{"id":2732,"date":"2017-02-21T11:54:57","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T11:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/?p=2732"},"modified":"2017-02-21T11:54:57","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T11:54:57","slug":"writing-from-the-holy-land-writing-from-the-heart-robert-murray-mccheyne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/2017\/02\/21\/writing-from-the-holy-land-writing-from-the-heart-robert-murray-mccheyne\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing from the Holy Land, writing from the heart – Robert Murray McCheyne"},"content":{"rendered":"

A post from guest curator Amy Plender, PhD student, School of Divinity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The theme of this\u00a0month’s student led display at New College Library\u00a0is diary writing, particularly\u00a0diarists writing about their\u00a0experience of missions overseas.\u00a0The display features\u00a0items from the New College Library collections relating to Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) who was appointed by the Church of Scotland\u00a0to be\u00a0part of a deputation to visit Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East, with a view to future mission activity. Further details of his papers are available on the University’s Archives Online <\/a>catalogue.<\/p>\n

\"Robert

Robert Murray McCheyne\u2019s diary from his trip to Palestine, 1838 (ref. MS MACCH1.8)<\/p><\/div>\n

This diary was used for daily entries on McCheyne\u2019s travels, with small sketches as well as notes on personal devotional techniques headed \u2018Personal Reformation\u2019.\u00a0It also has a biographical section on the \u2018Story of Robert Laing\u2019 (perhaps a friend or fellow missionary), and an appendix on another missionary\u2019s account of the trip.<\/p>\n

McCheyne gives a detailed description of his journey from Edinburgh to London (where he spent two weeks preaching in various churches), then through Europe to the Holy Land.\u00a0 His main impression of Palestine appears to be the heat; in the entry for 30th May, he describes it as \u201cthe hottest atmosphere I was ever in\u201d and he writes several times about their thirst, the wells they visited and the \u201cbrackish\u201d taste of the water.\u00a0He sketches what he sees, such as the entry for (5th-6th June) which shows sketches of a Bedouin tent and the hill country of Judea.\u00a0This diary stops on 6th June, halfway through their trip, but the narrative continues in a different notebook until the group\u2019s return to Britain on 6th November 1839.<\/p>\n

Other notable features of this diary include McCheyne\u2019s excitement in being in the very same sites as featured in the Biblical narrative.\u00a0 For instance, he cites the Valley of Zephatha where, in 2 Chronicles 14.10, Asa and his Judean army are victorious over the Cushite (or Ethiopian) hordes.\u00a0 He also visits Mahaneh-dan, where Samson spent his childhood (see Judges 13.25).<\/p>\n

While McCheyne does not detail the group\u2019s evangelism techniques, or indeed any particular conversations he had on his mission, he does note the lack of curiosity from local residents to the group\u2019s arrival and puts this down to their fear of the Scottish visitors.\u00a0 There is a marked difference between the first section of the diary, which deals almost exclusively with pragmatic travel and weather reports, and the second, which is a detailed, heart-felt, often fervent description of his personal pursuit towards holiness and deeper love for God in his faith.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Portable Writing Desk of Robert Murray McCheyne. New College Library, Object 81.<\/p><\/div>\n

New College Library’s object collections preserve\u00a0McCheyne’s portable writing desk, where we can imagine that he wrote the diaries, and also the letters in the New College archives.<\/p>\n

Notes on Robert Murray McCheyne<\/strong><\/p>\n

McCheyne (sometimes spelt M\u2019Cheyne) was born in 1813 at 14 Dublin Street, Edinburgh.\u00a0 Educated the University of Edinburgh, in what is today\u2019s Old College, he was taught by Thomas Chalmers and started in ministry in the parish of Larbert and Dunipace, near Falkirk, at the age of 22.\u00a0 After his mission to Palestine, aged just 26, he was minister at St. Peter\u2019s Church in Dundee.\u00a0 He later died here, aged 29, in an outbreak of typhus.\u00a0 At his parishioners\u2019 request, he was buried at St. Peter\u2019s, rather than in his family burial plot in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bonar, Andrew. Memoir and remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne … Dundee : W. Middleton, 1844. New College Library, Z.328<\/p><\/div>\n

Not long after his death, Rev. Andrew Bonar edited his biography which was published with some of his manuscripts, including transcriptions of this very diary, as The Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M\u2019Cheyne<\/em>.\u00a0 Early copies of this are held in New College\u2019s Special Collections, along with numerous later editions in the general catalogue.\u00a0 The success of this publication helped to cement McCheyne\u2019s lasting influence on the Church of Scotland and indeed Evangelicalism globally.\u00a0 Not only an inspiring and influential preacher and pastor in his lifetime, his legacy lives on through Bonar\u2019s works and in his system for reading the Bible through annually.\u00a0 This was a plan he developed for his own personal use, which after his death was adopted by several Bible publications, including the English Standard Version and the New English Translation.<\/p>\n

He appears to have been a striking individual with a compelling personal presence.\u00a0 Bonar\u2019s wife Isabella described her first meeting with McCheyne thus:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something singularly attractive about Mr. M\u2019Cheyne\u2019s holiness.\u00a0It was not his matter not his manner either than struck me; it was just the living epistle of Christ \u2013 a picture so lovely, I felt I would have given all the world to be as he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

He frequently preached on the imminence of Heaven and thus the urgency of the life of faith, saying\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGo on dear friends, but an inch of time remains, and then the eternal ages roll on forever; but an inch in which we may stand and proclaim the way of salvation to a perishing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Plender, School of Divinity<\/p>\n

Further sources on Robert Murray McCheyne<\/strong><\/p>\n

The papers of Rev Robert Murray McCheyne<\/strong> <\/a>(1813-1843) New College Library\u00a0MS MACCH. McCheyne’s collection contains personal letters, poems, diaries and sketches.<\/p>\n

McMullen, Mike (1999). The passionate preacher : sermons of Robert Murray<\/span> <\/em>McCheyne<\/em>. Fearn, Ross-Shire : Christian Focus Publications. New College Library sWV 10 McC<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Robertson, David (2004). Awakening : the life and ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne<\/em>. Milton Keynes : Paternoster. New College Library BX9225.M17 Rob.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Smellie, Alexander. (1913) Robert Murray<\/span> <\/em>McCheyne<\/em>. London, National Council of Evangelical Free Churches. New College Library BX9225.M17 Sme.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Robert Murray McCheyne resource\u00a0 http:\/\/mcheyne.info\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n

Yeaworth, David. (1957)\u00a0Robert Murray McCheyne ( 1813-1843): A study of an early nineteenth century Scottish evangelical<\/a>. <\/em>PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A post from guest curator Amy Plender, PhD student, School of Divinity The theme of this\u00a0month’s student led display at New College Library\u00a0is diary writing, particularly\u00a0diarists writing about their\u00a0experience of missions overseas.\u00a0The display features\u00a0items from the New College Library collections … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[19,101,124,131,140],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42UaT-I4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2732"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2744,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2732\/revisions\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/newcollegelibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}