Robert Murray McCheyne:A Life Devoted to Christ
The memory of Robert Murray McCheyne has been described as “a peculiar fragrance of Christlikeness.”
During this young Presbyterian pastors short life, he made a lasting impact through his pursuit of personal holiness and his urgency for unrepentant sinners. It was this urgency that led him to live his life in a way that was constantly pointing people the gospel of Jesus. A common theme in the ministry of McCheyne can be read in a sermon herecorded called
The Love of Christ. In this sermon he said, “how so simple a truth as the love of Christ to man, continually presented to the mind by the Holy Ghost, should enable any man alife of Gospel holiness,” meaning that he believed the love of Jesus should motivate all believers to strive for a life of holiness towards God.
McCheyne understood his purpose as a pastor: to win souls for the kingdom of God and to care for those in his community. McCheyne exemplified a pursuit of holiness that continues to be an example of a life devoted to the kingdom of God, which is evident through his life beginning in his teenager years while continuing till his death at the age of twenty-nine, and in his various written works of poetry or letters to his congregation.
McCheyne was a Presbyterian pastor of Saint Peter’s Church in Dundee, Scotland. He was born in Edinburg, Scotland to Adam McCheyne and Lockhart Murray Dickson on May 21, 1813 and died on March 25, 1843 while serving at Saint Peter’s Church. Robert was the youngest of five children all who out lived him except for his sister Isabella who died at the age of four and David Thomas whose death had an eternal impact on Robert’s life. At the time of his birth the culture in Scotland along with other parts of the world was becoming increasingly liberal in theology. LJ Van Valen describes his birth coming “at the threshold of [a] new era” where enlightenment was slowly changing into liberalism, and this would be the tone that would shape young Robert through his teenage years.This was brought out in his life by is attempt to live a life filled with goodworks but lacking the true repentance of sin.
Those around him knew Robert as upstanding young man. His father has been recorded saying “he was always a boy of the most amiable, I may even say noble,disposition.” McCheyne also showed a keen interest in the ancient languages and poetry. The interest was so strong in him that at four years old he gave himself the task of learning how to name and write the letters of the Greek alphabet. He also showed a large amount of learning ability while in school. By the age of eight he had entered high school and continued to study the classical languages and literature. It was during his years at high school that he continued to grow in his love towards poetry and public speaking. By the time he entered his final years in high school he would be well known as a man of good character. At this point in his young life he was seen as very outwardly religious, but this was not because the cross had redeemed him. It was more a showing of his commitment to a moral lifestyle. Later in life McCheyne would reflect on this time in his life “as one devoid of God.”Andrew Bonar records in his biography that McCheyne “regarded these as days of ungodliness—days wherein he cherished a pure morality, but lived in heart aPharisee.”
While McCheyne’s life was void of the gospel, the religious climate of the day in the Church of Scotland was being overseen by the theology of the Moderates. The message that was being preached at most churches was a gospel presentation based on works and morality. This was what McCheyne lived by on the outward appearance, but inwardly he was seeking the pleasures that the world had for him. This view looked to Christ more as an example than the mediator between God and man. The view of the Enlightenment, which was a major influence of the Moderates, was that “sin was a mere mistake, rather than constituting one guilty before God.” These types of preaching in the pulpits bread a very moderate belief in Christ, to which they received their name. It was in this environment that McCheyne was led to believe he was a Christian, but in reality did not see the need for a redeemer.
This way of thinking was slowly being combated by the growing number of Evangelicals in Scotland around the time McCheyne was headed to the University of Edinburg, the fall of 1827. He did not show anything more than an above-average level of intellect when compared with the average university student at that time. He was certainly academically gifted, but it was more from his work ethic that he continued to develop throughout his life.However, it was not the education that was the most import thing to happen toMcCheyne during his years at the University. At this point in McCheyne’s life his religious views had become so skewed that one biographer says his “religion was in essence Pelagian,” meaning that he had, for the most part, denied original sin. He believed that a person’s goodness, provided they had divine assistance, would ultimately be enough to receive the reward of eternal life.
Throughout this period Robert’s oldest brother David began to see that Robert did not fully understand the saving work of Christ and need to hear the true message of Jesus. Over the next few years Robert Murray McCheyne’s life as a Christian would begin shortly after the death of his older brother David in 1831. For years David had spoken to Robert about the saving work of Jesus’ blood, but Robert was distracted with all that life had to offer him. It was only when his brother was gone that Robert had to turn to the scripture and Christian literature for himself.
McCheyne was converted in 1831 at the age of eighteen after reading The Sum of Saving Knowledge. It was at this point when McCheyne saw the need for Jesus in his life to be the redeemer of his sins. He later records his conversion through the poem “Jehovah Tsidkenu” which means “the Lord our righteousness.”The opening line of this poem says, “I once was a stranger to grace and to God,”which was a reference to his life of sin throughout his teenage years. Also in this same account he wrote, “When free grace woke me, by light from on high…Jehovah Tsidkenu [the Lord our righteousness] my Saviour must be.”He understood that it was not through good works that man is capable of restoring his relationship with God, but it was the righteousness of Christ that was needed to save sinners. This understanding of grace was the theme of his theology that he preached from the pulpit. In a sermon he preached on February 7, 1837 he described righteousness as two things, “first freedom from guilt; and second worthiness in the sight of God.” He went form relying on his ownself-righteousness to the saving work of Jesus Christ.
McCheyne enrolled in Divinity Hall of Edinburgh and began studying theology under Thomas Chalmers. Chalmers was a great influence on McCheyne during his years at the Divinity Hall. One of the contributions that Chalmers made in the life of McCheyne was to encourage him to start the Exegetical Society with a few of his fellow classmates. This group would meet at five-thirty in the morning every Saturday. McCheyne would continue meeting with this group until shortly after he became the pastor at Saint Peter’s Church in Dundee. This was a point in McCheyne’s life that his knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew scripture began to help him excel in studying the Scriptures. It was a daily practice of his to study the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures going through no less than twenty-five verses a day. Chalmers expressed how much he liked the way these men were studying God’s word, and how they held to the simple literal way of approaching the Hebrew and Greek texts. He once referred to them as the “literalities” as a way of describing their approach to study.
After four years of studying at the Divinity Hall, McCheyne was to start his life as a minister of the gospel of Jesus. However, before he was to be assigned to his probationer time, he was to be interviewed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh. The night before this appearance McCheyne wrote in his diary on February 15, 1835 “May God give me courage in the hour of need. What should I fear…to thy service I desire to dedicate myself over and over again.” Then just over a month later he records about his last day at the Divinity Hall writing “Life itself is vanishing fast. Make hast for eternity.”From these diary entries at least two different qualities can be seen in McCheyne: the first being his relentless faith and security in the calling he has received from God to be a minister, and the second was he felt an overwhelming since of urgency to share the gospel with all those around him. Though this was not being preached from the pulpit, the overwhelming majority of people believed a false since of security through good works leading to the eternal life. McCheyne having at one time believed that very false doctrine was ready to begin serving the people of his community. Yet he knew that his calling was a holy calling from God, and “it was his strong conviction that tobe in Christ before being in the ministry was a thing indispensable.” He knew the task ahead of him was going to be a very difficult one, but he would not stop sharing the love of Christ or his pursuit of holiness.
After being granted approval to join a pastor from the Presbytery of Edinburgh he quickly joined John Bonar for a year at Larbert and Dunipace. It should be noted that in the few years prior to McCheyne finishing at the Divinity Hall he began to be overtaken by sickness in the form of fevers and heart palpitations. These times of sickness would be on and off until his death in 1843, but that never stopped him from continuing toward holiness. While with John Bonar he was given the responsibility of preaching, working with the youth, and visiting the people of Larbert and Dunipace door to door. He often felt that his youth kept him from being able to truly gain the respect of the older men during sermons or when visiting a home. He was able to eventually overcome this insecurity, but while working through this struggle he still never gave up on preaching the gospel.
He made the decision to pour his efforts into sharing the gospel with the young people of these towns and focus on the door-to-door visits. With the youth he was able to use his talents as a musician to reach to the young people in hopes of entertaining them while opening up the good news of Jesus Christ to their hearts. The efforts became a success, attracting a group of sixty young peopleto his event. This was encouraging for McCheyne to see fruits of his efforts with the young people. The encouragement came through being able to gather the young people and point them in the direction of the cross. His efforts were made so they could see the love of Jesus that would lead them to salvation in Christ.
The other area McCheyne focused was his door-to-door in home visits with the peoplein his parish. It was in this particular ministry that McCheyne learned the most from John Bonar. McCheyne began at this point to keep a systematic log of every visit he would make. In this time most of the people he would visit wouldbe sick and very near death, which brought a since of urgency when spending time with these people. Through making a log of his visits it allowed him to keep an accurate account of each visit, which made this ministry a great successthroughout his life. He would make notes mostly about what he did in the home,what some of the concerns were, and would also add his own impressions.
McCheyne loved the people in his community. In a season when he was battling his chronic illness away from the church, Robertson recorded that McCheyne had learned a great deal about being a minister especially in the area of praying for the flock.
After a few months he was able to return. Interestingly he felt he was of no use to his parishbecause all he could do was preach. McCheyne was not satisfied with just preaching, he wanted to be out with the people of his community sharing the love of Christ with them.
The year with John Bonar was coming to an end, and McCheyne was called by the SaintPeter’s Church in Dundee were he was ordained on November 24, 1836 to be their pastor.
This was an exciting time for McCheyne, yet what was a head of him was a hard road filled with battles of sickness and oppression. McCheyne would also show his love toward the people of Saint Peter’s congregation through letter she would write to them while having to be away from them due to his sickness. McCheyne was not defeated by these trails and even used these times as a way to glorify God.
In a letter that to his congregation many years later, in 1839, while he was away from them recovering form anotherillness McCheyne wrote, “Still He allows me to give myself unto prayer. Perhaps this may be the chief reason of my exile from you.”Through this letter he communicated to his congregation how much he loved them, and that he understood he joy that salvation brings to a believer during times of suffering. This was a man who above everything pursued a life that waspleasing to God even in the unpleasant times of life. In his third pastoral letter to his church he expounded on the reason why Christians are to rejoice during times of suffering. He said to them “Affliction will certainly purify a believer.”He encouraged them to look at suffering as a time of being refined by God and being made into “holy golden vessels for the Masters use.”This attitude highlights his lifelong pursuit of holiness that would be pleasing to God. He cared for his people and made it his goal in life to live in a manner worthy of his calling by God. This was a man who began his life trying to earn his path to eternal life, and in the end understood it could not be earned but through Christ his morality was redirect to a life in pursuit ofgodliness.
James Stewart records in biography the words of Isabella Dickson, the wife of AndrewBonar, saying “it was not his matter nor his manner either that struck me; itwas just the living epistle of Christ—a picture so lovely.”This is a summation of the impact McCheyne had on the world around him. He was a man devoted to the call God had placed on his life. Throughout his life he could have decided that caring for others was too large of a task. He could have said holiness is just too difficult. He could have not written letters to his people or spent hours every morning he had strength praying for them; however, this was not the life he was to lead. His life has become an example to Christian on what it means to strive toward Christlikeness.
His life was short but should become a strong example to today’s Christian. His life can be a model of how to constantly be in pursuit of a personal inward holiness, with the first goal of pleasing God, which in effect will change the outwardly showing of holiness. In one of McCheyne’s most famous poems called “I Am Debtor” he writes two profound lines: “Then, Lord, shall I fully know—Not till then—how much I owe” to express his inability to completely understand the work of Christ and “Teach me, Lord, make me know something of how much I owe” to express his pursuit of personal holiness.For McCheyne holiness was not a way of earning merit with God, but a way of expressing his gratefulness toward the work of Christ. Through the highlights of McCheyne’s life the Church receives a great example of a life dedicated to obeying The Great Commandment.
