutest detail. Only God's people can entertain the assurance that they are safe in the care of such a God.

Jesus Is Lord Over the Mission of His Church

We know that Christ is sovereign in the salvation of his people, and that in his remarkable and mysterious election he will gather in to his kingdom all those whom the Father has given him. But he does not do so apart from the means he has sovereignly appointed to that end. He says to his church: "All power is given to me in Heaven and earth; so you go and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19-20).

This sovereignty was evident in the call and compulsion on Brainerd's life. At his ordination in Newark, New Jersey, on 12 June 1744, Rev Ebenezer Pemberton preached on Luke 14:23: "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled". He spoke of the state of the Gentile world, described as being in the highways and hedges, "in the most perishing and helpless condition" (2:442). He spoke of the compassionate care of the Redeemer, displayed in sending the servants out to compel others to come in. And he spoke of the duty of ministers of the gospel to issue the great invitation.

Turning to the new ordinand, Pemberton said

suffer me, dear Sir, in the first place, to address myself to you, who are this day coming under a public consecration to the service of Christ, "to bear his name among the Gentiles; to whom the Master is now sending you forth, to compel them to come in, that his house may be filled." we trust you are a chosen vessel, designed for extensive service in this honorable, though difficult, employment. We adore the God of nature, who has furnished you with such endowments as suit you to this important charge. We adore the great Head of the church for the nobler gifts and graces of his Spirit; by which, we trust, you are enabled to engage in this mission with an ardent love to God, the universal Father of mankind, with a disinterested zeal for the honor of Christ, the compassionate friend of sinners, and with tender concern for the perishing souls of a "people that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death;" who have for so many ages been wandering out of the way of salvation, "without Christ, and without God in the world" (2:445).

Brainerd's reaction to this sacred trust was typical:

At ten o'clock my ordination was attended; the sermon preached by Mr. Pemberton. At this time I was affected with a sense of the important trust committed to me; yet was composed and solemn, without distraction. I hope that then, as many times before, I gave myself up to God, to be for Him and not for another. Oh, that I might always be engaged in the service of God, and duly remember the solemn charge I have received, in the presence of God, angels and men. Amen (2:347).

In an interesting appendix to the journal, Brainerd listed some of the difficulties he found in his work for the conversion of the Indians. These included the following: 'the rooted aversion to Christianity that generally prevails among them' (2:423), 'to convey divine truths to their understanding and to gain their assent' (2:425), 'their inconvenient situations, savage manners and unhappy method of living' (2:428), 'the designs of evil-minded persons to hinder the work' (2:429). Nonetheless, Brainerd recognised that the grace of God was equal to these setbacks, difficulties and challenges, and his constant encouragement is that he is motivated by divine grace.

No less important is what he tells us about the doctrines he preached:

I have oftentimes remarked with admiration, that whatever subject I have been treating upon, after having spent time sufficient to explain and illustrate the truths contained therein, I have been naturally and easily led to CHRIST as the substance of every subject. If I treated on the being and glorious perfections of God, I was thence naturally led to discourse of Christ as the only "way to the Father." ? If I attempted to open the deplorable misery of our fallen state, it was natural from thence to show the necessity of Christ to undertake for us, to atone for our sins, and to redeem us from the power of them. If I taught the commands of God, and showed our violation of them, this brought me in the most easy and natural way, to speak of and recommend the Lord Jesus Christ, as one who had "magnified the law" we had broken, and who was "become the end of it for righteousness, to every one that believes." And never did I find so much freedom and assistance in making all the various lines of the discourses meet together, and center in Christ, as I have frequently done among these Indians (2:416).

Only one subject is fitting for Christian mission: and it is the subject of Jesus Christ, as the only basis of our righteous standing before God. It was to communicate Christ that Brainerd led himself called to mission, evangelism and outreach, and that must be the motivating impulse of all our missionary endeavour.

Jesus Is Lord Over the Lives of His People

Brainerd's life was nothing if not one lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. His constant longing was to know Christ and to follow him:

I feel barren and empty, as though I could not live without more of God; I feel ashamed and guilty before Him. Oh! I see that "the law is spiritual, but I am carnal." I do not, I cannot live to God. Oh, for holiness! Oh, for more of God in my soul! Oh, this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God; the language of it is, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psa. 17:15); but never, never before. Consequently I am engaged to "press towards the mark," day by day. Oh, that I may feel this continual hunger, and not be retarded, but rather animated by every cluster from Canaan to reach forward in the narrow way, for the full enjoyment and possession of the heavenly inheritance! Oh, that I may never loiter in my heavenly journey! (2:329).

John Piper is correct: it was because of this passion, this Christ-centred worldview, that Brainerd could cope with all the sickness, the pain, the depression, the weariness, and press forward in his task of making Christ known to those who were themselves pilgrims towards eternity. Nothing else mattered but this. Little wonder that Edwards could say at Brainerd's funeral service:

He in his whole course acted as one who had indeed sold all for Christ, and had entirely devoted himself to God, and made his glory his highest end, and was fully determined to spend his whole time and strength in his service. He was lively in religion, in the right way: lively, not only, nor chiefly, with his tongue, in professing and talking, but lively in the work and business of religion. He was not one of those who are for contriving ways to shun the cross, and get to heaven with ease and sloth, but was such an instance of one living a life of labor and self-denial, and spending his strength and substance in pursuing that great end, and the glory of his Redeemer, that perhaps is scarcely to be paralleled in this age in these parts of the world (2:34).

Postscript

Two final thoughts. First, did you know that the David Brainerd of whom we have been speaking tonight was only 29 when he died? He accomplished more for the kingdom in the eight years since he came to know the Lord than many of us do in a lifetime. Let's take note of this. Here was a man who died before he was 30 -- who went to be with the Lord while still in his twenties. When is the right time to be converted? To be sold to Christ? To devote all our energies to the cause of truth, of the evangel, of Gospel mission? When is the right time to start reading our Bible in earnest and pursuing the Lord with every ounce of energy at our disposal? Do these questions not resolve themselves into another: when is the right time to die? There is no right time to die -- but there is a right WAY to die, and Brainerd found it. He found it at 21, and was ready to go to Heaven when he was 29. Are we?

What of us? What if we were to die tonight? What if our frail tent were to be pulled down -- could this text be taken at our funeral? Is there evidence that for us to live is Christ, and to die will be gain? Is it the case that for us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? Is the glory of the Redeemer our great goal and aim? God grant that it may be!

Second, remarkable Providences continued after Brainerd's death. Four months later, Jerusha Edwareds, who had nursed Brainerd in his last days, took ill and died after a few days. Some people think she and Brainerd had fallen in love, and were betrothed to one another; but there is no evidence for this. There is evidence, however, that Jerusha was also ready to join Brainerd in that other world, with Christ, which is far better. If Jonathan Edwards had reason to grieve at the grave of David Brainerd, how much more at the grave of his daughter, whom he described as the 'flower of the family'?

Yet Iain Murray is correct, when he says in his biography that "Despite the sorrow, Jonathan and Sarah Edwards knew that they were rich" (A New Biography, p310), rich because, as Sarah was to write following her husband's death, "...my God lives; and he has my heart". That is the secret of real contentment, to know that, whatever our losses, we are safe within the covenant of God's grace, safe in the arms of Christ, and in the love that will not let us go.