Free for Logos: Memoir & Remains of the R. M. McCheyne

Have you added this title to your Logos collection? If not, you should.

Free for Logos: Memoir & Remains of the R. M. McCheyne

"Prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually..." Packer

I am posting this primarily for my own exhortation.

One of the foundational steps in knowing God, and one of the basic demonstrations that we know God, is prayer—spiritual, persistent, biblically minded prayer. Writing a century and a half ago, Robert Murray M'Cheyne declared, "What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more."

I do not write these things to manipulate you or to be engendering guilty feelings. But what shall we do? Have not many of us tried at one point or another to improve our praying, and floundered so badly that we are more discouraged than we ever were? Do you not sense, with me, the severity of the problem? Granted that most of us know some individuals who are remarkable prayer warriors, is it not nevertheless true that by and large we are better at organizing than agonizing? Better at administering than interceding? Better at fellowship than fasting? Better at entertaining than worship? Better at theological articulation than spiritual adoration? Better—God help us!—at preaching than praying?

What is wrong? Is not this sad state of affairs some sort of index of our knowledge of God? Shall we not agree with J. I. Packer when he writes, "I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can face"? (J. I. Packer, in My Path of Prayer)

D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Baker, 1992 (my copy courtesy of Mark Gunn a reader of this blog. Thank you, again!)   

"Prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually..." Packer

Robert Murray M'Cheyne on "Daily Bread"

Robert Murray M'Cheyne, who was a godly pastor in Dundee, Scotland in the early 19th Century, provided his congregation with a Bible reading calendar and some timely words for its use:

My dear flock,--The approach of another year stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved. "God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." What the coming year is to bring forth, who can tell? There is plainly a weight lying on the spirits of all good men, and a looking for some strange work of judgment coming upon this land. There is need now to ask that solemn question: "If in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?"

Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures, but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy-seat, if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say, like David, "The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from Thy law." "Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of Thy word."

It has long been in my mind to prepare a scheme of Scripture reading, in which as many as were made willing by God might agree, so that the whole Bible might be read once by you in the year, and all might be feeding in the same portion of the green pasture at the same time.

M'Cheyne listed some advantages to using a Bible reading plan:

• "The whole Bible will be read through in an orderly manner in the course of a year. . . . If we pass over some parts of Scripture, we shall be incomplete Christians."

• "Time will not be wasted in choosing what portions to read.--Often believers are at a loss to determine towards which part of the mountains of spices they should bend their steps."

• "Parents will have a regular subject upon which to examine their children and servants. . . . Let [the day's chapter] be read by every member of the family beforehand, and then the meaning and application drawn out by simple question and answer."

• "The pastor will know in what part of the pasture the flock are feeding.--He will thus be enabled to speak more suitably to them on the Sabbath; and both pastor and elders will be able to drop a word of light and comfort in visiting from house to house, which will be more readily responded to."

• "The sweet bond of Christian love and unity will be strengthened.--We shall be often led to think of those dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, here and elsewhere, who agree to join with us in reading these portions. We shall oftener be led to agree on earth, touching something we shall ask of God. We shall pray over the same promises, mourn over the same confessions, praise God in the same songs, and be nourished by the same words of eternal life."

M'Cheyne also cautions us concerning some dangers of using a Bible reading plan:

• "Formality--We are such weak creatures that any regularly returning duty is apt to degenerate into a lifeless form. . . . Guard against this. Let the calendar perish rather than this rust eat up your souls."

• "Self-righteousness--Some, when they have devoted their set time to reading the word, and accomplished their prescribed portion, may be tempted to look at themselves with self-complacency."

• "Careless reading. . . . Some, by having so large a portion, may be tempted to weary of it, as Israel did of the daily manna saying, "Our soul loatheth this light bread!" and to read it in a slight and careless manner. This would be fearfully provoking to God."

• "A yoke too heavy to bear. . . . [Some] may find conscience dragging them through the appointed task without any relish of the heavenly food. If this be the case with any, throw aside the fetter, and feed at liberty in the sweet garden of God. My desire is not to cast a snare upon you, but to be a helper of your joy." (excerpted from Andrew Bonar, Memoir and Remains of R.M. M'Cheyne; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987 reprint, pp. 618-628)
  

My church offers a pdf of M'Cheyne's calendar that can be printed on a single sheet of paper front and back, folded in half, and carried in your Bible.

If you would like a single sheet calendar for each month (larger print), you can download the files below.

January April July October
February May August November
March June September December

For several different Bible reading plans see Justin Taylor's post from yesterday.

Happy New Year! May you enjoy feeding in the green pastures of God's Word in 2009!

Robert Murray M'Cheyne on "Daily Bread"

Encourage One Another to Do the Exegetical Spade Work

I was glad to read Andy Efting's comments on my earlier post, "Brothers, Bitzer was a Banker". I hope that you will take a few minutes to read them, too. I've still been giving this more thought.

One thing I've been thinking about is the need some of us have to be challenged to do spade work. Not everyone is equally skillful in the languages. Accountability and encouragement along these lines goes a long way.

I was reminded of the Exegetical Society organized by a group of students at Edinburgh University on November 19, 1831. This was a student society which met together for the study of the Bible, exercise in the Septuagint Greek and Hebrew original, and for prayer. The original group included Horatius and Andrew Bonar, William Laughton, Thomas Brown, Henry Moncreiff, William Wilson, John Thomson, Walter Wood, John Millar, Robert Hamilton, John Burne, Patrick Borrowman, Alex. Somerville, and Robert Murray M'Cheyne. You can view a photo of an agreement drawn up by Robert Murray M'Cheyne in 1838 here. The agreement reads as follows:

We the undersigned members of the Exegetical Society hereby declare our intention to read during the course of next year the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah or one or the other of them in Hebrew - and one of the books of the New Testament in Greek.

Edinburgh
24. May 1838.

Henry Moncreiff
Andrew A. Bonar
Rob Kinnear
Thomas Brown
Walter Wood
John Thornton
Alexander Somerville
George Smeaton
Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Pastors and elders get together occasionally (some very often) for conferences and fellowships. These are great and meet an important need for pastors. What if pastors would band together for the sake of helping one another to become better exegete's of the Word; to encourage and challenge each other to excel in their understanding of the biblical languages. This would take some effort, but would continue to repay a preacher long after the hype of a "star-studded" conference would last. What do you think?

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Note: I found the picture over at the Logos blog. I can't take any credit for it but thought it fit well with the subject at hand. Please pay them a visit. If you don't have the Libronix software package you may want to give it some thought. They offer a lot of language tools, not to mention tons of commentaries, theological works, and reference works to add on.

Encourage One Another to Do the Exegetical Spade Work

Significant Biographies of R. M. M'Cheyne

Tim Leaman has been kind enough to share a number of Selected (and often annotated) Bibliographies with us and I would like to share another one with you. The following is a list Tim has compiled of one my favorite figures from church history–Robert Murray M'Cheyne.

Bonar, Andrew A. Memoirs and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne. (Dundee: William Middleton, 1845), 606 pp.

This is a classic biography of a godly pastor written by his close friend. In some ways this can never be bettered due to the familiarity of the writer to his subject. The blood earnest zeal and holy life of this young preacher are an inspiration to any man of God. Every pastor should read this biography as least once.

Howat, Irene. Robert Murray McCheyne: Life Is An Adventure. (Geanies House: Christian Focus Publications, 2004), 144 pp.

This is written for ages 9-14.

Lamb, William. M'Cheyne from the Pew. (Belfast: Ambassador Production Ltd., 1893, reprinted 1987). 157 pp.

This small book is the recollections of an elder who served under M'Cheyne. It provides a candid view of this legendary pastor. This is nothing like a complete biography but interesting to any M'Cheyne enthusiast.

Robertson, David A. Awakening: A Biography of the Life and Ministry of Robert Murray M'Cheyne. Paternoster: Authentic Books, 2004), 201 pp.

Smellie, Alexander. R.M. M'Cheyne: A Burning Light. (Geanies House, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1995), 250 pp.

This Scottish author is famous for his Men of the Covenant. He writes a fine life of M'Cheyne. However, it is not as helpful as Bonar or Van Valen's works. This volume includes extracts from the diary of Jessie Thain and Alexander Cumming's record of the revival.

Smith, J. C. Robert Murray M'Cheyne: A Good Minister of Jesus Christ. (Belfast: Ambassador Productions Ltd., 1910, reprinted 1998).

This is a poorly written biography. The author has just gleaned much from Bonar's great work. Its chief value seems to be the quotations the author has collected from noteworthy preachers about M'Cheyne. This book will still be a blessing to many because of the impression left by M'Cheyne.

Van Valen, L. J. Constrained By His Love: A New Biography on Robert Murray M'Cheyne. (Geanies House, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2002), 491 pp.

This is the finest historical biography of M'Cheyne. The author has researched his subject very thoroughly. He provides many details not found in the older biographies. This volume abounds with letters, sketches, and pictures related to M'Cheyne's brief life. The author presents a well rounded factual portrait of this servant of God. The historical context provided by Van Valen makes M'Cheyne come alive Must reading for anyone who has been touched by this preachers life.

* There are numerous other sketches in separate works that summarize his life and ministry.
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Find books about Robert Murray M'Cheyne at...

Christian Book Distributors

Westminster Bookstore

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Store

Amazon

See also...
The Published Writings of G. Campbell Morgan

Robert Murray M'Cheyne & James Hudson Taylor

Significant Biographies of R. M. M'Cheyne

Robert Murray M'Cheyne & James Hudson Taylor

Two well known 19^th century ministers share the same birthday, May 21: Robert Murray M’Cheyne and James Hudson Taylor. Both were from what is now the UK and both live on through their legacies. One ministered mostly in his own country; the other went to China. One died young; the other lived to old age. One lives on through his life story and his printed sermons; the other lives on through his life story and the missions agency he founded.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on this date in 1813. At a young age he was known for his bright intellect and upright behavior. However, he referred to this time as “days of ungodliness—days wherein he cherished a pure morality, but lived in heart a Pharisee” (Andrew A. Bonar, Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Banner of Truth, p. 4). As he grew he turned to worldly pursuits, but the Spirit of God was convicting him of his inward corruptions. In May 1832, already studying for the ministry under Thomas Chalmers, M’Cheyne trusted himself to Jesus Christ. He writes in his journal on May 6, “Why should I doubt? Not that God is unwilling, not that He is unable—of both I am assured. But perhaps my old sins are too fearful, and my unbelief too glaring? Nay; I come to Christ, not although I am a sinner, but just because I am a sinner, even the chief” (Bonar, p. 17).

M’Cheyne became pastor of St. Peter’s, Dundee in 1836. He became well known for his godliness, his fervent love for the Lord, and his eloquent preaching. He also was a member of the Exegetical Society, which resolved in 1838 to study the Scriptures in the original languages. In 1839 he traveled to Europe and Palestine on a mission trip to reach Jewish people. This was the beginning of a Church of Scotland work in that region that could count among its fruits the conversion of the family of Adolph Saphir. Saphir was a Jewish Christian author who wrote, among other things, a commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.

M’Cheyne was frequently in ill health. In March 1843 he took a fever from which he never recovered. He continued praising the Lord and ministering to people from his sickbed until he became delirious. On the morning of March 25 “he lifted up his hands as if in the attitude of pronouncing the blessing, and then sank down. Not a groan or a sigh, but only a quiver of the lip, and his soul was at rest” (Bonar, p. 164).

M’Cheyne is best remembered today because of the Memoir written by his close friend in the ministry Andrew Bonar. Bonar published the Memoir and Remains in 1844, and it was so well received that in 1846 another volume was published, Additional Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, another collection of his sermons and lectures. This book went out of print for well over a hundred years, but in 1993 and 2001 Christian Focus Publications reprinted this work under the title, From the Preacher’s Heart. M’Cheyne is remembered also for contributing several wonderful hymns and a very useful Bible reading schedule (purchase a copy here).

Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne by Andrew A. Bonar (Banner of Truth, nd) [CBD - WTS ]

Robert Murray M'Cheyne, by Andrew Bonar [CBD - WTS ]

From the Preacher's Heart by Robert Murray Murray M'Cheyne (CFP, 1995) [CBD]

Other Biographies:

Robert Murray McCheyne by Alexander Smellie (CFP, 1995) Paperback. [CBD]

Robert Murray McCheyne by Basil Miller (Christian Life Books, 2003) Paperback. [CBD]

Robert Murray M'Cheyne: A Good Minister of Jesus Christ by J. C. Smith (Ambassador-Emerald, Intl.,1998) Paperback. [CBD]

J. Hudson Taylor was born in 1832 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England to godly parents who wanted their son to serve the Lord. He was saved at age seventeen after his mother felt a special burden to pray for her son. She had left him at home while she visited a friend far away. At her friend’s house she went to a room by herself and prayed until she believed he had submitted to the Lord. Young Hudson, who was bored, had found a tract to read just to pass the time with a good story. However, the Lord used the gospel message in the tract to draw him to Christ.

Taylor’s whole life is a testament to the power of believing prayer. While training in medicine he felt the call to go to China and began preparing himself. Taylor worked for a doctor who sometimes forgot to pay him as scheduled. Instead of reminding the doctor, Taylor would pray for the Lord to meet his needs. He reasoned that he would not be able to trust God completely on the foreign field unless he had first learned to trust Him at home. The stories from this time in his life make for thrilling reading. His biographers, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, devote the first volume of the two-volume biography to this formative time and titled the volume, Hudson Taylor in Early Years: the Growth of a Soul. Volume Two is Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: the Growth of a Work of God.

Taylor first went to China in September 1853 with the Chinese Evangelization Society. He had an independent nature, preferring methods different from those used by many other missionaries and preferring to remain free to follow God’s leadership rather than man’s. He didn’t raise money the way others did, and he shocked other missionaries by dressing and wearing his hair like the Chinese among whom he lived. In 1858 Taylor married Maria Dyer, and in 1865 he founded the China Inland Mission. The CIM missionaries went to the field without stipulated support, trusting God to supply. Not only did Taylor have to trust God to meet his financial needs, he also had to trust God to send workers willing to go without a guaranteed salary. He continued applying the principles he had learned while a student in England. With the 1949 Communist takeover of China, the CIM had to change its focus of ministry and became the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF).

The principles Taylor lived by are the basis of the book, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. Hudson wrote his own memoir, a short book called A Retrospect, published now under the title, Looking Back. A quote from this book shows, in his own words, Taylor living out his faith as he forms the China Inland Mission:

On Sunday, June 25, 1865, unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security, while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony; and there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service. I told Him that all the responsibility as to issues and consequences must rest with Him; that as His servant it was mine to obey and follow Him—His, to direct, to care for, and to guide me and those who might labor with me. Need I say that peace at once flowed into my burdened heart? … I returned home with a heart enjoying rest such as it had been a stranger to for months, and with an assurance that the Lord would bless His own work and that I should share in the blessing. (A Retrospect, pp. 145-146)

Hudson Taylor Biography, 2 Volumes by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor (Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 2007) paperback [CBD]

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor (Moody, 1987) paperback [CBD]

Recommended Sermon: Hudson Taylor: Songs on His Pilgrimage (Jason Janz, 4/27/2007) (posted by JB)

Robert Murray M'Cheyne & James Hudson Taylor