"This Month, Long Ago" (Robert Murray McCheyne)

One of the greatest events in the orthodox Jewish family is the birth of a baby boy. Every Jewish parent who holds fast to the faith of their fathers cherishes the hope that of them Messiah will be born. As Christians, of course, we know that the Messiah has come already - born of the virgin Mary, who was espoused to the carpenter, Joseph. Nevertheless, if we are sincere in our Christian profession, then we should cherish the hope that our children will be born, not as Messiahs, for that is impossible, but that they will be born to grow up Messiah-like. That, in the will of God, they will early come to know Christ as their Saviour, and grow more and more like Him as day follows day.

Such a desire, no doubt was cherished by the parents of a baby boy who was born on the 21st of this month, long ago. He was the youngest child of the family, and was named Robert Murray - Robert Murray McCheyne. Those who have read the life story of McCheyne need no one to tell them that he lived and worked among his fellow men as one who attained to the highest degree of Christlikeness. "You're nae ordinary man", it was said of him by a gang of workmen with whom he stopped to speak about the state of their souls; and he has been well designated "The Saintly Murray McCheyne".

In his early life, Murray McCheyne had an exceptional character. Many regarded him as a sincere born-again Christian on account of his approach to religious matters. Like Richard Sibbes before him, it could almost have been said that "heaven was in him before he was in heaven". His own estimation of those early days, however, leaves us without mistake of what his true condition was. Andrew Bonar, his dearest friend and biographer, tells us that McCheyne himself "regarded these as days of ungodliness - days wherein he cherished a true morality, but lived in heart a Pharisee".

It was not until the death of his brother David, that McCheyne began to feel the sinfulness of sin. Many are hardened by death in the family circle, but he was melted to see himself as lost before the God with whom he had to do. He thought long and often upon the words that his breather had spoken to him about his soul's salvation. Eleven years after the death of his brother he wrote to a friend, "This day eleven years ago, I lost my loved and loving brother, and began to seek a Brother that cannot die". The "Brother that cannot die" was found by McCheyne, and in the brief life that followed on this earth he did all in his power under the Holy Spirit to emulate the One who had captured his heart. "Make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be", was his continual prayer; and from what we know of his life, it would seem that the Lord answered this his prayer in a very real way.

He was ordained to the ministry in the year 1835, and only 7 years later was taken to be with the Saviour whom he tried so hard to please and imitate. But, in those seven years, he left an impression on the Church of Christ equal to most who had died "in a full age".

His first charge was at Larbert, and from there he moved to the place of his most famous labours and his death, at St. Peter's in Dundee. We often speak of Bunyan and Bedford, Newton and Olney, Edwards and Northampton, Baxter and Kidderminster; and in the same way, we might speak - many may do - of McCheyne and St. Peter's. Afflicted with ill-health, he, nevertheless, drove himself to every extreme of hardship in the service of Christ. He laboured with fervent prayers and preaching among his won people; faithfully sowing the seed of the Word of God.

His labours were not confined to Dundee, however, and he travelled a great deal of the country on preaching missions, crossing the sea to Ireland on several occasions, and undertaking the enquiry into the evangelisation of the Jews when he travelled with Andrew Boner and other to the Holy Land. It was during this trip that he was laid most low in his physical health, and yet elevated most high in his spiritual office. During his absence, the pulpit at Dundee was occupied by the great evangelist, W.C. Burns, and it was to him that God gave the sickle to reap the harvest that McCheyne had so faithfully sown and watered. On his return to Scotland, he took up his labours once more, and had the joy of seeing many, many souls brought to the saving knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ.

One of Murray McCheyne's saying was: "Live so as to be missed"; and when he departed this life on 25th March 1843, Andrew Bonar tells us that "every Christian countenance was darkened with sadness". Like David Brainerd, Robert Murray McCheyne had not reached his 30th year. "On the day of his burial", Bonar tells us, "business was quite suspended in the parish. The streets and every window, from the house to the grave, where crowded with those who felt that a prince in Israel had fallen. His tomb may be seen on the pathway at the north-west corner of St. Peter's burying ground. He has gone to 'the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, till the day break and the shadows flee away'".

(The length of the present sketch is quite inadequate to give a full picture of the life of this man. May I recommend "The Memoir of Robert Murray McCheyne" by Andrew Bonar)