Tuesday, May 21, 2024

It is the 21st of May 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Today, I bring you something of a cult favorite in pockets of the church and church history. If you know the name, you might know that he was considered the “Scottish George Whitefield” (Whitefield being one of the first celebrity pastors of the first Great Awakening”). You might also know this man because his name has an unusual apostrophe, an older practice that happened to stick with this missionary, pastor, and poet who died an early death. He was Robert Murray M’Cheyne- the apostrophe after the “M” before the “Cheyne” as if to be standing in for the traditional “Mac” meaning son of.

And Robert was the son of Adam and Lockhart, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on this, the 21st of May in 1813. He was the youngest of 4 surviving children.

He attended local schools, and, in 1827, enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, where his biographer notes he was especially taken with “card playing, dancing [and] music.” He was raised in the Church of Scotland but was not devout or expressive like his older brother David, who had prayed for a conversion or repentance for his little brother. It was in 1831 when everything changed for Robert- and it was the death of his older brother David that marked what he called “the first overwhelming blow to my worldliness.”. He began to sit under the evangelical teaching of Thomas Chalmers and decided to devote himself to the ministry. He would continue to write poetry, but now for devotional use. He examined his earlier life and determined to redeem the time by developing personal habits related to his own piety and ministry. His early morning Bible reading caused some to ask him for a plan for reading through scripture. The M’

Cheyne Bible plan has been one of the more popular scripture reading plans. It involves four different readings per day, which is about 20-30 minutes of reading but jumping about through the Scriptures rather than potentially getting stuck in one place.

In 1835, M’Cheyne was licensed as a preacher in the Presbytery of Annan. He served for a brief time under another pastor until he was called to his own church- a new parish, St. Peter’s Dundee. Dundee is a great place- really. But it has a reputation both then and now. When I was across the Firth of Tay but maybe wanted to go to a real movie theatre or bowling alley, we could take the bus to what was either called “FunDee” or “ScumDee”- the truth lying somewhere in the middle.

It seems to have been the case for Robert, who believed himself to have called all 4,000 people in his parish- whether they had come to church or not. His tireless work served to exacerbate his poor health, but M’Cheyne- according to his own diaries- seemed to have thought he was to die early, and thus, burning the candle at both ends seemed reasonable. His church would see relative growth, but soon Robert was too sick to perform his pastoral duties. His old friend Andrew Bonar suggested he take a trip with a group to Palestine- the weather was more conducive to Robert’s lungs, and both men had developed a desire to see the Jewish people converted to Christ. They would publish their Narrative of a Visit to the Holy Land and Mission of Inquiry to the Jews.

While in the Holy Land, his church back in Dundee, William Chalmers Burns would see St. Peter’s undergo something of a revival- when M’Cheyne came back, he was moved by the growth of the church and the seriousness with which he perceived they took their faith. His companion Bonar wrote that he believed the events took place when M’Cheyne was sick and away to prove that God could use whomever, not just the young popular preacher.

M’Cheyne would spend the early 1840s at his home church, preaching all around Scotland, in doors and out of doors, invited and uninvited. The weather would eventually get to him, and in March of 1843, Bonar wrote in his journal:

“This afternoon, about 5 o’clock, a message has just come to tell me of Robert M‘Cheyne’s death. Never, never in all my life have I felt anything like this. It is a blow to myself, to his people, to the Church of Christ in Scotland.” “Life has lost half its joys were it not for the hope of saving souls. There was no friend whom I loved like him”.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne, the popular pastor, evangelist and itinerant preacher- born on this day in 1813 died in March of 1843 at the age of 29.

 

 The last word for today is from M’Cheyne- two stanzas from a poem turned hymn inspired by his own personal conversion:

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,

I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;

Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,

Jehovah, my Saviour, seemed nothing to me.

 

When free grace awoke me by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety, in self could I see;

Jehovah, Thou only my Saviour must be.

 

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of May 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a proud son of Indiana- go Pacers- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who just saw Dundee listed as “Coolest Little City in Britain” by GQ- wow, big if true… I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.