M’CHEYNE, REV. ROBERT
MURRAY.—This young divine, whose brief life and labours produced such a
wide and lasting impression, was born in Edinburgh, on the 21st
of May, 1813. At the age of eight he entered the High School of his
native city, where he continued a pupil for six years, during the course
of which he was distinguished among his class-fellows not only by his
proficiency in the usual studies of the class, but his amiable,
enthusiastic disposition and engaging manners. From the High School he
passed to the university of Edinburgh, and there, besides gaining prizes
in the several classes, he distinguished himself by his proficiency in
the study of modern languages, and his taste in drawing, music, and
poetry. On finishing the usual course of a university education, it is
probable that his direction in life would still have remained to be
decided, but for one of those solemnizing events which sometimes, at
such a crisis, has confirmed the current and directed the course of
those who have become eminent in the church. This was the death of his
eldest brother, David, eight or nine years older than himself. In the
same year (1831) he entered the divinity hall, which at this time
enjoyed Dr. Chalmers for its professor in theology, and Dr. Welsh for
the chair of church history. Under such teachers, it would have been
difficult for a pupil of even ordinary capacity to remain inert and
unaccomplished; in the case of Robert M’Cheyne, there was an ardour that
not only carried him onward in the studies over which they presided, but
into that life of Christian activity and practical usefulness which they
were so desirous to combine with the intellectual acquirements of young
students in training for the ministry. Many of our living clergymen can
still remember how, both in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Dr. Chalmers
converted the divinity halls into evangelistic seminaries of
Sabbath-school teachers and religious instructors of the poor; and with
what hearty good-will they themselves, while students, enlisted in the
good work, and plunged boldly into those recesses of ignorance and crime
which, but for his exhortations, they would have never thought of
entering; and how they thereby acquired that knowledge and aptitude for
their future duties, which the mere lectures of the class-room could
never have imparted.
After having finished the
usual course appointed for students in divinity, and exhibited an amount
of talent and acquirements that might have opened for him an entrance
into the fairest fields of literary ambition, Mr. M’Cheyne was licensed
as a preacher by the Presbytery of Annan, on the 1st of July, 1835. The
sphere of action to which he turned at the outset was both humble and
laborious, being an assistantship of the joint parishes of Larbert and
Dunipace, having a population of 6000 souls, most of whom were colliers,
and workmen of the Carron Iron-works——a population sufficiently
repulsive in station and manners, as well as in general moral character.
His situation and his feelings are well described in his poem on "Mungo
Park finding a Tuft of Green Grass in the African Desert "—a poem, by
the way, which John Wilson, our prince of critics, has stamped with his
honoured approval:--
"No mighty rock upreared its head
To bless the wanderer with its shade,
In all the weary plain;
No palm-trees with refreshing green
To glad the dazzled eye were seen,
But one wide sandy main.
"Dauntless and daring was the mind,
That left all home-born joys behind
These deserts to explore—
To trace the mighty Niger’s course,
And find it bubbling from its source
In wilds untrod before.
"And ah! shall we less daring show,
Who nobler ends and motives know
Than ever heroes dream—
Who seek to lead the savage mind
The precious fountain-head to find,
Whence flows salvation’s stream?"
This he felt, and in this
spirit he laboured during the ten months of his assistantship, not
confining himself to the duties of the pulpit, careful and anxious
though his preparations in that department were, but visiting in every
house, and endeavouring to make himself acquainted with the character,
spiritual condition, and wants of every individual. A happy proof of his
diligence and discriminating character in this the most important part
of clerical duty, is contained in a letter which he afterwards wrote to
his successor, recommending to his attention the persons in whom he felt
most solicitude. "Take more heed to the saints," he writes, "than ever I
did. Speak a word in season to S. M. S. H. will drink in simple truth,
but tell him to be humble-minded. Cause L. H. to learn in silence; speak
not of religion to her, but speak to her case always. Teach A. M.
to look simply at Jesus. J. A. warn and teach. Get worldliness from the
B.’s if you can. Mrs. G. awake, or keep awake. Speak faithfully to the
B.’s. Tell me of M. C., if she is really a believer, and grows? A. K.,
has the light visited her? M. T. I have had some doubts of. M. G. lies
sore upon my conscience; I did no good to that woman; she always managed
to speak of things about the truth. Speak boldly. What matter in
eternity the slight awkwardnesses of time?" In these notanda what
a beautiful practical illustration we have of that chapter in the work
of Herbert on clerical duties, which he has entitled, "The Parson
Visiting!"
While Mr. M’Cheyne was
thus occupied in the united parishes of Dunipace and Larbert, he was
only in training for the full work of the ministry, which he was now
about to enter. This event occurred in November, 1836, when, after
having been invited by the managers and congregation of the new church,
St.. Peter’s, Dundee, to become a candidate for that charge, he preached
on trial two several Sundays before them, and was accepted as their
minister. The duties into which he now entered were of the most arduous
description. His parish of St. Peter’s, detached from that of St.
John’s, as a quoad sacra parish, contained a population of 4000
souls; and the church itself, built in connection with the Church
Extension Scheme, contained a congregation of 1100 hearers. His health,
lately subject to severe trials, was in very indifferent condition,
while the religious apathy of the townsfolks of Dundee, was such as to
strike him at first with anxiety. Here he commenced the same ministerial
labours to which he had been accustomed as a preacher, but with a sense
of still deeper responsibility—not only preaching faithfully on the
Sabbath, after careful preparation and prayer, but visiting from house
to house during the week-days, and often extending these evangelistic
visits of examination and instruction, not only over the families of his
own parish, but those of Dundee at large. Such superabundant labour was
perhaps an error—but an error upon the safe side. In addition to these
tasks, he superintended the labours of his elders over the several
districts into which his parish was divided, held weekly evening classes
for the young of his congregation, and trained the more advanced of
their number for becoming Christian communicants. He also held
prayer-meetings on the Thursday evenings. These manifestations of
earnest, tender, indefatigable solicitude for the spiritual interests of
the community among which he was placed, could not but be felt and
appreciated, and the multitudes that repaired to his ministrations on
the Sabbath, soon became permanent members of his flock, arrested as
they were by the unction of his preaching, so correspondent to his whole
character and actions; by the distinct arrangement of his ideas, and the
clear as well as eloquent language in which they were expressed—even by
the tones of his expressive voice, and unstudied yet graceful and
appropriate action of his limbs, that had excelled in dancing and
gymnastics before he became a student in theology. In the pulpit itself,
such natural and personal advantages are no trivialities—and but for
them, perhaps, even Whitefield himself, that prince of pulpit orators,
would have lived and died an undistinguished Methodist preacher. As the
fame of his popularity and usefulness extended over the country at
large, other parishes wished to have Mr. M’Cheyne for their minister;
but tempting though such offers were, on account of higher emolument and
lighter labour, he respectfully declined them. His motives for this were
well explained in his remarks on an application of this kind from the
parish of Skirling. Writing to his father, he says:—"I am set down among
nearly 4000 people; 1100 people have taken seats in my church. I bring
my message, such as it is, within the reach of that great company every
Sabbath-day. I dare not leave this people. I dare not leave 3000 or 4000
for 300 people. Had this been offered me before, I would have seen it a
direct intimation from God, and would heartily have embraced it. How I
should have delighted to feed so precious a little flock—to watch over
every family—to know every heart—to ‘allure to brighter worlds, and lead
the way!’ But God has not so ordered it. He has set me down among the
noisy mechanics and political weavers of this godless town. He will make
the money sufficient. He that paid his taxes from a fish’s mouth, will
supply all my need."
From Scotland to
Palestine, from Dundee to Jerusalem, is a strange transition—but this
Mr. M’Cheyne was now called to undergo. The incessant action of mind and
body during his ministerial course, upon a constitution naturally
delicate, had, towards the close of 1838, completely impaired his
strength, and occasioned such a violent palpitation of the heart, that
he was imperatively ordered by his medical advisers to discontinue his
public labours, and seek a cure in change of place and occupation. He
reluctantly complied, and passed over to Edinburgh, where he had not
been long domiciled, when a proposal was made to him to join a
deputation about to be sent by the Church of Scotland into the East, for
the purpose of making personal inquiries into the condition of the Jews.
Nothing could have been more opportune than such an offer. It gratified
the longing for missionary enterprise that had stirred up his heart from
an early period, but hitherto without scope; it promised to restore that
health of which he was now in quest, without dreary useless inaction as
its price; and it would lead him through those hallowed scenes and
localities, the memory of which is so dear to every Christian heart, and
which it recognizes to the very end as its native birthplace and home.
As one of the four ministers who composed the mission, he commenced that
interesting journey of which a full account has been given to the public
in the "Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, from the Church
of Scotland, in 1839." After a six months’ tour, in which every day
brought a change of scene and incident, he returned home in November,
1839, renewed in health, and impatient to resume his wonted duties. It
was time that he should return, for one of these mysterious religious
epochs, called a "revival," had occurred within his own parish, as well
as the town of Dundee at large. It was similar to the event which, under
the same title, had occurred nearly a century earlier at Cambuslang. On
departing upon his mission to the East, the assistant whom Mr. M’Cheyne
left in his place had preached in Kilsyth, and there such a revival of
religious feeling had occurred as seemed to recall the days of
Pentecost. From Kilsyth the impulse reached Dundee, where its original
agent was now stationed, and afterwards went with an electric sympathy
through other parishes of Scotland. This religious popular movement, so
peculiar to Scotland, and yet so alien to the national character—as if
that were the fittest place where such a doubtful impulse could be best
tried and tested—was in full operation among his people when Mr.
M’Cheyne returned, and in its working he recognized the finger of God.
On this account he threw himself without hesitation into it, and was now
more employed than ever in speaking comfort to the afflicted, and giving
instruction to the doubtful and inquiring. The immediate fruits of this
revival, also, were such as to fill him with the most triumphant hope,
notwithstanding the frequent instances that occurred among the seemingly
converted, not only of wavering inconsistency, but even of positive
downfall. As is well known, this great national religious stirring among
the people preceded the Disruption, for which it served in some measure
to prepare the way; and in these events, by which the Church of Scotland
was finally rent in twain, Mr. M’Cheyne could not do otherwise than feel
a deep vital interest. That principle of spiritual independence for
which his brethren were contending, he had cherished and advocated from
the beginning, and now that it was in peril, he prepared himself to
sacrifice all for its sake. He therefore attended the solemn clerical
meeting held in Edinburgh on the 11th of August, 1841, and subscribed
the engagement by which the Commission of the General Assembly bound
itself to vindicate the liberties of the church, by proceeding against
the recusant ministers of the Presbytery of Strathbogie, notwithstanding
the state protection, within which they had intrenched themselves. In
the following year he was one of a clerical deputation that visited the
north of England, for the purpose of preaching in chapels or in the open
air, and instructing all who repaired to them in the great common
principles of religion, without reference to sect or party.
On returning to his
charge at Dundee, Mr. M’Cheyne resumed his duties, and pursued them with
a diligence which neither frequent attacks of sickness, nor a gradually
decaying constitution, seemed in any way to abate. But his days were
numbered, and his anticipations of a short life were about to be
realized. In the midst of his preparations for the disruption that soon
took place, in the event of which he had expressed his resolution to go
forth as a missionary to our convict colonies, he was attacked by fever,
the violence of which soon left no doubt of what would be its
termination. Delirium followed, and in a few days he breathed his last.
So intensely was he beloved, not only by the members of his flock, but
the inhabitants of Dundee in general, that his death, coming especially
with such suddenness, was lamented as a public calamity. The event
occurred on the 25th of March, 1843, in the thirtieth year of his age,
and seventh of his short but most useful and honoured ministry.
It is difficult, in so
brief a notice, and in a life marked by so few striking incidents and
changes, to convey a distinct idea of the worth of Mr. M’Cheyne, or the
important character and results of his public labours. As a minister, he
might be called the Whitefield of Scotland; and in that one word we
endeavour to comprise, as well as to convey an impression of his
apostolic life, character, and labours. Many indeed are the thousands
still living, not only in his native land, but in England and Ireland,
who will recognize the justice of such a title. |