Jonathan Edwards' account of what David Brainerd said on his deathbed
In one of his most popular works, The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards gives an account of what David Brainerd said on his deathbed:
My heaven is to please God, and glorify him, and to give all to him, and to be wholly devoted to his glory: that is the heaven I long for; that is my religion, and that is my happiness, and always was ever since I suppose I had any true religion: and all those that are of that religion shall meet me in heaven.—I do not go to heaven to be advanced, but to give honour to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high or low seat there; but to love, and please, and glorify God is all. Had I a thousand souls, if they were worth any thing, I would give them all to God; but I have nothing to give, when all is done.
David Brainerd (1718-1747) was an early American missionary to the American Indians. His work was a major driving force and inspiration to the domestic and foreign missionary movement of the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century. Christians all over the world continue to be inspired by his life of self-denial, his sincere and strenuous labor on behalf of others, and his devotion to prayer.
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