Born in Edinburgh in 1813, the youngest son of a Writer to the Signet (Scottish lawyer), Robert Murray McCheyne was part of the great 19th century religious revival in Scotland. A remarkable scholar, he taught himself the Greek alphabet at the age of four and entered university at 14. At 18 he began a four-year course in Divinity and was licensed to preach at 22. A year later he was ordained and became the first minister of a new church in a Dundee suburb. He was an outstanding and compelling preacher, with a regular Sunday congregation of 1100 mainly working-class people in his own parish, and frequent invitations to preach elsewhere during the week.
Often suffering from ill health, he briefly gave up parish work and joined a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews. The journey to Palestine and back almost killed him, but on his return he found his church packed to overflowing. His powerful preaching continued to ‘bring souls to Christ’ sometimes quite dramatically, and he travelled to Ireland, London and the north of England as well as within Scotland. On one occasion he preached at 24 different places in less than three weeks. He also found time to get engaged ‘twice’ but never married.
In 1843, after visiting some parishioners with typhoid fever, he fell ill and died. He was not quite 30. His funeral brought the town of Dundee to a complete standstill. So many people tried to attend that an overflow service had to be held outside, many walking for miles to be there.
McCheyne’s biography, which included his many letters, sermons, poems and hymns, went through 116 editions in its first 25 years alone and his sermons were still being published in the 1960s. Soon after his death, a new church was built in Dundee, the McCheyne Church, with the pew