The Life of Rev. David Brainerd, Chiefly Extracted from His Diary

The account presents an individual's diary, compiled and abridged by a contemporary, tracing conversion, theological study, licensing, commissioning, and missionary labors among Native American communities. It records daily spiritual experience, intense devotion and periods of despondency, practical hardships, efforts to establish schools and instruction, community responses including notable conversions and opposition, and reflections on melancholy, zeal, and error in overwork. The chronological journal culminates in declining health and death while emphasizing discerning piety, experimental religion, and practical lessons for successors and companions.