the glorious God: prayed with my dear friend, and discoursed with the utmost solemnity. And truly it was a little emblem of heaven itself. I find my soul is more refined and weaned from a dependance on my frames and spiritual feelings.

"18. Most of the day I found access to the throne of grace. Blessed be the Lord for any intervals of heavenly delight and composure, while I am engaged in the field of battle. O that I might be serious, solemn, and always vigilant, while in an evil world.

"March 7. This morning when I arose, I found my heart go forth after God in longing desires of conformity to him: and in secret prayer found myself sweetly quickened and drawn out in praises to God for all he had done for me, and for all my inward trials and distresses: my heart ascribed glory, glory, glory to the blessed God; and bid welcome to all inward distress again, if God saw meet to exercise me with it. Time appeared but an inch long, and eternity at hand: and I thought I could with patience and cheerfulness bear any thing for the cause of God; for I saw that a moment would bring me to a world of peace and blessedness; and my soul by the strength of the Lord, rose far above this lower world, and all the vain amusements and disappointments of it.

"Lord's-day, March 13. At noon thought it impossible for me to preach by reason of bodily weakness and inward deadness: in the first prayer I was so weak that I could hardly stand; but in sermon God strengthened me so, that I spoke near an hour and a half with freedom, clearness, and tender power, from Gen. v, 24, "Enoch walked with God." I was enabled to insist on a close walk with

God, and to leave this as my parting advice to God's people here, that they should walk with God. May the God of all grace succeed my poor labors in this place."

At the time to which the whole of the preceding part of this chapter refers, Mr. Brainerd was chiefly engaged in travelling from place to place, visiting his friends; and bidding them adieu, previous to his departure, as he imagined, to the forks of Delaware; for this was intended to have been the first field of his labors. But from information which the correspondents of the society for promoting Christian knowledge had received of the unsettled state of the Indians there, and also of the hopeful prospects of success that a missionary might have among the Indians of Kaunaumeek, it was resolved that this last should be the place of Mr. Brainerd's destination.

Kaunaumeek is in the province of New York, and situated in the woods between Stockbridge and Albany; and thither, on Tuesday the 22d of March, in the year 1743, and nearly at the age of twentyfive, he directed his steps. On Thursday, the 31st of March, he arrived at Mr. Serjeant's, of Stockbridge. He was dejected and very disconsolate through the greater part of his journey. His mind. was, no doubt, deeply impressed with a sense of the greatness of his undertaking, and his body fatigued by journeying, which in some degree accounts for his gloom and melancholy.

*5

CHAP. V.

The arduous nature of a missionary's work. Mr. Brainerd's residence with the Indians. His method of instructing them. The state of his mind. His success. His ordination.

THE following observations of Mr. Robinson, on the disinterested conduct of Saurin, in devoting his talents and labors to his exiled countrymen at the Hague, apply with considerable force to those who become voluntary exiles in barbarous climes, that they may preach among the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ. "To dedicate oneself to the ministry in a wealthy flourishing church, where rich benefices are every day becoming vacant, requires very little virtue, and sometimes only a strong propensity to vice: but to choose to be a minister in such a poor, banished, persecuted church as that of the French protestants, argues a noble contempt of the world, and a supreme love to God, and to the souls of men. These are the best testimonials, however, of a young minister, whose profession is not to enrich, but to save himself and them that hear him." If there be a human creature who more strikingly resembles his Savior than any other upon earth, it is the faithful missionary, whom dangers and hardships cannot intimidate, who can welcome poverty, and incessant toil of body and mind, in the noble cause of benevolence and heavenly charity. Let the minister who is disposed to glory in the abundance of his labors, behold the conduct of Brainerd and be humbled; let the discontented view his sufferings and complain no more; let the idle and careless contemplate his intense and unwearied application and be ashamed.

It will be more interesting if he is suffered to tell his own tale; we shall, therefore continue the narrative with a letter which, soon after his arrival at Kaunaumeek, he addressed to his brother John; and also with extracts from his diary.

LETTER.

"DEAR BROTHER,

Kaunaumeek, April 30, 1740.

"I should tell you, 'I long to see you,' but that my own experience has taught me, there is no happiness to be enjoyed in earthly friends, though ever so near and dear, or any other enjoyment that is not God himself. Therefore, if the God of all grace would be pleased graciously to afford us each his presence and grace, that we may perform the work, and endure the trials he calls us to, in a tiresome wilderness, until we arrive at our journey's end; the distance at which we are held from each other at present, is a matter of no great moment. But, alas! the presence of God is what I want. I live in the most lonely, melancholy desert, about eighteen miles from Albany; I board with a poor Scotchman; his wife can talk scarcely any English. My diet consists chiefly of hasty-pudding, boiled corn, and bread baked in the ashes. My lodging is a little heap of straw, laid upon some boards, a little way from the ground; for it is a log room, without any floor, that I lodge in. My work is exceeding hard: I travel on foot a mile and a half, the worst of the way, almost daily, and back again; for I live so far from my Indians. I have not seen an English person this month. These and many other circumstances, as uncomfortable, attend me; and yet my spiritual conflicts and distresses so far exceed

all these, that I scarcely think of them. The Lord grant that I may be enabled to 'endure hardness, as a good soldier of Christ!' As to my success here I cannot say much: the Indians seem generally well disposed towards me, and mostly very attentive to my instructions; two or three are under some convictions; but there seems to be little of the special workings of the divine Spirit among them yet, which gives me many a heart-sinking hour. Sometimes, I hope, God has abundant blessings in store for them and me; but at other times, I am so overwhelmed with distress, that I cannot see how his dealings with me are consistent with covenant love and faithfulness, and I say, 'Surely his tender mercies are clean gone for ever.' But however, I see I needed all this chastisement already; 'It is good for me,' that I have endured these trials. Do not be discouraged by my distress at Mr. Pomroy's, when I saw you last; but 'God has been with me of a truth' since that. But let us always remember, that we must, through much tribulation, enter into God's eternal kingdom. The righteous are scarcely saved: it is an infinite wonder that we have hopes of being saved at all. For my part, I feel the most vile of any creature living, and I am sure there is not such another existing on this side hell. Now all you can do for me is to pray incessantly, that God would make me humble, holy, resigned, and heavenly minded, by all my trials. 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.' Let us run, wrestle, and fight, that we may obtain the prize, and that complete happiness, to be 'holy, as God is holy.' So wishing and praying that you