McCheyne

Robert Murray McCheyne

Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree
 Jehovah Tsidkenu meant nothing to me
(Robert Murray McCheyne)

We sang this hymn yesterday morning in church. We started off with two short Psalms (133 and 134) which have but 5 verses between them, so we run them into one another and sang them to the same tune. We then sang, after the scripture reading, McCheyne's testimony hymn and then, after the message, finished off with the hymn "Jesus my Saviour is precious to me." I preached on John 7:37-39 on the Lord's great invitation on the last day of the feast for all the thirsty ones to come and drink. I did not preach it evangelistically (although I introduced it as such) because I wanted to preach the gospel at night (from John 5:40). So, I concentrated on what we have when we come to Christ with a view of encouraging and teaching the Christians present.  For those interested in outlines, I pointed out that when we come to Christ, we have:

1) The reality and not the shadow (i.e. no longer the type i.e. the Feast/Tabernacles but the thing typified i.e. Christ who tabernacled among us)

2) The satisfaction and not the thirst (obvious from text)

3) The fullness and not the limitation - we now have the Holy Spirit given more fully than before (v38-39).

I enjoyed better liberty at night, but nevertheless the folk seemed to enjoy the morning message. 

I chose McCheyne's hymn because he mentions "I drank at the fountain, life giving and free" which obviously tied in with the text. However, as you will observe, this is not the quote I head this blog post with. The words above actually came with more sweetness to my soul. Friends had obviously witnessed to McCheyne when he was yet unsaved. His older brother, David, who passed away early (as indeed Robert did) had a great impact upon him. But they not only witnessed to him about Christ crucfied ("Christ on the tree") but they did so (in McCheyne's words) "with rapture."  It was not mechancial, nor out of a mere sense of duty. Their souls were enraptured with Christ, much like the church in the Song of Solomon. Fittingly, Song of Solomon was McCheyne's favourite book of the Bible. 

Maybe you have never heard of McCheyne. I was asked a while ago as to which book I had read and would recommend. I chose McCheyne's biography by his close friend Andrew Bonar for its sheer spirituality. Books have gone and gone in my library but this one ever will remain. It formed part of my life when as a young believer, I rushed home from my work to devour more of its pages in the summer of 1979. 

The Robert Murray McCheyne Resource

Centenary Message of his birth (Banner of Truth)  

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PROTESTANT HISTORY:

JENNY GEDDES AND HER THREE LEGGED STOOL

I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. (Psalm 78:2-4)

INTRODUCTION: BIBLE PROTESTANTISM HAS A GLORIOUS HISTORY. It is an epic story of a deadly struggle from under the heel of the Roman system to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. In our ecumenical and apostate age, this story needs to be retold that the battle may continue. This is the eighteenth of a number of posts (hence entitled: Protestant22) and is just another shot fired in this great battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. We are deliberately aiming at brevity, leaving it to other works (listed later) to satisfy any hunger for further information. These pages may therefore be viewed as tasty appetisers. May God give us the faith of these old Protestants who loved not their lives unto death and of whom, the world in its sin, was not worthy. 

JENNY GEDDES AND HER THREE LEGGED STOOL!

Although not strictly a Reformation event, yet we include it here as an example of a good old Protestant spirit alive and well after the deeds of earlier times. In 1637 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the minister of St Giles tried to introduce the English Prayer Book, which although drawn up by the English Reformers, nevertheless still retained some Popish features. Jenny Geddes, a street trader, threw her stool at the head of the minister when he commenced reading it. She cried: "Deil colic the wame o’ ye, fause thief; daur ye say Mass in my lug?" meaning "The Devil cause you severe pain and flatulent distention of your abdomen, false thief: dare you say the Mass in my ear?"

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CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

 

 Note: In the last 15 months or so, I gave myself time during my private devotions to reading David Dickson on the Psalms.  Intermingled with reading Dickson, I also took on Charles Bridges on Proverbs both for the sake of variety and obviously for content value in its own right. Both commentaries adopted different styles of writing - Dickson being more terse while Bridges adopted the more ponderous mid 19th Century style. However, both yielded much profit in their respective spheres of commenting. I finished Dickson a couple of weeks ago. I have taken on the slimmer volume of Charles Bridges on Ecclesiastes. 

Dickson was a 17th Century Covenanting Presbyterian in Scotland, while Bridges was an English  Evangelical Anglican.  Both these volumes lay long on my shelves - not totally unread but occasionally consulted, but only (as said) read through completely on the last 15 months. Both are great spiritual works. Banner of Truth is to be commended for these quality reprints. #HighlyRecommended

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Title of the Book: Sermons in Times of Persecution in Scotland
Author: Various Publisher: Tentmaker
Publisher's address or where the book may be obtained: Gowan Books, Springfield, Co. Fermanagh
Year of publication: 1880 (reprint 2003)
Number of pages: 674 Hardback or paperback: Hardback
Price: £20.00 ISBN: 1-899003 -95-9

Note: From time to time, I review books for the British Church Newspaper.  Here is the review I wrote for this John Bunyan Classic.

A picture on the front cover helps set the scene for us as we read these sermons. A large crowd of Presbyterian Covenanters are on bended knee in solemn prayer as a preacher pleads with the God of Heaven for their Beloved and Covenanted land of Scotland. Judging from their countenances, they are confessing their sins, while the presence of armed look outs at the back of the picturing denotes the great danger that they are in for merely gathering together in such a fashion i.e. death for treason and rebellion.

You need to be acquainted with Alexander's Smellie's "Men of the Covenant" or Jock Purves' "Fair Sunshine" which tells the story of the Covenanters to fully appreciate these sermons. The godly in Scotland (along with England and Ireland) had covenanted to give their land to God and obey His laws and reject Popery and Prelacy and all manner of sin. Those in authority, notably the treacherous Stuart line of kings, but also with their Scottish collaborators (even in the ministry) declined to do so, despite their own oaths. As far as the Covenanters were concerned, this breaking of the covenant brought the wrath of God upon them. This was seen in the fact that many Covenanters (the salt o' the earth and the gospel licht in the midst of their present evil world) were hunted down like beasts and shot. There are sermons here by those who would, within days or weeks, become martyrs for Jesus Christ.

By limiting the choice of sermons to the various "Killing Times" in Scotland, the compiler hems us in to a particular type of sermon. Although there are some choice sermons here that open up the beauty of Jesus Christ and the freeness of the gospel offer etc., and are enjoyable, many of them are warning sermons. Doubtless needful in their day and indicative of the consistent belief among these heroes of the rightness of their cause, but to read (as I have done) several dozen of them served to depress more than to uplift. Perhaps a smaller selection would have been more appropriate, accompanied with as many of their more positive sermons, free of the constant reminder of their historical setting. In other words, any gripe I have is with the compiler rather than the various preachers.

The reviewer is an Ulster Scots Presbyterian whose folk came from the lowlands of Scotland. I would like to think that my ancestors were indeed on the Covenanting side of the battle. These were the people who gave us Samuel Rutherford and Richard Cameron and the two Margaret known as the Whigtown Martyrs.  Perhaps they were instead among the persecutors or the moderate Presbyterians who conformed to the demands of the authorities. I cannot tell. But I can read the various biographical notes of the various preachers here and remember that to live for Jesus Christ in any day and age is to swim against the tide, even if the toleration levels are considerably higher than back in the 17th Century in the Mitherland.  

THE END

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