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Robert Murray M'Cheyne (21 May 1813 – 25 March 1843) was a minister in the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
from 1835 to 1843. He was born at Edinburgh on 21 May 1813, was educated at the university and at the Divinity Hall of his native city, and was assistant at
Larbert Larbert (, ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron (Forth), River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of Fo ...
and Dunipace. A mission of inquiry among the Jews throughout Europe and in Palestine, and a religious revival at his church in Dundee, made him feel that he was being called to evangelistic rather than to pastoral work, but before he could carry out his plans he died, on 25 March 1843. McCheyne, though wielding remarkable influence in his lifetime, was still more powerful afterwards, through his ''Memoirs and Remains'', edited by
Andrew Bonar Andrew Alexander Bonar (29 May 1810 in Edinburgh – 30 December 1892 in Glasgow) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M'Cheyne and youngest brother of Horatius Bonar. Life He w ...
, which ran into far over a hundred English editions. Some of his hymns became well known and his Bible reading plan is still in common use.


Early life and ministry

Robert Murray M'Cheyne was born at 14 Dublin Street in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
on 21 May 1813, the son of Adam McCheyne W.S. (d. 1854), and Lockhart Murray, daughter of David Dickson of Locherwoods, Dumfriesshire. At the age of four he knew the characters of the Greek alphabet, and was able to sing and recite fluently. He entered the high school in his eighth year, and matriculated in November 1827 at
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, where he showed very versatile powers, and distinguished himself especially in poetical exercises, being awarded a special prize by Professor Wilson for a poem on ‘ The Covenanters.’ In the winter of 1831 he commenced his studies in the Divinity Hall, under
Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland (1843—1900), Free Church of Scotl ...
and
David Welsh David Welsh FRSE (11 December 1793 – 24 April 1845) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and academic. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1842. In the Disruption of 1843 he was one of the leading figu ...
; and he was licensed as a preacher by the Annan presbytery on 1 July 1835. He first served as an assistant to John Bonar in the parish of
Larbert Larbert (, ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron (Forth), River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of Fo ...
and Dunipace, near
Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
, from 1835 to 1836. On 24 November 1836 he was ordained to the pastorate of St. Peter's Church,
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, which had been erected into a
quoad sacra A ''quoad sacra'' parish is a parish of the Church of Scotland which does not represent a civil parish. That is, it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. Since the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, civil parishes hav ...
parish in the preceding May. The congregation numbered eleven hundred hearers, and M'Cheyne addressed himself to the work of the ministry with so much ardour that his health again gave way, and in December 1838 he was compelled to desist from all public duty. He went to Edinburgh to rest and recuperate. During his absence his pulpit was supplied by
William Chalmers Burns William Chalmers Burns (宾惠廉, 1 April 1815 – 4 April 1868) was a Scottish evangelist and missionary to China with the English Presbyterian Mission who originated from Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire. He was the coordinator of the Ove ...
, afterwards the celebrated missionary to China.


Mission

In 1839, M'Cheyne and Bonar, together with two older ministers, Alexander Black and Alexander Keith, were sent to
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
on a mission of inquiry to the condition of the
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s. Upon their return, their official report for the Board of Mission of the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
was published as ''Narrative of a Visit to the Holy Land and Mission of Inquiry to the Jews''. This led subsequently to the establishment of missions to the Jews by the Church of Scotland and by the Free Church of Scotland.
Islay Burns Islay Burns (1817–1872) was a Scottish theologian and writer. Life Burns was born on 16 January 1817 at the manse of Dun in Forfarshire, the son of William Hamilton Burns, parish minister in the Church of Scotland, and his wife Elizabe ...
, brother and biographer of William Chalmers Burns succeeded M'Cheyne as minister of St. Peter's.


Return to Dundee

M'Cheyne was away from 12 April to 6 November 1839. On his return he resumed his work at Dundee with renewed energy. In the autumn of 1842 he visited the north of England on an evangelical mission, and made similar journeys to London and Aberdeenshire. He preached to his own people on 12 March, and two days afterwards was seized with
typhus fever Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure ...
, which he had contracted in the course of visitation, and died 25 March 1843.


Burial

He died of typhus in Dundee following a short illness on 25 March 1843. His parents agreed to the wish of his congregation that McCheyne be buried in the graveyard beside St Peter's Church in Dundee, rather than in the family's own burial-ground in Edinburgh. He was buried on Thursday 30 March 1843, with an estimated 7000 people attending the funeral. An imposing monument marks his grave.


Legacy

M'Cheyne was a preacher, a pastor, a poet, and wrote many
letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...
. He was also a man of deep
piety Piety is a virtue which may include religious devotion or spirituality. A common element in most conceptions of piety is a duty of respect. In a religious context, piety may be expressed through pious activities or devotions, which may vary amon ...
and a man of prayer. M'Cheyne died exactly two months before the
Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...
. This being so, his name was subsequently held in high honour by all the various branches of
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
, though he himself held a strong opinion against the
Erastianism Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians shou ...
which led to the Disruption. Bonar records, "And when, on 7 March of the following year (i.e. 1843), the cause of the Church was finally to be pleaded at the bar of the House of Commons, I find him writing: 'Eventful night this in the British Parliament! Once more King Jesus stands at an earthly tribunal, and they know Him not!'" —''Memoir'' (1892), p. 147). Although widely believed to have been engaged to be married to Jessie Thain at the time of his death (and once, some ten years earlier, to Margaret Maxwell), largely owing to Smellie's popular biography, recent scholarship has disproved both of these claims. Perhaps no minister in the Church of Scotland is better remembered for the saintliness of his character, the anxious devotion which influenced the whole of his short ministry, and the success which everywhere accompanied his efforts as a preacher of the Gospel. He was a diligent Bible student and a good classical scholar. He learned to read Greek when he was but a boy, and he could carry on a conversation in Hebrew. He had fine poetical, artistic, and musical gifts. He trained his congregation in psalmody, and his hymns are the property of all the Churches. Not long after his death, his friend Andrew Alexander Bonar edited his biography which was published with some of his manuscripts as ''The Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne''. The book went into many editions. It has had a lasting influence on
Evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
worldwide. M'Cheyne designed a widely used system for reading through the Bible in one year. The plan entails reading the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
and the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...
through twice a year, and the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
through once. This program was included (in a slightly modified form) in ''For the Love of God'' by D. A. Carson and is recommended by several Bible publishers, such as the
English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently pu ...
and the
New English Translation The New English Translation (NET) is a free, "completely new" English translation of the Bible, "with 60,932 translators' notes" sponsored by the Biblical Studies Foundation and published by Biblical Studies Press. History and textual basis ...
. The formerClosed in 19

McCheyne Memorial Church in
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
is named after him.


Typography

The proper typography for his surname is with a left single quotation mark, i.e. M‘Cheyne. The use of an ordinary apostrophe is so common, that no attempt is made here to standardise how it is written. Likewise, for the alternative common use of McCheyne.


Works

*''Why is God a Stranger in the Land?'' (Edinburgh, 1838) *''Reasons why Children should fly to Christ without Delay'' (Edinburgh, 1839) *''To the Lambs of the Flock'' (Edinburgh, 1840) *''Testimony against the running of Railway Trains on Sabbath'' (Dundee, 1841) *''Love the Lord's Day'' (Dundee, 1841) *''Daily Bread'' (Edinburgh, 1842) *''Another Lily Gathered'' (Edinburgh, 1842) *''Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotland in 1839'' ointly with Andrew A. BonarEdinburgh, 1842) *''The Eternal Inheritance, the Believer's Portion'', and ''The Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction'', two discourses (Dundee, 1843) *''Expositions of the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia'' (Dundee, 1843) *''Songs of Zion to cheer and guide Pilgrims on their way to the New Jerusalem'' (Dundee, 1843) *''Memoir and Remains'' (portrait) by Andrew A. Bonar (Edinburgh, 1844; numerous editions, and Gaelic translation by Allan Sinclair, 1895) *''Additional Remains consisting of various Sermons and Lectures'' (Edinburgh, 1846) *''Basket of Fragments, the Substance of Sermons'' (Aberdeen, 1848) *''Revival Truth, being Sermons hitherto unpublished'' (London, 1860) *''Mission of Discovery''
Christian Focus Publications Christian Focus Publications (CFP) is a conservative, evangelical publishing house in the United Kingdom. CFP was established in the early 1970s, and is located in Fearn, Ross-shire Ross-shire (; ), or the County of Ross, was a county in th ...
, He wrote these hymns — *''When this Passing World is done'' *''I once was a Stranger to Grace and to God'' *''Beneath Moriah's Rocky Side''
ritten at the foot of Carmel, June 1839 Ritten (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Territory The community is named after the high plateau, elevation , the Ritten or the Renon, on which most of the villages are located. The plateau forms the southe ...
*''Like Mist on the Mountains'' *''Ten Virgins clothed in White''


Bibliography

*Jean L. Watson's ''Life of Robert Murray McCheyne'' *''Autobiography of Thomas Guthrie, D.D.''
n which is described the accident said to have been the beginning of M'Cheyne's illness N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
174; (London, 1874); *Nome's ''Dundee Celebrities'', 81-5 *Julian's ''Dictionary of Hymnology'', 707


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

*''Awakening – The Life and Ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne'' by David Robertson, Christian Focus Publications, *''Constrained By His Love: A New Biography on Robert Murray McCheyne'' by Leen J Van Valen, Christian Focus Publications, *''McCheyne's Dundee'' by Bruce McLennan, Reformation Heritage Books, *''A Holy Minister: The Life and Spiritual Legacy of Robert Murray M’Cheyne'' by Jordan Stone, Mentor,


External links


Robert Murray M'Cheyne Resources
nbsp;– Website of online resources {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccheyne, Robert Murray 1813 births 1843 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Presbyterian missionaries in Palestine (region) Deaths from typhus in the United Kingdom Infectious disease deaths in Scotland 19th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers People associated with Dundee Clergy from Edinburgh Scottish poets 19th-century poets Poets from Dundee Scottish Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in the Ottoman Empire Scottish evangelicals