ROBERT MURRAY MCCHEYNE
Robert Murray McCheyne was born in Edinburgh, May 21, 1813. He died three weeks short of his 30th birthday. McCheyne's life proves again the length of a man's life does not determine his impact or influence. He entered Edinburgh University in 1827, studying linguistics and poetry. The first real spiritual impression upon Robert was the untimely death of his elder brother in 1831.While attending the University, he studied under the great Thomas Chalmers, and soon became proficient in the Hebrew and Greek languages. At age 22, Robert was licensed to preach, and assisted the Rev. John Bonar in Larbert. In November, 1836, Robert was ordained as minister of St. Peter's Church in Dundee. His congregation grew to over 1100 hearers in a parish of only 4000 people. This period of ministry was marked by tireless work, visitation, prayer and sermon preparation. By 1838, his health was beginning to brake. He was one of three Scottish pastors selected to travel to Palestine for missionary endeavors. During which time, revival broke out in the Dundee church under the ministry of W. C. Burns. Upon returning home, he assumed his pastoral duties as diligently as before. In 1843, Typhoid broke out in the community and brought an untimely end to this godly man. He preached his last 3 sermons, March 1843, passing away on the 25th. In a journal found after his death was found these short lines:
Give me a man of God the truth to preach,
A house of prayer within convenient reach,
Seat rents the poorest of the poor can pay,
A spot so small one pastor can survey,
Give these - and give the Spirit's genial shower,
And Scotland shall be a garden all in flower.This brief sketch could never touch the power of his godly life.
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