On this day May 21, 1813 Robert Murray McCheyne was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He taught himself the Greek alphabet at the age of four. He later distinguished himself as a student of Edinburgh University. McCheyne became pastor of St. Peter’s Church of Dundee, Scotland at the age of 23. A famous revival in Dundee began in his church under the ministry of William C. Burns. It continued under McCheyne. The whole city was moved. No less than 39 prayer meetings were held weekly in connection with this church, of which five were carried on wholly by children. McCheyne died of typhus March 25, 1843. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Peter’s. His monument contains the words: “…who died in the thirtieth year of his age and the seventh of his ministry, walking closely with God, an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, he ceased not day and night to labor and watch for souls, and was honored by his Lord to draw many wanderers out of darkness and to the path of life.”
On Nov 18, 1834 a poem penned by Robert Murray Mccheyne
Jehovah Tsidkenu
“The Lord Our Righteousness”
I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.
I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage,
Isaiah’s wild measure and John’s simple page;
But e’en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.
Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu- ’twas nothing to me.
When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see-
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Savior must be.
My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free-
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.
Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,”
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;
In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field-
My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!
Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life’s journey my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu my death-song shall be.
ANOINTED TO SERVE - Miriam Jacob 