Lord's day, Nov. 19.-Had, I hope, some real sense of God and divine things in holy duties. Oh that God would daily increase the same!

Attended public worship, and it pleased the Lord, I humbly trust, to give me some assistance in the various parts of it. Preached in the forenoon from Psalm cxix. 136; in the afternoon, without an interpreter, from John xiv. 19. The Indians as well as the white people (a number of whom were present) gave good attention to the word spoken, but nothing very special appeared in the assembly. I had much sweetness and comfort in my soul this day, especially in the afternoon. Blessed be the gracious Giver!

After I came home, felt much sweetness and calmness in my soul, and so through the evening earnestly desired to be wholly devoted to God and perfectly free from sin. Oh, how sweet is such a feeling! Oh, how much does it surpass all that the world can possibly afford! May I ever live with and for the blessed God! May I wholly die to all sublunary things, and be wholly wrapt up in the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. May I live upon those glimpses that I have of Christ, or, rather, on Christ himself while I have but, as it were, a glimpse of him, till I shall come to the beatific vision and full fruition of him in the blessed heavenly world!

Monday, Nov. 20.-Felt some earnest desire to give away myself to God, if the Lord would graciously accept of me, abundantly qualify me for his service, and make me an instrument of his praise and glory.

Spent the forenoon in reading and writing; in the afternoon was obliged to ride out upon some temporal business, which took me till some time in the evening. Felt much indisposed after I came home, but in an hour

or two was much better. Attended family prayer, and afterwards read in the Bible, in which I had considerable comfort, as also in secret duties. Blessed be the Lord! Oh that I could wholly and forever be devoted to his service!

Tuesday, Nov. 21.—Attended holy duties in family and secret. Oh, how apt is my poor heart to warp off and wander from the blessed God! Oh, 'tis most affecting that I should wander from him, who is in himself the best good and only satisfying portion of my soul! Oh, when shall I be delivered from this body of death, and drop this world's earthly chains and fetters!

Was obliged to spend this day in hard labor, excepting that I read a little in the Bible in the morning, and in the evening composed a letter to a friend. My little affairs of a temporal nature being much out of order by reason of my being absent, and being exceedingly crowded with other business since my return, I had no time to do any thing, scarcely, as a preparation for the winter; and having tried to procure some help, but being unsuccessful, I am obliged to do it myself.

I was exceedingly troubled for a little while this day with evil thoughts, for which I desire to be humbled before God, and even to hate and abhor myself; but soon had some deliverance. Blessed be God! Though I had no realizing sense of the wrong done to God, or of his goodness to me, till the evening, then it pleased the Lord to give me an humbling sense of it, and an earnest desire to be free from this body of sin and death. The Lord help me to keep a more strict watch over my heart for the future, and mercifully strengthen me against all temptations!

Spent the evening partly in reading the Bible, and partly

in reading my brother's Life, and could not but be affected at my own extreme barrenness and nonconformity to God. I saw that, although he was an imperfect man, I was very short of being what he was and doing what he did, which made me ashamed to look up.* However, I trust I had some real desire to devote my all to God, and both in family and secret devotions had comfortable outgoings of the soul to God. Blessed be his holy name! Oh that the same might be increased day by day!

End of Diary, November 21, 1749.

Thus ends the daily journal of this eminently pious young man. It is but a fragment; it was written only for his own eye, and barely escaped destruction with his other papers. It is often repetitious and tedious in detail. But we could not consent to pass it over, nor even abridge it; for, with all its imperfections, there is something in it which will deeply interest every true Christian heart longing for holiness and communion with God. It presents a most perfect exhibition of the hidden life of a devout and holy missionary of the Cross. It confirms a saying common in Haddam, the native town of the two brothers, that, “although not so great a man, John Brainerd was as holy as his brother David." In each there was the same profound humility, prayerfulness, activity, self-denial, and longing for Christian perfection.

*The marked influence of David's biography on the heart of John indicates how entirely they sympathized in their aspirations for holiness and in their zeal to do good.

If David's journal develops a wider range of thought and a more graphic power of language, it is also shaded with a deeper sadness, from which the diary of his brother is relatively free, I think our missionaries in the field will see much in John Brainerd's diary to remind them of their own experiences and to stimulate their self-denying labors. He speaks to them over a lapse of one hundred and twenty years as a pioneer in their great work; and in communion with his spirit they will realize that, by his example, he is still with them as an elder brother.

CHAPTER XXIII.

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE SCOTCH SOCIETY-MR. BRAINERD'S FULL REPORT-HIS EVENTFUL JOURNEY-HIS LABORS, PERILS, AND

OBSERVATIONS.

THE difficulty of constructing a continuous nar

rative of Mr. Brainerd's life and labors has induced us to prefix the date of each successive year, and throw under it such fragments concerning him as time has left. In this way we shall glean up many insulated facts which would otherwise be lost.

1750.

In this year we have no other record of Mr. Brainerd's life than a few hints in the reports of the Society in Edinburgh. They say:

"At a meeting held in Edinburgh, on 22d March, 1750, letters were read from the New York Correspondents, in which the Society was recommended to augment Mr. Brainerd's salary, on account of his frequent and long journeys. This recommendation the Society at its next meeting declined, on account of the low state of the funds."

Extract from the Minutes of date Edinburgh, 5th January, 1751.

"The Committee reported, that they have received letters from the Society's correspondents at New York,