Robert Murray Mccheyne - Saintly Pastor of Dundee (Famous Saints #1) — Stephen Hamilton

Come to thee in the precious and worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in that name which is above every other name. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, the angel said, for he shall save his people from their sins.

We thank thee that Christ Jesus came into the world not to attempt to or to try to save sinners, but he came into the world to save sinners. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

And today our God and Father we pray that as thy word goes forth and as we consider the life of this man of God, that thou wilt visit us with thy presence, that thou wilt speak to our hearts. Lord, we pray that the people of God may be challenged and convicted and blessed and encouraged, and those that know not the Savior, that thou wilt open their hearts, even as thou didst open the heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

Father, wilt thou open hearts today to receive with meekness the engrafted word of God which is able even to save their souls. So answer prayer, glorify thy name. O may Christ Jesus be lifted up. May no man be seen.

Favorite Scriptures of Faithful Saints

Save Jesus only, for we ask in his worthy name. Amen and amen. As has been announced for this series of meetings, it is our purpose to consider some of the favorite scriptures of faithful saints of God, famous men of God of a past day.

As you read the lives of certain of these men of God and others, you will discover that sometimes there was a scripture that God used in their conversion, or sometimes there was a scripture which was a particular encouragement to them in their life and ministry, a verse or even a series of verses that appeared to be special to them and a great encouragement to them.

There are those whose lives could be summed up by a text or verse of scripture. Some of those men, even those that we will consider this week, some of them would have had a number of scriptures that were favorite scriptures for them.

It would be very difficult in some instances to say this one only text was the text that marked this man's life. And such would be true I think of the man that we're going to consider today, the Reverend Robert Murray McShane, the famous preacher of St. Peter's Church, Dundee, Scotland.

McShane did not actually state at any time that I am aware of that one scripture was his favorite above all other scriptures. As you read his sermons, as you study his writings, you will find that there were a number of scriptures that seem to reoccur and seem to be special to him.

But there's one verse that I think above all might be taken as a favorite text for the Reverend Robert Murray McShane, a text that was not only a favorite for him but which marked his life and ministry, and that is John chapter 9 verse 4.

Of course these are the words of the Savior himself when he said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. Robert Murray McShane seemed always in his life to be thinking about his death.

It seemed to be the case, when you read his sermons you get a flavor of this and you get evidence of this, that McShane was looking toward that day when he would stand before the throne, when he would stand before God even as his own poem rightly points out, dressed in beauty not my own.

He wrote there in that hymn concerning eternity. This was a mark of McShane's preaching, it was a mark of his poetry, and as we shall see this text therefore is most appropriate as a favorite scripture of this famous Saint of God.

McShane’s Short Life and Lasting Influence

The 24th of March 1843 witnessed the passing of this, one of Scotland's finest preachers, the Reverend Robert Murray McShane. The godly minister of Saint Peter's in the town of Dundee, often referred to as the Sainted or Saintly McShane was called home to be with Christ before reaching his 30th birthday.

Having preached as an ordained minister for only seven and a half years in the Church of Scotland, he nevertheless left a tremendous imprint upon his own and also successive generations. I think it's a powerful tribute to the life and ministry of this man of God that even today more than 160 years after his death his sermons are still being read and his memory is still revered not only in his native land but beyond.

Now it is true that no man however greatly used of God should be put on a pedestal. We are not worshipers of men. We do not worship either a man or his memory but it is good for us to consider the lives of godly men of past generations because in doing so we may discover what it was that made them great in a spiritual sense and we can apply the lessons to our own lives.

If you look at Psalm 112 verse 6 the scripture records that the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. We know that that is certainly in its first application true of the Lord's remembrance of his people.

The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance because the Lord will always think upon his people but nevertheless I think there's an application to us that we should remember and we should think about the righteous of past generations.

We should be challenged and motivated by their lives and their ministries. We also read in Proverbs 10 verse 7 the memory of the just is blessed. The memory of the just is blessed and there's much blessing I believe and profit in the consideration of a life like that of the saintly McShane.

McShane’s Early Life, Education, and Ministry

Robert McShane was born in a place that's often called Alderike and that's the city of Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city. He was the youngest child of the family. He arrived on the 21st of May 1813. Later on in that famous city of Edinburgh he experienced his second birth and became a decided and earnest Christian.

He had a very outstanding career at high school and at university. From earliest days Robert McShane showed a peculiar aptitude for learning. For instance at the tender age of 4, not 14, 4, while recovering from an illness his chosen form of recreation was the learning of the Greek alphabet.

His powers of intellect shone through also in his later studies in the Divinity School of the Church of Scotland. At the age of 22 Robert was licensed to preach the gospel but he did not receive his own charge until his settlement in St Peter's Church which was a new congregation in Dundee.

However he did spend a profitable period of preparation as an assistant to another famous preacher in the Scottish Church, the Reverend John Bonner, and this was in the parish church of Larbert and Dunnypace near the town of Stirling in central Scotland.

Bonner of course had two famous sons who followed him into the ministry. Andrew who became a very great friend of Robert McShane and his brother Horatius. Both were contemporaries of McShane. Andrew particularly though became his very dear friend and after the death of Murray McShane he authored a famous biography known as The Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray McShane and I could urge you today if you can get a copy of that to purchase one and to read it.

It will be a great blessing to your soul. After a relatively short period as assistant to the Reverend John Bonner, a few months in fact, young Robert was settled in the town of Dundee in the new parish church of St Peter's.

As its first minister he was to become also its most famous but his first charge was destined to be his last and yet what an indelible mark it was to leave upon the history of both the town and the church.

He did work the works of him that sent him while it was day but the night came, the night when no man can work, it will come for us all and it came for McShane. After only two years of ministry his health began to fail.

Eventually he became so ill that it was decided to send him at one point for a working holiday for a vacation. He was to accompany two other ministers of the Church of Scotland, Andrew Bonner being one of them, on a mission of inquiry to the Jews of Palestine.

McShane you see always entertained a deep interest in the ancient people of God during his short ministry. In the providence of God a young preacher by the name of William Chalmers Burns took the place of the absent pastor in the town and in the pulpit of St Peter's Dundee.

The foundation which McShane had already laid in his own ministry was instrumental in the bringing of a great revival to Dundee through the preaching of that young man, his deputy. That revival broke out in 1839 and remarkably at its height there were 39 weekly prayer meetings held in that one congregation.

Think of that, 39 prayer meetings every week. Five of those prayer meetings being conducted by and carried on exclusively by children. When McShane returned from Palestine it was to the scene of a great awakening.

The revival spirit was largely present right up until March the 25th 1843 when he was called home to be with the Lord. Robert had suffered somewhat from ill health throughout his life but the immediate cause of his death in the end was typhus fever.

Having contracted that illness he died within a very short period of time but Robert Murray McShane was a most amazing man. He never wrote a book to my knowledge nor did he preach much beyond the borders of his native Scotland but his life and short ministry left a deep imprint not only upon his own beloved country of Scotland but upon many other parts of the world.

His was but a brief ministry of some seven and a half years but yet how powerful and how mighty through God was the life's work of this man. You know it's interesting to note that just like other worthies of the Scottish church who had died in relative youth so McShane died as a young man.

Andrew Gray who was the minister of the High Kirk in Glasgow died at age 22. Hugh Binning and Hugh McKeel at age 26. Patrick Hamilton died as a martyr at age 24. George Gillespie and James Durham at 36.

So McShane received his call likewise to higher service at a relatively young and tender age of 29 just on the threshold of his 30th birthday but as Andrew Bonner has remarked in his memoir and I've enjoyed reading it we may notice how often the Lord has done much work by a few years of holy labor.

McShane lived short but in another sense he lived long because in that short time he worked the works of him that sent him. At the death of McShane the whole town of Dundee and not just the town but the whole of Scotland mourned because a veritable prince in Israel had been taken from their midst.

It is said that everywhere that his passing was relayed it caused every Christian countenance to be darkened with grief. Perhaps never was the death of any man felt so keenly by the saints of God anywhere.

One whose sole occupation had been the preaching of the gospel. That young minister had often urged his hearers to live in such a way as to be missed at their departure and that which he recommended to others was practiced by himself.

McShane was most certainly missed when he was gone. His death was a great blow to the hearts of many of the Lord's people. On the day of his burial it is said that the whole of Dundee came to a standstill.

Business was suspended completely in the town such was the esteem in which he was held. Every street was lined with mourners and in the windows of those homes on the procession route people thronged to watch that sad spectacle.

It was said that many a formerly careless person felt an awe creeping over his soul as he witnessed that funeral cortege wend its way to the place of burial. If McShane had spoken by his life then most certainly his death was a sermon to the hearts of many.

A lot of true Christians challenged by that event dedicated their hearts afresh to the cause of Christ. Hitherto careless sinners, people who had no desire for the things of God or the Savior or the gospel which spoke of him now sought Christ in true repentance and faith.

Like Samson of old the preacher slew many in his death. Speaking many years later his great and dear friend Andrew Bonner referred to the the aura that seemed to surround the burial place of McShane. Bonner often visited the grave there in Dundee to the side of the church and on each occasion he said he found it to be a most solemn and moving thing and I can testify personally having visited that grave on many many many occasions that those who go to that place today will find it a very touching experience and not least because of the words that are inscribed upon the memorial above McShane's grave.

This is what it says. Erected by his sorrowing flock in memory of the Reverend Robert Murray McShane first minister of St. Peter's Church Dundee who died the 25th day of March 1843 in the 30th year of his age and the seventh of his ministry walking closely with God an example of believers in word and conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity he ceased not day and night to labor and watch for souls and was honored by his Lord to draw many wanderers out of darkness into the path of life.

Underneath these words there appears the inscription the scripture text them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. I believe of Robert Murray McShane in particular we may say with the proverb that the memory of the just is blessed.

There are a number of things that I could say about Robert Murray McShane things that would illustrate that even this scripture impacted his life. McShane was always aware of the approaching night in fact it is part of his history and part of the story that McShane chose as his own personal seal on his correspondence on his envelopes on his writing paper a little drawing a painting of a sun setting behind some mountains with the words underneath the night cometh and so I believe that this text is most appropriate concerning his life and his ministry.

I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work but I want us to think of a number of things concerning the life of McShane that are a challenge and indeed a blessing to our hearts.

McShane’s Godly Piety and Christian Character

First of all I want us to think about the piety of McShane. He is known as the godly or the saintly McShane and I don't think anyone who considers the life of McShane could fail to be impressed by his godliness by his saintly character he was often referred to as we've said as the sainted McShane and of course true holiness does not make its possessor any the less human.

You know some people have the idea that to be a holy man you have to have a long face and have a sad countenance and you have to dress in a particular way which is fitting to someone who is in mourning.

But nothing could be further from the truth. And certainly there are in every generation those who seem to think that such an appearance is synonymous with holiness. But that idea that you have to wear a frown all the time and walk with your face toward the earth and be perpetually in mourning it's both unscriptural and foolish.

It has no relation to the scripture. Robert Murray McShane I tell you enjoyed life to the full as a Christian he had a number of hobbies and interests. For example by engaging in these he proved that a godly man may enjoy legitimate human pursuits all in the right place.

For instance Robert was a keen and accomplished musician. He had a beautiful singing voice. A special gift of his was poetry and he penned a number of outstanding pieces some of which have been employed as we have this morning as hymns.

Once the young McShane received a prize at school for the high standard of his poetry and despite an apparent physical weakness he was a very keen athlete. Particularly he enjoyed gymnastics. One of his contemporaries Dr Guthrie of Earl was one who witnessed his athletic efforts at first hand although with unhappy results because Guthrie bore testimony later to the effect that Robert's gymnastic interest had upon him that it may actually have hastened his death because one day after breakfast at the manse in Earl Robert McShane spied some gymnastic poles in the garden in the yard outside the window and he felt that he really must have a go on the bars.

So he rushed to the horizontal bar. Apparently it rested on the forks of two upright poles and went through a strenuous series of athletic exercises and maneuvers and tauntingly he challenged the older preacher to do the same thing.

With reluctance Guthrie moved toward the bars but suddenly just at that moment the pole in which McShane himself was hanging by his heels snapped in two and the young man fell rather heavily to the ground.

Guthrie said later of his young friend he sickened was born into the manse lay there for several days and was never the same man again. Now that event might indeed have had more than a little to do with his early death but from his life and character it was obvious it could be seen that Robert McShane was a godly man.

He loved holiness he desired always more and more to be like Christ. In one of his letters he said. I often pray Lord make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made. And what a great prayer that is Lord make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.

The testimony of others who knew him was a witness to his holiness of life. In a certain part of Dumfriesshire in southern Scotland there lived three very ungodly young women. It's recorded that sometime in August 1842 McShane paid a visit to friends in that area at which these three ungodly girls were present.

They were boisterous they were absolutely destitute of godliness and evidently they were hostile to true evangelical religion. All three of them were really skeptical of the gospel and they were scornful of those who preached it.

And so after meeting the young minister from Dundee they decided to nickname him Perfection and they sought to harden their hearts against him. But by his behavior before them McShane completely surprised and captivated those three girls it was obvious that here was a young man who was happy.

He wasn't sour and melancholy at all. Far from that appearing cheery and gentlemanly he very quickly convinced these girls that religion was not the galling and enslaving yoke that they'd always supposed it to be that Christianity did not in reality make a person unhappy.

Quite the opposite in fact. And Robert won their affection very quickly and they soon became delighted with his company and they they reveled in his conversation. The three young women went about with the preacher and they often accompanied him to the various houses where he prayed with the people.

And on a particular day during prayer the one of the three who had been regarded as the worst of the sisters began crying and sobbing out loud. And after family worship one evening the other two girls simultaneously burst into tears crying out in great concern for their souls.

Their hearts were melted because of their sin. They saw the things of God in a brand new light and it was said that all three of them became decided and earnest believers in Christ won to Christ by the godly conversation of McShane.

Long after Robert McShane had gone to be with his Lord. Those three sisters from Dumfriesshire testified that it was his sympathetic spirit and his pitiful look which had touched their hearts. Robert was certainly one who shone as a bright star in the hand of Christ just as that brilliant light that shone over the place where the Lord lay as a babe.

So McShane was a star who attracted sinners to the Savior. Often as he preached it was said that there was an almost seraphic appearance about him. He almost looked like one with the face of an angel.

But you know not only was he a holy man in the pulpit but just as importantly outside the pulpit as well. I think it's an indictment of some ministers that they're very different men outside the pulpit to that which they are in the pulpit.

That's not a charge that could be laid at McShane's door. It was a living epistle of Christ everywhere known and read of men. And clear testimony was frequently borne by others to his piety to his godliness.

And you know truly godly saints don't speak about their own gifts and graces. It always worries me when people start telling me about their holiness. McShane didn't sound a trumpet in front of them and say look at me i'm a holy man of god.

No the genuinely pious man will like the saints of Antioch not say we are Christians. They will be called Christians. Others will see it. They will have a testimony which will lead others to believe that they have been with Jesus.

Murray McShane made many memorable statements. Among these were some pithy remarks on the subject of holiness. Time really is a constraint when you're dealing with a life like McShane. But the preacher once said a holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.

And he certainly exemplified the truth of those words. He was indeed a saintly man. Acquaintances saw something in McShane which they did not see in others. And that is evident in the records of his life that have been left as by biographers such as Andrew Bonner for example.

Not long after McShane's passing there was a letter discovered in his desk. It was a letter from somebody who had obviously received great blessing to his soul from a sermon that he had heard from the young man in Saint Peter's church.

The writer of that letter had come to that church as a stranger to hear the young minister. But he found that he got more benefit from the look of the preacher than from the sermon itself. And he talked about that in his letter.

Here's what he said. It was not what you said nor even how you said it but it was your look. It was so Christ-like it was the face of one shining from being in the presence of his lord. Unquote. Another incident would further establish the point that I'm making the stories told of a woman who was visiting the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

She happened to be staying at one of the hotels there. Something had happened that day that greatly irritated her so much so that she began to lunge forth in a tirade against all Christians. You know how people sometimes do that these Christians she said they're just a load of hypocrites.

Oh I couldn't trust one Christian. These Christians so-called they will cheat you whenever and wherever they can. They're hypocrites. Well as she was raging there there was a person present who gently intervened.

Well he inquired. Have you never in your whole life seen just one Christian one follower of Jesus that you believed in. And the woman ceased her raging for a moment and she paused and all of a sudden she calmed right down and her countenance completely changed and in a much quieter tone than before she replied yes.

I saw one a man a minister in this hotel a tall spare man from Scotland. He was a man of God. I watched him and I felt that he was a genuine Christian. His very look did me good. And that minister was of course the reverend Robert Murray McShane his life told for Jesus Christ.

I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. And that work my friend is the good work of living as a Christian as well as talking the talk walking the walk. And believers everywhere including myself need to learn this lesson.

It is not so much what we say nor how we say it. And don't get me wrong. We should speak a word for Jesus. But it is how we live that opens our lips that we will be able to speak of Christ because people will feel that what we say and what we do match up the one to the other.

Yes speak just a word for Jesus ever to him be true. A word spoken in season. How good is it. But so often is it not the case that your life closes your lips. Your life closes your lips because the things that you say do not match the things that you do.

It was the firm conviction of Robert Murray McShane that holiness of life is linked inextricably with power in the service of Christ. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. McShane used to say it is not great talents that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.

And how he knew that blessing of God in his own ministry. For that very reason a Dr. Macdonald. Dr. Robert Macdonald of Blairgowrie in the northeast of Scotland afterwards of North Leith in Edinburgh affirmed we often lose golden opportunities by not being usable itself according to the former lusts in your ignorance.

But as he which hath called you as holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy. McShane we've said was a friend of Andrew Bonner. Andrew Bonner was married and Mrs. Bonner said she saw it firsthand.

The pious conduct and godly character of McShane when he stayed in their home she said on one occasion it was not his matter nor his manner either that struck me. It was just the living epistle of Christ.

McShane’s Prayer Life and Dependence on God

A picture so lovely I felt I would have given all the world to be as he was. The piety of McShane illustrates our text for he lived and worked in. But also the prayer life of McShane should be noted. A truly holy man will of course be a man of prayer always.

Robert McShane was no exception. He was both pious and prayerful. There was a domestic servant once at the home of Andrew Bonner in Collis in Perthshire who witnessed the man of God at prayer. And she said of her master's guest oh to hear Mr. McShane at prayers in the morning it was as if he would never give over.

He had some muckle to ask. So much to ask she said you would have thought the very walls would speak again after he prayed. Such was the abiding impression left upon hearts by the supplication of this minister.

And there were others who talked about it. A number of years after his death for instance a minister came to visit the Saint Church and the caretaker agreed to show him around that famous Kirk. And as they were walking around the church they were discussing the late beloved pastor of Dundee McShane.

And the visitor was particularly anxious to discover the reason for the young man's success as a preacher. What do you think he said to the caretaker is the secret of McShane's great ministry. What. What was the secret of his power in the pulpit.

The caretaker looked at the minister. He said nothing for a moment but he just conducted the minister into the vestry. Now he said kneel down by the chair. And the somewhat bemused minister knelt by the chair.

And then in a most solemn tone the caretaker said now then start to weep raise your eyes to heaven and cry to god. Oh god bless me oh god use me. Oh god i cannot go up to yonder pulpit until i know that i have the mighty anointing of the spirit resting upon me.

Looking into the face of that visiting preacher with tear-filled eyes the caretaker said that dear friend is the secret of the ministry of Robert Murray McShane. He was a man of prayer and i think what was true of McShane should be true of all gospel ministers and it ought to apply to all genuine christians.

We ought to be men and women of prayer. We have not because we ask not. Sometimes we look at mighty christians and eminent saints of god and we we say well there were mighty men for god. They did a great work for the lord.

But do we ever consider what it was that made them great. Of course it was god. Of course they got spiritual power from the lord. But where did they get it. They got it at the place of prayer. They got that power on their knees at the throne of grace.

And Robert McShane was a great man because he believed in the vital necessity of prayer. Occasionally he would refer to his own practice in private devotion but not in any boastful way. He for instance he stated to a friend once i feel that it's far better to begin the day with god and to see his face first and get my soul near to him before it is near another.

Speaking to a student for the ministry one day he said above all keep much in the presence of god never see the face of man till you have seen his face who is our life and our all. And that was of course his own practice.

Throughout life he felt a compulsion to serve god in prayer. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. One of those works is the work of prayer. For prayer is work. Prayer is labor. You are never so full of effort and activity as when you're on your knees before god seeking his power.

Robert McShane kept notebooks for his private prayer. He had a systematic method in bringing matters before the lord on his knees. For instance in one of those notebooks he drew four circles and he filled them with matters for prayer.

There was a small circle that contained the name of his family and kinfolk and then the names of his friends. And then in a wider circle there came his own congregation. And in that particular circle there were no fewer than 11 separate classes into which names were divided.

For example he would pray for the careless and then the ones that he felt were anxious and then those that were recently converted and he would pause over each one. He would remember each one personally and pray fervently to god for them.

Then in the fourth circle apparently it had many places listed within it first his own beloved parish of Dundee then moving out to the other towns and cities of Scotland and then further afield to the missionaries of the world and the lands where they were laboring.

He was diligent in the place of prayer and i asked myself this just as i ask it of you. Can we only give seconds to the matter of prayer and expect to know the power of god on our lives that mcshane knew.

One of his last recorded prayers in public was uttered while he was delirious he had contracted typhus fever. He was a dying man at the time and imagining that he was in his beloved pulpit he would sometimes be heard on his bed preaching and calling on sinners to repent.

At other times he would engage in prayer and this particular petition that was heard concerned the land of Scotland and the town of Dundee that he especially loved. And he cried out this place lord this people this parish.

Even in the throes of death he was found in prayer. We've talked of his piety we've talked of his prayer life. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work.

Christ-Centered Preaching and Pastoral Labor

Certainly that applied mostly and particularly to the preaching of mcshane. What a preacher he was. The printed sermons of mcshane revealed something of the heart of the preacher and i love to read those sermons like the basket of fragments like the remains the sermons that were left behind.

He never actually issued a himself but and he didn't ever write a book except for one or two small pieces such as a little message called reasons why the young should flee to christ where he shows a great burden for children and young people.

But his sermons were taken down by others in shorthand. And even in perusing those sermons that have been produced from that one senses just how powerful they must have been in their original preaching because even in their present form they breathe life and power that they're of such a quality as when you read them they make you wish that you had the privilege of hearing mcshane in the flesh what a preacher he must have been.

But there's one feature i think that stands out preeminently in the public ministry of mcshane and that was it was full of christ the preaching that sounded forth from saint peter's pope. It was permeated with one subject jesus christ and him crucified.

He relished the task of proclaiming the finished work of christ that there is a savior from all sin just like the prince of english preacher ch spurgeon. It was said that mcshane seemed especially to excel at the seasons of communion.

He was always at his best at the lord's table as he discoursed upon the sufferings of the savior. And of course his love for that feast could be seen by his desire to break away from the normal practice of reformed churches in scotland in relation to communion seasons.

It was usual in such churches to hold the lord's supper only twice per year. But to keep the feast so infrequently seemed wrong to mcshane. And so in his own congregation he broke with tradition and he changed the times to once a quarter or four times per year when they would have an entire season given over to the lord's table.

And as was normal practice and still is in many churches in scotland the congregation spent a week in preparation for communion holding services each day. And the services would commence on a thursday continuing on friday and saturday.

The high day was the sabbath the day of the feast itself. And then the communion season would conclude with a day of thanksgiving and praise on the monday. Mcshane took great delight in preaching the word and a deep spirituality of thought is evident in his sermons.

A lot of his sermons were based incidentally upon the old testament. Quite rightly he believed that there was much typical teaching to be found in it. It was full of christ and he preached christ and it was ready to preach christ as well not only to the multitudes.

He was not one of these preachers who would refuse an engagement if he thought there was going to be less than a hundred people there. He was just as happy preaching to the small rural flocks as he was to the large crowds in the cities.

That's a testimony to his humility. He never showed any concern about numbers but was ever prepared to travel far to visit and to comfort even one soul. He loved to preach the gospel. His sermons apparently were well prepared not for him the practice of standing before a congregation just to say the first thing that came into his head.

He prepared for his pope administrations carefully and part of that preparation involved the visiting of the dying on saturdays. That might seem strange to you but he felt that he wanted his heart to be touched by what he saw in his visitation so that he would be in a serious frame for his sabbath work and he used to go to see the sick and dying of a saturday so that he could in his own words look over the edge into eternity.