Robert Murray McCheyne Quotes on Christ, Holiness and Preaching
Robert Murray McCheyne was the young minister of St. Peter's Church in Dundee, Scotland, who died in 1843 at twenty-nine. He's one of the most quoted Scottish preachers, and his lines on holiness and on looking to Christ have been copied by pastors ever since.
Some of the best-known McCheyne quotes come from his diary and letters as printed in Andrew Bonar's memoir, and many versions online have drifted from what he wrote. Every quotation on this page is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the sermon or letter it comes from, so you can read it in its setting. Words of other people that he quotes are left out. For his life story, see who was Robert Murray McCheyne. For a guide to his books, see Robert Murray McCheyne books.
On looking to Christ
More than anything, McCheyne wanted his hearers to look away from themselves to Jesus.
It is good to consider your ways, but it is far better to consider Christ.
The Sermons, Sermon II: Consider the Apostle and High Priest of Our Profession
Lift your eyes from your own bosom, downcast believer; look upon Jesus.
The Sermons, Sermon II: Consider the Apostle and High Priest of Our Profession
Christ may be called the key-stone of the arch of truth.
The Sermons, Sermon I: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Just so; take Christ away, and the whole arch of truth becomes a heap of rubbish.
The Sermons, Sermon I: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
You cannot be in too desperate a condition for Christ.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
Christ sees nothing so fair in all this world as the believer.
The Sermons, Sermon III: As the Lily Among Thorns
On the love of God
All that is in God binds him to love his Son, his holiness, his justice, his truth; and so all that is in God binds him to love the soul that is in Christ.
The Sermons, Sermon XL: Can a Woman Forget?
God loved the world, as much and truly as ever Christ loved the world.
The Sermons, Sermon II: Consider the Apostle and High Priest of Our Profession
Just as the sunbeams cast out darkness wherever they fall, so does this love cast out fear.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
Consent to be loved by him, though worthless in yourself.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
It is better to be loved by him than to love, and it is the only way to learn to love him.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
The only cure for a cold heart is to look at the heart of Jesus.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
On holiness
McCheyne believed holiness grows out of union with Christ and the sight of His love, not out of fear.
Remember, then, my unbelieving friends, the only way for you to become holy is to become united to Christ.
The Sermons, Sermon I: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
It is through faith that God purifies the heart; and there is no other way.
The Sermons, Sermon XXX: The Love of Christ Constraineth
Had God proposed to frighten us into a holy life, how vain would have been the attempt!
The Sermons, Sermon XXX: The Love of Christ Constraineth
The scourge of our affections is the only scourge that drives us to duty.
The Sermons, Sermon XXX: The Love of Christ Constraineth
Believers are the pictures of God in this world.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
Sin is seen now as done against a holy God, done against a God of love, done against Jesus Christ and his love.
The Sermons, Sermon XII: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
I have tasted all the pleasures of time, and they are not worth one drop of Christ's sweet love.
The Sermons, Sermon LXXV: Man That Is Born of a Woman
On joy
He had no patience with a cold, joyless faith.
Their religion is something like the stars, very high, and very clear, but very cold.
The Sermons, Sermon III: As the Lily Among Thorns
If it be really in sitting under the shadow of Christ, let there be no bounds to your joy.
The Sermons, Sermon III: As the Lily Among Thorns
It is one of the marks of Christ's people that they are alone in the world, and yet they are not alone.
The Sermons, Sermon III: As the Lily Among Thorns
On the Holy Spirit
Drink, and drink again; you will not drink a river dry; so there is infinite fulness of the Spirit.
The Sermons, Sermon XXXVII: The Work of the Spirit
Now, ministers are the pens, and the Spirit of God is the ink.
The Sermons, Sermon XLI: Thanksgiving Obtains the Spirit
On ministers and preaching
McCheyne's ordination sermon for a fellow minister is full of lines pastors still pass to one another.
A faithful minister is an example to his flock of a sinner saved.
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
Your sermon on Sabbath lasts but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week.
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
Hence their words fall like a shower of snow, fair and beautiful, but cold and freezing.
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
It is the truth of God in its naked simplicity that the Spirit will most honor and bless.
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
Few people know the deep wells of anxiety in the bosom of a faithful pastor.
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
Would you refuse gold because it was brought you in a ragged purse?
The Sermons, Sermon XI: Position and Duties of Ministers
On the shortness of life
More souls are lost through want of consideration than in any other way.
The Sermons, Sermon II: Consider the Apostle and High Priest of Our Profession
There is a day near at hand when you shall not see a to-morrow.
The Sermons, Sermon IV: It Is Unreasonable in Unconverted Persons to Make Mirth
Andrew Bonar records one saying of his that sums up his own short life:
Live so as to be missed
The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, The Latter Days of His Ministry
From his letters
Last, a few lines from the letters he wrote home during the 1839 mission to the Jews.
May God keep me humble, and prayerful, and holy.
Familiar Letters, Letter II: To the Same (London)
A foreign land draws us near to God.
Familiar Letters, Letter IV: To His Mother (Lyons)
I know you will be anxious, my dear mother, but you must just be still, and know that God is God.
Familiar Letters, Letter VIII: To His Mother (Alexandria)
Where to read more McCheyne
Most of these lines come from The Sermons of the Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne, and that's the best place to start. Read one sermon a day; most take ten minutes. For his heart in his own private words, read his Familiar Letters, and for his life, Andrew Bonar's Biography. All his books are on the Robert Murray M'Cheyne author page.