TRAVEL WITH ROBERT MURRAY MCCHEYNE

Description

DEREK PRIME

Gifted as a student, pastor, teacher, poet, hymn-writer, and artist, Robert Murray McCheyne died at the age of twenty-nine—but the record of his life and ministry has had a remarkable impact upon the Christian church worldwide. What is most outstanding, and probably the principal reason why his influence continues, is what can only be described as his personal holiness. Those he stayed with paid tribute to the influence of peace and calm that remained even when he had left; his very presence in the pulpit had a deep effect upon many in the congregation. McCheyne was one of Scotland’s most godly ministers of all time.

After serving churches in the UK as a pastor for a total of thirty years—first at Lansdowne Evangelical Free Church, West Norwood, in London and then at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh— Derek Prime has devoted himself since 1987 to an itinerant ministry and to writing.

This travel-guide/biography introduced me to one of DayOne’s more obscure subjects. The brilliant photographs within give a glimpse of what survives of McCheyne’s Scotland. The question remains however, why was this figure who died at the very early age of 29, so highly regarded by contemporaries, and deemed worthy of this attractive volume? He seems always to be involved, but never quite central to events. He would have taken an important role in the Great disruption of 1843 and the birth of the Free Church of Scotland, but he died before that great event. Had he lived longer…who knows? GoodBookStall Review – 29/02/2008 – Ian Gibbs