Robert Murray McCheyne, one of the saintliest men who ever lived, was in his eighteenth year when his brother died. From that day forward his friends observed a change. His poetry was pervaded with serious thought, and all his pursuits began to be followed out in another spirit.

A year after, he writes in his diary: "On this morning last year came the first overwhelming blow to my worldliness; how blessed to me, Thou, O God, only knowest, who hast made it so."

On one occasion, a few of us who had studied together, were reviewing the Lord's dealings with our souls, and how He had brought us to Himself, all very nearly at the same time, though without any special instrumentality. He stated that there was nothing sudden in his case, and that he was led to Christ through deep and ever-abiding, but not awful or distracting convictions.

The Holy Spirit carried on His work by continuing to deepen in him the conviction of his ungodliness, and the pollution of his whole nature. And all his life long, he viewed his original sin, not as an excuse for his actual sins but as an aggravation of them all. In this view he was of the mind of David, taught by the unerring Spirit of Truth (Psa. 51:4,5).

He thought himself much profited, at this period, by investigating the subject of Election and the Free Grace of God. But it was the reading of "The Sum of Saving Knowledge," generally appended to the Confession of Faith, that brought him to a clear understanding of the way of acceptance with God.

And now, with altered views, with an eye that could gaze on Heaven and Hell, and a heart that felt the love of a reconciled God, he sought to become a herald of salvation.

Born in Edinburgh in 1813, settling in Dundee in 1836, he faithfully preached the Gospel till 1843, when he entered into the Rest and Reward of the Saved.

From Twice-Born Men: True Conversion Records of 100 Well-Known Men in All Ranks of Life compiled by Hy. Pickering. London: Pickering & Inglis, [193-?]

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