Robert Murray M’Cheyne
By Andrew Bonar
Banner of Truth
We’re blessed with many good contemporary theologians and authors. They apply the truth to the world we live in today in a way that no other generation of writers can. But there is something different about the writings of yesterday—something special. They take us into sacred places and draw our hearts to Christ in an unusually powerful way. One of my favorites of these old classics is Andrew Bonar’s biography of Robert Murray M’Cheyne.
M’Cheyne was, like Whitefield and Spurgeon, one of the great Calvinist evangelists who
saw no inconsistency in preaching an electing God, who ‘calleth whom he will,’ and a salvation free to ‘whosoever will;’ nor in declaring the absolute sovereignty of God, and yet the unimpaired responsibility of man. He preached Christ as a gift laid down by the Father for every sinner freely to take.
Whether at home in Scotland or in the deserts of Palestine where he traveled to evangelize the Jews, M’Cheyne’s passion was to preach the gospel. He loved sinners and was burdened to see them saved. And he served them tirelessly:
Occasionally, he would spend six hours in visiting, and then, the same evening, preach in some room to all the families whom he had that day visited. Very generally, too, on Sabbath, after preaching twice to his own flock, he was engaged in ministering somewhere else in the evening….When an opportunity of evangelizing occurred, there was none in Scotland more ready to embrace it.
The Holy Spirit blessed M’Cheyne’s efforts. Hundreds were brought to Christ under his short ministry (M’Cheyne died when he was 29). He explained and applied the Scriptures clearly and powerfully, but he had something else that many lack: “It was testified of him, that not the words he spoke, but the holy manner in which he spoke, was the chief means of arresting souls.”
One story illustrates this well. M’Cheyne preached his last sermon at Broughty Ferry a few days before he died. After his death, his friends found an unopened letter that had been delivered during his illness. It was from a man who heard that last sermon:
I hope you will pardon a stranger for addressing to you a few lines. I heard you preach last Sabbath evening, and it pleased God to bless that sermon to my soul. It was not so much what you said, as your manner of speaking, that struck me. I saw in you a beauty in holiness that I never saw before. You also said something in your prayer that struck me very much. It was, ‘Thou knowest that we love thee.’ O Sir, what would I give that I could say to my blessed Saviour, ‘Thou knowest that I love thee.’
Andrew Bonar, the author of this biography, was a fellow minister and close friend of M’Cheyne. He published this biography in 1844, just one year after his friend’s death. Banner of Truth published their first edition in 1960, and it has been reprinted several times since. Besides the introduction, there are six chapters representing six phases in M’Cheyne’s life:
- His youth and preparation for the ministry
- His labours in the vineyard before ordination
- First years of labour in Dundee
- His mission to Palestine and the Jews
- Days of revival
- The latter days of his ministry
Throughout the chapters, Bonar allows M’Cheyne to speak for himself with journal entries and letters to friends and family. Several of M’Cheyne’s poems and hymns are also included. All of M’Cheyne’s words are beautifully written, and they show the great desire of his heart: “Lord, wean me from my sins, from my cares, and from this passing world. May Christ be all in all to me.” Regarding the larger volume of M’Cheyne’s memoirs, Spurgeon said, “This is one of the best and most profitable volumes ever published. Every minister should read it often.” The same is true of this smaller book. Pick it up, read it, and walk with one of the giants of our faith. You’ll be blessed and encouraged for doing so.
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