Daring Deeds

by Archer Wallace

  Daring Deeds

  by

  Archer Wallace

  LAMPLIGHTER PUBLISHING.

  WAVERLY, PENNSYLVANIA.

  Copyright © 2005 by Mark Hamby

  All rights reserved.

  First Printing, February 2005

  Published by Lamplighter Publishing; a division of Lamplighter Ministries International, Inc.

  No part of this edited publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior permission of the copyright owner.

  The Lamplighter Rare Collector’s Series is a collection of Christian family literature from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Each edition is printed in an attractive hard-bound collector’s format.

  For more information, call us at 1-888-246-7735, (or 1-888-A-GOSPEL), visit our website at www.lamplighter.net or write:

  Lamplighter Publishing,

  P.O. Box 777

  Waverly, PA 18471

  Author: Archer Wallace

  Printed in the United States of America

  Material: Arrestox 53500, Crown Roll Leaf Gold 450,

  Black Matte 11146 Crown Roll Leaf

  Chief Editor: Mark Hamby.

  Copy Editors: Darlene Catlett, Susan Vinskofski, and Deborah Hamby.

  Graphics: Jennifer Hamby.

  Layout: Michal Rudolph.

  Cover Design: Jennifer Hamby.

  ISBN 1-58474-091-4

  ISBN-13: 978-1-58474-091-9

  PREFACE.

  We all need heroes to admire and emulate. Daring Deeds is a collection of compelling, true accounts of the dangerous expeditions of courageous men who dared to risk their lives for the sake of murderers, thieves, and even cannibals. With unrelenting passion they moved onward to share the message of hope with ruthless people who had never been reached and desperately needed to hear the life-giving truths of God’s love and redemption.

  My friend, may these incredible episodes of faith and daring stir up a sense of urgency in your own life to take risks and to count sharing the gospel more dear than life itself. Remember, God’s word is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword! May we experience the same fervor and passion that we see in the lives of these brave heroes.

  Mark Hamby

  Table of Contents

  PREFACE

  CHAPTER I

  CHAPTER II

  CHAPTER III

  CHAPTER IV

  CHAPTER V

  CHAPTER VI

  CHAPTER VII

  CHAPTER VIII

  CHAPTER IX

  CHAPTER X

  CHAPTER XI

  CHAPTER XII

  OTHER LAMPLIGHTER TITLES

  CHAPTER I.

  EARLY ADVENTURES AMONG THE RED INDIANS.

  A Huge Rattlesnake Crept to His Side and Lifted Its Ugly Head as if to Strike.

  ONE day in the early summer of 1744 a young missionary named David Brainerd knelt in the lonely forest near the Susquehanna River in New York State. He was the only paleface for many miles. Around him there were many signs of animal life that are only to be found in the densest forest and in quiet solitudes. As he prayed, a colony of beavers were building a dam across the stream, and when he opened his eyes he watched the busy animals, unaware that he himself was being eagerly looked over by Indians concealed behind the thick foliage of the forest. The red men, accustomed to striking swiftly and savagely, were so astounded at the sight of this young man praying that they watched for a while in silence. David Brainerd had been told of these Indians, most savage of all the tribes in the wilderness at that time, and he determined to take the gospel to them. As evening drew near he saw the smoke of their campfires in the distance. He did not think it wise to disturb them at that time, so he pitched his tent near the river and resolved to visit their camp on the following morning.

  He fully expected to meet with a hostile reception, and so as he entered their camp on the following morning, he was greatly surprised when they came out of their wigwams; men, women, and children eagerly welcomed him. He gasped with astonishment when, instead of making menacing signs, they showed him the deepest reverence, and then it was he learned that on the previous night, as he had been praying in the forest, the warriors had seen him. It was their intention to slay him at once, but when they saw him kneeling in prayer, they paused. As he prayed they saw something of which he was not aware—a huge rattlesnake crept to his side and lifted its ugly head as if to strike him, and then, without any apparent reason, it suddenly glided silently away into the bush. This incident so impressed the savage warriors that they said, “The Great Spirit is with the paleface,” and that is why they welcomed him with superstitious awe.

  David Brainerd was born at Haddam, Connecticut, in 1718, and later attended Yale College. After that he offered to engage in missionary work among the red Indians, and in spite of the earnest wishes of his friends, he decided to risk his life among a tribe of Indians living at Kanaumeek. This place was many miles in the interior. It was encompassed with mountains and woods, and there were no English inhabitants for a considerable distance. There was, however, one family that had come from the highlands of Scotland living a few miles away, and the presence of these people was a godsend to the missionary. In a letter he wrote to his brother at that time, David Brainerd said:

  “I live in the most lonely, melancholy desert, about eighteen miles from Albany; for it was not thought best that I should go to Delaware River, as I believe I hinted to you in a letter from New York. I board with a poor Scotchman; his wife can talk scarce any English. My diet consists mostly of hasty pudding, boiled corn, and bread baked in the ashes, and sometimes a little meat and butter. 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 exceedingly hard and difficult; I travel on foot a mile and a half, the worst of ways, 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, equally uncomfortable, attend me; and yet my spiritual conflicts and distresses, so far exceed all these, that I scarce think of them, or hardly observe that I am not entertained in the most sumptuous manner. The Lord grant that I may learn to ‘endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!’ As to my success here, I cannot say much as yet. The Indians seem generally kind and well disposed towards me, are mostly very attentive to my instructions, and seem willing to be taught further.”

  After several months he got into his own house. This was a little hut which he had built with his own hands in spite of the fact that he was in a very weak state of health. Wretched little cabin though it was, it was his home, and to it he returned after long journeys visiting the Indians and constantly wondering what influence his preaching had upon them. During this time Brainerd kept a diary, and from it we are enabled to follow him as day by day he lived his life among his strange neighbors. Here is how he records his suffering from lack of food:

  “Spent most of the day in labor, to procure something to keep my horse on in the winter. Enjoyed not much sweetness in the morning; was very weak in body through the day; and thought that this frail body would soon drop into the dust; and had some very realizing apprehensions of a speedy entrance into another world. In this weak state of body, I was not a little distressed for want of suitable food. I had no bread, nor could I get any. I am forced to go or send ten or fifteen miles for all the bread I eat; and sometimes it is moldy and sour before I eat it, if I get any considerable quantity. And then again I have none for some days together, for want of an opportunity to send for it, and cannot find my horse in the woods to go myself; and this was my case now; but th
rough divine goodness I had some Indian meal, of which I made little cakes, and fried them. Yet I felt contented with my circumstances, and sweetly resigned to God. In prayer I enjoyed great freedom; and blessed God as much for my present circumstances, as if I had been a king; and thought that I found a disposition to be contented in any circumstances. Blessed be God.”

  After spending several months at Kanaumeek, David Brainerd decided to visit a tribe of Indians of the Delaware tribe, one hundred and fifty miles away. It was a difficult and dangerous journey, especially for a man in such poor health, but at last he came to a settlement where the chief was somewhat friendly. After consulting with some of the old men of the tribe, this chief consented to receive Brainerd and permit him to preach to his people. He spent the greater part of the summer lodging in one of the wigwams, and often he longed for his former log hut, which, compared with the wigwam, was a home of comfort. As a rule he conducted his services in the dwelling of the chief, and the Indians with their squaws and children sat around. Volumes of smoke arose from the huge campfires and wrapped the preacher and his audience in such dense clouds that they could not see him, nor he them. In his diary he tells of the severe headaches he had during these meetings and of how the wind would blow the ashes and dust from the fires into his eyes and mouth until he was nearly choked. In spite of these discomforts, he remained with them for many long months, although sometimes, when the heavy rains fell, he was unable to move out of the wigwam.

  Wearied with the discomforts of a wigwam, he laboured hard for a fortnight to construct a little cabin in which he might live by himself during the winter. One chamber served for kitchen and parlour; in it he kept his store of wood, and ate and slept. The dwellings of the Indians were widely scattered; his own stood apart from the rest—a miserable hut of pine or cedar logs rudely hewn, with a roof of bark, and with fastenings which had to be carefully secured at the close of day, for wolves and bears prowled around.

  After a while he heard of another tribe of Indians living on an island called Juneauta. When he first came upon them it was evening, and most members of the tribe were seated around an enormous fire, which threw its red light upon the river and the woods that bordered it. They were shrieking so loudly that their cries could be heard many miles away in the stillness of the night. From time to time they threw large pieces of deer fat into the fire, and when the flames rose in bright colors, they shrieked with delight. Evidently it was some kind of religious rite, for it was continued all through the night. They took little notice of Brainerd, who walked to and fro, hoping that the orgies would cease and that he would have a chance to speak to them. However, at last, utterly exhausted, he crept into a crib made for corn and slept soundly. The next morning he tried to get a chance to speak to them, but they were not very much interested. It was on Sunday morning, September 21, 1745, and this is the entry David Brainerd made in his journal that day:

  “As soon as they were well up in the morning, I attempted to instruct them, and labored for that purpose to get them together; but soon found they had something else to do, for near noon they gathered together all their powwows, or conjurers, and set about half a dozen of them playing their juggling tricks, and acting their frantic distracted postures, in order to find out why they were then so sickly upon the island, numbers of them being at that time disordered with fever and bloody flux. In this exercise they were engaged several hours, making all the wild, ridiculous, and distracted motions imaginable; sometimes singing, sometimes howling, sometimes extending their hands to the utmost stretch, and spreading all their fingers—they seemed to push with them as if they designed to push something away, or at least keep it off at arm’s end; sometimes stroking their faces with their hands, then priding water as fine as mist, sometimes sitting flat on the earth, then bowing down their faces to the ground; then wringing their sides as if in pain and anguish, twisting their faces, turning up their eyes, grunting, puffing, etc.

  “Their monstrous actions tended to excite ideas of horror, and seemed to have something in them, as I thought, peculiarly suited to raise the devil, if he could be raised by anything odd, ridiculous, and frightful. Some of them, I could observe, were much more fervent and devout in the business than others, and seemed to chant, peep, and mutter with a great degree of warmth and vigor, as if determined to awaken and engage the powers below. I sat at a small distance, not more than thirty feet from them, though undiscovered, with my Bible in my hand, resolving, if possible, to spoil their sport, and prevent their receiving any answers from the infernal world, and there viewed the whole scene. They continued their hideous charms and incantations for more than three hours, until they had all wearied themselves out; although they had in that space of time taken several intervals of rest, and at length broke up, I apprehended, without receiving any answer at all.”

  The sorcerers of the tribe were gotten up in the most hideous costumes imaginable and the most fearful looking of them all approached Brainerd as he sat upon the log.

  “He made his appearance in his pontifical garb, which was a coat of boar skins, dressed with the hair on, and hanging down to his toes; a pair of bearskin stockings; and a great wooden face painted, the one half black, the other half tawny, about the color of an Indian’s skin, with an extravagant mouth, cut very much awry; the face fastened to a bearskin cap, which was drawn over his head. He advanced towards me with the instrument in his hand, which he used for music in his idolatrous worship; which was a dry tortoise shell with some corn in it, and the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which made a very convenient handle. As he came forward, he beat his tune with the rattle, and danced with all his might, but did not suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers to be seen. No one would have imagined, from his appearance or actions, that he could have been a human creature, if they had not had some intimation of it otherwise. When he came near me, I could not but shrink away from him, although it was then noonday, and I knew who it was; his appearance and gestures were so prodigiously frightful. He had a house consecrated to religious uses, with diverse images cut upon the several parts of it. I went in, and found the ground beat almost as hard as a rock, with their frequent dancing upon it.”

  The hardships of his life among the red Indians began to tell heavily upon Brainerd. For three weeks, on one of his journeys, he slept each night upon the bare ground. Fortunately, the Indians appreciated his amazing kindness and gentleness and his devotion to them. Even the most savage among them welcomed him and did what they could for his comfort. When his health began to fail, they accompanied him on his long journeys, walking by the side of his horse and watching tenderly over him when he was prostrate with illness. After being overtaken in a rainstorm, he was stricken with a burning fever and with difficulty reached the house of an Indian trader, where he languished many days, but eventually died on October 9, 1747, at the age of twenty-nine. In the noble army of missionary workers there have been few men with the same restless energy and tireless devotion to the cause of God as David Brainerd.

  CHAPTER II.

  PERILS IN THE DARKENED FORESTS.

  He Seized the Serpent and Flung It Out of the Hut.

  IN THE year 1738 two Moravian missionaries, named Daehne and Guettner, were sent from Holland to work among the natives of Dutch Guiana in South America. The managers and slave owners on the estates showed themselves unfriendly and did everything they could to make the lives of the missionaries miserable. They tried to prevent them preaching to the slaves, but, in, spite of obstacles, a settlement was established among the Arawak Indians.

  The Arawaks were the most numerous of the Indians. Their language was not difficult to acquire, and at the end of a few months Daehne and Guettner were able to preach to them in their own tongue, which greatly pleased them. Frequently the missionaries made extensive journeys in the forest, often covering three and four hundred miles in one journey and passing over territory where no white man had even been before. These travels were attended with all manner o
f hardships and difficulties. They had to take their own provisions with them and frequently were compelled to cross deep rivers by making a hastily constructed raft which might capsize at any moment. Wild animals and reptiles abounded in the jungle to such an extent that the travelers had often to sleep in hammocks suspended from trees in order to be saved from savage prowlers of the night. Sometimes they arrived at villages where they were met with menacing looks and hostile manners. If the men were not at home, the women ran shrieking into the forests, completely misunderstanding the motives of the white men. The missionaries persevered, however, and eventually won the good will of the Arawak people, and after thorough instruction, a number of them were baptized.

  Some years after this Daehne proceeded to the river Corentyn, which is the boundary line between Dutch and British Guiana. A number of native Indians accompanied him and helped to clear a piece of ground and build a hut, but the dangers were such that gradually all the Indians left him except one; eventually this man became so sick he was compelled to return. Thus the Dutchman was left alone in the wilderness where nightly he could hear the savage howling of jaguars, while he was never sure that some venomous snake would not enter his hut. Living near Daehne were many members of the Carib Indians. The Caribs were more savage than the Arawaks. If not cannibals, as their ancestors had been, they were out-and-out plunderers and lay in wait to capture unsuspecting natives who lived in the bush. These they brutally treated, then sold them to slave owners.

  The Caribs were curious as to the missionary’s intentions when he built a hut near them, and asked his reason for living in so solitary a place. He explained to them that he wished to preach the gospel to them. They made no secret of their intention to kill him, and some months afterwards, as he sat at dinner in his cabin, about fifty of them arrived in canoes and surrounded him. Armed with swords and tomahawks and angrily gesticulating, they presented an alarming appearance. Daehne went out to them and spoke in the Arawak language. In angry tones they told him to use the Caribbee language, but he explained that he could not, as he did not understand it. Then they began to consider what they should do with him.