Birth: 21-05-1813
Home Calling: 05-03-1843
Native Place: Edinburg
Country: Scotland
Place of Vision: United Kingdom
Robert Murray M’Cheyne was born into a prosperous Christian family. He spent his early youth in worldliness and sin. However, the untimely death of his elder brother profoundly changed his perspective on life. During this time, he read David Dickson’s ‘Sum of Saving Knowledge’ which brought him into a new relationship with Christ. He accepted the Lord as his personal Savior and commenced his divinity studies under Thomas Chalmers at the Edinburgh Divinity Hall. He was ordained as a pastor of St. Peter’s Church, Dundee, in 1836. At Dundee, Murray was grieved at the sight of heathenism and idolatry in the city. He wrestled hard in preaching and prayer to save the lost souls. He preached not to please the audience but to make them guilty about their sin. According to him, “If the Gospel pleased carnal men, it would not be the Gospel…, a broken heart alone can receive a crucified Christ.” The burning passion for saving the lost is evident in his own words “I think I can say, I have never risen a morning without thinking how I could bring more souls to Christ.” He often pleaded with the audience with tears in his sermons in the sense of urgency as if they were hanging over the cliff of Hell. He was also very much concerned about the spiritual deadness in the churches and worked to enliven the believers.
In 1839, he briefly visited Israel to enquire about the possibility of ministry among Jews. This led to the establishment of several missions among the Jews by the Church of Scotland. He also set out on evangelical missions to London, Aberdeenshire and parts of northern England. Although frequent illness bogged him down, he surpassed his peers in the spiritual realm. Murray, an avid prayer warrior, a popular hymnist, and a powerful preacher, gave all he had to serve his heavenly Master and entered the heavenly abode at the young age of 30.
