Widely considered one of the most Christlike men ever to have lived in Scotland. He was born in Edinburgh and educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he won honors in languages and prizes in poetry, music, and drawing. His conversion and call to the ministry followed the death of his saintly young brother, David, who had long prayed for Robert. He studied for the Church of Scotland ministry in Edinburgh under the famous theologian Thomas Chalmers. During this period of the nineteenth century an evangelical reawakening was sweeping the Church of Scotland, ultimately issuing in the "Disruption," which saw nearly one half the membership leave the Established Church to found the more evangelical Free Church of Scotland in 1843, the year of M'Cheyne's death. M'Cheyne's ministry was part of this national ecclesiastical movement. In 1835 he was assistant minister in the parishes of Larbert and Dunipace, near Stirling. In 1836 he was called to St. Peter's Church of Dundee, which had some four thousand members. His ministry there was marked by deep personal holiness, prayer, compassion for the salvation of the lost, powerful evangelical preaching, and tireless counseling. In 1839 he spent six months in Palestine, exploring possible missionary work among the Jews. Revival broke out in his congregation during his absence. Upon his return he threw himself into this work, which soon spread over the country, resulting in the conversion of thousands. He died at age twenty-nine. His biography retains its perennial popularity.
D. F. KELLY