Israel My Glory                                                                     June/July 1989

Christians considered immoral, such as moneylending, banking, and other related pursuits.

As missionary societies developed as a result of the revivals of the late 18th and 19th centuries, there came auxiliaries with special concern for the Jews. At a meeting of missions-minded people in Dundee, Scotland in 1811, Walter Tait preached on the importance of witnessing to Jews and why Christians should have a particular regard for the Jews. First, said Tait, the salvation of the Jews "must be particularly honoring to God." Second, having a spiritual interest in the salvation of Jews is only making a "proper return for the spiritual advantages we enjoy by them." Finally, "their final restoration must have a favorable aspect on the conversion of the whole Gentile world" Soon leading commentaries - those of Robert Haldane and Thomas Chalmers - came to include eloquent passages on the importance of Jewish missions. Then in 1839 a book was published entitled The Conversion of the Jews. Written by a group of ministers from Glasgow, the book underscored a growing concern among godly Christians in Scotland for the salvation of God's chosen people.¹

It was also in 1839 that four Church of Scotland ministers were appointed to visit Palestine. As a Mission of Inquiry, it would be their job to look into the state of the Jews and report their findings to the Christian community in Scotland. The four that were chosen were Dr. Kieth, Dr. Black, Dr. Candlish, and Robert Murray M'Cheyne. Andrew Bonar was asked to go but was forced to decline because of commitments he had made to his church. It is interesting to note that in a time and place where Amillennialism held sway [and still does in 1999], Bonar -- a driving force for Jewish missions -- was a premillennialist, while M'Cheyne "saw no force in the arguments generally urged against it [Premillennialism]."²

M'Cheyne, although probably the youngest of the four missionaries, was doubtless the most remarkable. Born on May 21,1813 in Edinburgh, M'Cheyne lived only 29 years. Yet into those 29 years he crammed a lifetime of work, accomplishing more for Christ during his brief sojourn on earth than most of us do in threescore and ten. While a minister at St. Peters in Dundee, M'Cheyne said, "This place hardens me for a foreign land." Often he read missionary stories to his people at the weekly prayer meeting. Thus, when he was asked to go on the Mission of Inquiry, he accepted.³

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