Send me to the rough
A few weeks ago Arlene and I found the grave of David Brainerd in Northampton Massachusetts. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. Brainerd attended Yale University but was expelled in his junior year for privately saying of a college tutor, “He has no more grace than this chair.” Brainerd made repeated attempts at seeking forgiveness, but was unsuccessful. Years later, Yale named a building after him and to this day it is the only building at Yale to be named after an expelled student.
In 1743 he began ministry among the Indians in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania until he died on October 10, 1747 at the home of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton.
Here are a few challenging quotes from his journal.
“Oh, that I could dedicate my all to God. This is all the return I can make Him.”
“Here am I, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort on earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy kingdom.”
And the entry he wrote in his journal two months after being expelled from Yale. “I hardly ever so longed to live to God and to be altogether devoted to Him; I wanted to wear out my life in his service and for his glory.”
