| Name of Candidate | David Victor Yeaworth |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Date | July, 1957 |
| Title of Thesis | Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843): A Study of an early Nineteenth Century Scottish Evangelical |
The purpose of this thesis is to show how Robert Murray McCheyne exemplified the Evangelical ministry of the Church of Scotland during the time just prior to the Disruption of 1843. Whereas the prevailing notion about McCheyne has centered largely around his devotional and spiritual activities, the many other virtually overlooked aspects of his character and ministry are also considered here. Because of his short life (he died at the age of twenty-nine), and an abundance of his personal manuscript writings, it was possible to be specific and detailed about these phases of his life, which witnessed the Evangelical ascendancy, the "Ten Years' Conflict," the rise of missionary activity, and the Disruption.
Chapter One attempts to lay the foundation for the remainder of the thesis by describing McCheyne's well-integrated and popular boyhood. From his professional-class background and extremely happy youth, however, he was to emerge as one of unusual zeal in and devotion to the cause of Jesus Christ. The background of this change and the initial effects of it are described in Chapter Two, which includes his conversion, ministerial training and probation. At this time he was inspired by the great leaders of the Church to dedicate himself to the work of an evangelical ministry.
The driving force of McCheyne's whole life, and therefore his ministry, was his personal devotional life, as is seen in Chapter Three. His hunger for divine and Christian fellowship was almost insatiable, and many of his spiritual insights and assiduous procedures are drawn from his writings. With this chapter a chronological order is given over to a topical arrangement, since the succeeding sections all deal with McCheyne's seven-year ministry at St. Peter's, Dundee.
Chapters Four and Five relate to McCheyne's work as a pastor and preacher, in both of which activities he was regarded to have been singularly successful - ministering to a throbbing industrial parish of more than three thousand souls and preaching weekly to eleven hundred hearers. Here, his methods and the content of his pastoral and pulpit ministry are considered, with illustrations drawn from his writings as well as those of his close friends and contemporaries.
In Chapters Six and Seven, McCheyne's activities in the inauguration of the Church of Scotland's Mission to the Jews and in the Awakening of 1839 are detailed. These movements not only typified the rise of the Evangelical mood in Scotland, but were also instrumental in preparing the way among the people for the Disruption and the Free Church. Chapter Eight is devoted to McCheyne's active participation in the controversial and the ecclesiastical affairs which faced the Church during the "Ten Years' Conflict."
At the conclusion of this study, it was seen that McCheyne was not only typical of Scottish Evangelicals, but was rather a leader in a way unusual for one so young. He had won the respect of Evangelical and non-intrusion leaders, and was frequently in the vanguard of those who were attacked by Moderates and intrusionists. An attempt was made to place McCheyne in history, describing the part he played in the affairs of his time, and the influence exerted upon his own life by his teachers, friends, and opponents. Against this background, his evangelical zeal and thought were seen to have differed not in kind, although perhaps in degree of intensity, from that of his associates. The Free Church (of which he would surely have been a prominent leader) was the continuation of that kind of ministry which he and his friends had demonstrated.
Tabulations of McCheyne's extant sermons and letters are included in the Appendix and Bibliography.