The Life of Andrew Murray
ANDREW MURRAY was a famous and beloved pastor, writer, and conference speaker during the 19th century. His insightful, Biblical writings have incredible depth and are still treasured today. Discover the man behind the books in this short overview of his life and ministry.
The Andrew Murray Memorial in Wellington, South Africa
EARLY YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA (1828-1838)
Andrew Murray was born on May 9, 1828 in Graaff Reinet, South Africa. His father, Andrew Murray Sr, was a Dutch Reformed Church missionary sent from Scotland to South Africa.
The Influence of His Mother:
“When asked how it was that her children had all turned out so well: “How did you bring up such a wonderful family?” she answered, “Oh, I don’t know; I didn’t do anything.” But everyone else knew, if she did not. She just lived herself the life she wanted her boys and girls to live. Her life was hid with Christ’s in God, and they through her saw the beauty of holiness. Much of the mystic element which appears in the life and writings of her famous son was undoubtedly derived from his mother, who, while in the world, was not altogether of it.” [Northfield Echoes, 1899]
SCHOOLING IN SCOTLAND & HOLLAND (1838-1848)
Experiencing Revival in Scotland
Andrew was only 10 years old when he and his older brother John were sent to back to Scotland to further their education. This was deemed necessary as there were no proper schooling options available in Graaff Reinet at that time.
So off they went, surviving the stormy boat ride and landed in Scotland…and began their studies the very next day! Eventually they both attended the University of Aberdeen in Scotland for their further education. They lived with their uncle, (also named John Murray), for seven years. It was at this time that a sort of evangelical renewal was taking place in Scotland – Dr. Chalmers was ministering, Robert Murray McCheyne was influencing many toward godliness, and the brothers Horatius and Andrew Bonar were likewise impacting many through their writings, hymns, and preaching. All this left a deep impression on the young Murray boys. [Andrew Murray and his Message, p.27]
“During these years a great spiritual awakening passed over Scotland very similar to what had stirred America under Finney. The much used man of God was Rev. William C. Burns, who was destined to exercise a great influence over both the lads, but especially over the younger brother, Andrew. William Burns spent much time in prayer and fasting, and carried with him a sense of the presence of God. Mr. Burns feared much, lest he should preach himself and not Christ, a fear which also haunted Andrew Murray.
Mr. Burns spent some time with Rev. John Murray during his visit to Aberdeen, and was thus brought into close touch with the brothers John and Andrew. Andrew had the privilege now and then of carrying his Bible and cloak for him as they went to meetings together. His tireless energy, his deep voice, his earnest manner, and pointed appeals made a lasting impression on him, as did the scenes he witnessed in the services” [AMM-28].
Further Studies in Holland
John and Andrew remained there until they received their master’s degrees on April 4, 1845. From there, they both went to the University of Utrecht in Holland where they studied theology and tried to refresh their Dutch language skills. The two brothers became members of Het Réveil, a religious revival movement opposed to the rationalism which was in vogue in the Netherlands at that time. They were looked down upon by many of their fellow students because of their vibrant evangelical faith, as well as their decision to abstain from alcohol. The latter was mocked by many and they were derisively labeled the “Chocolate Club” or the “Prayer Club.” It was during this time, in the autumn of 1845, that Andrew wrote to his parents letting them know he had been “born again” and had firmly committed his life to Christ. Despite the ridicule they faced, the brothers continued to meet with a small group of like-minded believers and grow in their faith, eventually establishing a missionary society at the university.
Andrew records some of their activities at this time:
“At present we meet every Friday evening for work from 5:30 until 10, and then sup together from 10-12, very plainly of course, bread and butter, cheese, and some sort of coffee. On Wednesdays we meet in a church for oratory, when one delivers a sermon, another speaks extempore and a third reads a piece of poetry, all of course to accustom us a little to the work in which we expect and hope to be engaged. On Sabbath evenings we meet together for reading, singing and prayer, when one generally speaks on a chapter. We have also begun a missionary society to meet twice a month for communicating missionary intelligence and prayer for the extension of the Kingdom of our God and His Christ; so that on the first Monday of the month we shall have the pleasant feeling of being engaged about the same time as you and thousands of God’s children throughout the whole world in supplicating for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on the world. Most of us also generally spend the Sabbath afternoon in visiting the wretched districts of the town and speaking to the people about their souls, and in teaching a few children in our rooms…may God grant His abundant blessing on our work and on our own souls.” [AMM, 39-40]
One of their biographers, in writing of this time, noted that their student career “bore in some respects a striking resemblance to the experience of two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, at Oxford – of whom probably the Murrays at that time knew nothing.” [AMM, 45]
Both John and Andrew were ordained by the Hague Committee of the Dutch Reformed Church on Andrew’s 20th birthday – May 9, 1848 – and quickly made preparations to return to South Africa.
EARLY MINISTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Bloemfontein 1848-1853 (20-25 yrs old)
Andrew was a mere beardless boy when he first returned to Africa, only twenty years old, and still more youthful in appearance.
Both John and Andrew stayed with their parents in Graaff Reinet for a while upon their return before launching into their own full-time ministries. They would sometimes preach for their father, who, when it was Andrew’s turn, would say, “If it is Andrew preaching I must remove the lamps, for in his fiery zeal they will be in his way!” [AMM, 51]
His first sermon to his new parish was from 1 Cor 1:23 “We preach Christ crucified…Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This was the keynote of his life!
He was sent as a missionary to the Orange Free State and the Transvaal – a parish about twice the size of England! And well did this beardless boy cultivate it. “Why, they have sent us a girl to preach to us,” said one of the old Dutch farmers. But fragile as his appearance then was, there was no end to the endurance of this young preacher. He would go off for weeks at a time on horseback, holding services in some convenient centre on the Veldt, to which the Boers would come from scores and even hundreds of miles around. A temporary church of reeds would be erected, backed and surrounded by hundreds of the big Dutch farm wagons. In this the boy preacher would discourse with all the fire and fervency and spiritual power which so live and breathe in his books. [NE]
He had to journey often through huge tracts of land, infested with lions, snakes and often warring parties. Yet he faithfully continued, despite dangers and the occasional sickness. His pastoral heart and wisdom shone through on many occasions, such as this one,
“I tried as faithfully as possible to set forth what Psalm 32:4 represents as the way to God. What they wish for is a scolding, and if that but produced good effects I would willingly scold, but I sometimes feel sad at the thought that the blessed Gospel of God’s love should be degraded into nothing else than a schoolmaster to drive and threaten.” [AMM, 61]
His passion for the lost and his growing understanding of prayer are seen in letters to his brother:
“Ministerial responsibilities begin to press increasingly upon me. Oh! how easy and content have I been living, while souls have been perishing. How little have I felt the compassion with which Christ was moved when he wept over sinners…When I read Brainerd’s Life, and see how he speaks of desiring nothing but the Glory of God, I think I see the reason I cannot plead and pray – my faith lacks the true ground ‘for Thy name’s sake.’ Was it not this that enabled Moses to prevail, when he fell down forty days and forty nights to plead for the rejected people?” [AMM, 66-7]
Marriage and Grey College, 1853 – 1860 (25-32 yrs old)
Seven years of this incessant work exhausted Mr. Murray’s strength; he was still further reduced by fever, and returned home to his mother at Graaf Reinet so weak and ill that they feared for his life; but through God’s grace and the loving care of the home friends he was restored to health.
The British Government had decided to withdraw from the area, and many (including Andrew), were opposed to the idea. Soon thereafter he was sent to England as part of a deputation to try and change the decision – but to no avail. Because of his weak health, what was supposed to be a three-month visit, turned into a year-long stay. However, this afforded him the opportunity to minister in a number of churches as well as visit some old friends in Holland from his schooling days.
On his trip to and from England, Andrew enjoyed the hospitality of the Rutherford family. The Hon. H. E. Rutherford was a godly businessman who was generous to the work of the Lord. He also happened to have a well-educated daughter, Emma, who caught the eye of Andrew. Not only was she a student of English, but also Greek and Latin, and was an excellent musician and singer.
Murray married Emma Rutherford in Cape Town, South Africa, on 2 July 1856. They had eight children together (four boys and four girls). Shortly afterwards “Grey College” – a school to train teachers – was set up by Sir George Grey (Governor of Cape Colony), and the Dutch Reformed Church was given the responsibility to run it. Andrew was deeply committed to the project and as no other headmaster could be found, he added the duties of leading the school to his already busy schedule. For a time, he and Emma also took a number of the boarders into their own home.
Andrew Murray with his family in 1873
REVIVAL AND FIRST BOOKS
Worcester and Capetown – 1860 (32 years old)
In 1860 Mr. Murray accepted a call to Worcester, eighty miles from Cape Town, and in May of that year the revival wave which began in America reached Africa and broke out first in the Worcester congregation. It didn’t just happen by chance, though – Andrew’s father, Mr. Murray, senior, had devoted every Friday evening to praying for revival…since 1822! Soon other ministers joined him and for over thirty years they prayed in faith and believed God for an outpouring of His Spirit. [AMM, 85] There were also intercessors at Worcester who were faithfully praying for a move of God.
However, when the revival came Andrew was not prepared for it and tried to shut down the meetings, thinking they were too emotional!
It started in a meeting of about 60 young people when after singing a hymn, a young 15-year-old African girl began to pray in a powerful way. An eyewitness says, “While she was praying we heard as it were a sound in the distance which came nearer and nearer until the hall seemed to be shaken, and with one or two exceptions the whole meeting began to pray, the majority in ordinary voices, but some in whispers, nevertheless the noise made was deafening…” Andrew Murray came in, shocked by what he saw, and cried out “Silence!” but nobody even heard him and all continued praying and calling on God for mercy. After that, evening prayer-meetings were held daily, and sometimes continued until three o’clock in the morning! The revival spread throughout the whole country and bore great fruit.
One who was present writes: “Never will the scenes of those heart-stirring days be forgotten by those who lived through them. Mr. Murray’s heart was full of joy and thanksgiving, though often exhausted by exciting meetings and a desire to control all to the glory of God.”
First Books
It was during this time that Andrew began writing books as a way to help new believers grow in their faith. The goal of “Abide in Christ” was to assist those in the revival maintain their close walk with God. This was followed by one for those still struggling with doubts and whose faith needed strengthening, entitled “Why do You not Believe?” Of course, they were written in Dutch first, and then only later translated and published into English for a wider audience.
Capetown – 1864 (36 years old)
While at Worcester Mr. Murray was called to be moderator of the Synod and was designated the “Youthful Moderator.” He has been reelected many times, and came in later years to be called “Father Andrew.” The years at Worcester were bright and beautiful and there was much precious fruit of his ministry. Then he accepted a call to Cape Town, [1864] and spent there seven of the most difficult years of his life. Three Dutch churches, with three ministers preaching in rotation, gave no feeling of ownership; the field was so large and the work so great that there was always much more to be done than could be accomplished.
During these years he made another trip to England, this time with his family. While there he received the news that his beloved father had passed away in South Africa. He wrote,
“The news of our dear father’s departure has just reached us…How indeed can we thank God aright for such a father, who has left us such a precious legacy in a holy life so full of love to us and labour in his Master’s work… I cannot express what I felt in church yesterday, we received the tidings on Saturday evening, at the thought of what his meeting with his Master must have been, and what his joy in the perfect rest of His presence. It must be a joy passing knowledge to find and see One of whom the soul has been thinking for fifty years, for whom it has longed and thirsted, grieved and prayed, spoken and laboured – all at once to find Him and to find everything it has said or felt or tasted in its most blessed moments are but a shadow compared with the inexpressible reality!” [AMM, 103]
Despite more than one church in London asking Andrew Murray to stay as their pastor, he knew he was called to South Africa and returned in 1867. It was a challenging and exhausting period of ministry, yet Andrew still found time for writing, penning his meditations on the 51st Psalm (in Dutch), which was later published in English as “Have Mercy Upon Me.”
The strain of the seven years in Cape Town affected Mr. Murray’s health. He made the condition of his remaining in Cape Town his having his own church, which was not granted. This decided him to accept a call to Wellington, forty-five miles from Cape Town, in 1871, though it seemed at the time a smaller sphere of work.
“He chose the small congregation of Wellington with its limitations, leaving the glitter of the City and its opportunities of advancement and took a lowlier place. But God’s ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. The quiet, contemplative life led to a deeper, truer knowledge of God and ultimately as a writer he was made a blessing to God’s people in all lands.” [AMM 110].
WELLINGTON, AND WORLDWIDE MINISTRY
Wellington – 1871 (43 years old)
Andrew Murray’s Church in Wellington
Tragedy struck the Murray’s around this time, with the death of one of their daughters. It was shortly after this that in 1874 Andrew Murray established the Huguenot College for girls. His father’s heart, moved by the loss of his own little girl, moved him to advocate for those who couldn’t otherwise afford such education. He raised the money for both the building and the financing of the teachers of the school, which proved to be a tremendous blessing for many across South Africa. In the years that followed the school was expanded, and shortly afterward a training institution for missionaries and teachers was also established, under the guidance of Andrew Murray.
Mr. Murray was laid aside from active pastoral work for nearly three years, a weakness of the throat preventing public speaking. This seemed to be God’s way of leading him to become a writer. He is now well known to the Christian world through his books. In these his life has reached out in a great yearning to bring to God’s people everywhere the fullness of His wonderful love. The living truth has first become a part of himself, and been lived in his life, and then transmuted into blessing for others. The following notes may be of interest:
“Abide in Christ” was written in Dutch during Mr. Murray’s pastorate at Worcester and was later translated into English. This book at once had a large circulation and introduced Mr. Murray to the Christian world.
In the summer of 1898 a brown vine stump lay constantly on his study table; it was often used as an illustration to those who were interested. “The Mystery of the True Vine,” dedicated to Christian Endeavorers all over the world, grew out of this study of the vine. When it was published Mr. Murray had already another lesson from the vine and wrote “The Fruit of the Vine.”
“The School of Prayer” was written in Dutch about 1880, suggested by Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” It was the subject of a convention held at the town of George. Chapters were written at the farmhouses on the way to and from George or between the meetings.
“The Holiest of All” is a simple commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, intended for the Dutch farmers who did not read much, and were not able often to get to church. Mr. Murray and Rev. P. D. Rossouw were on a tour holding evangelistic services in the Colony and Free State. A conversation with a farmer near Tarkastad suggested the need of something of the kind, and at the next stopping place the book was begun.
“Be Perfect” was begun on the last day of a holiday at Kalk Bay. He felt burdened with the message and obliged to write under any circumstances. Sitting by the window overlooking the sea the first chapter was written amid all the confusion of the packing preparatory for the journey.
“Waiting on God” was the watchword of conventions in England and America.
“The Ministry of Intercession” grew out of a series of conferences held in the Free State, Transvaal, Natal, and Cape Colony, at which the subject opened out wonderfully, giving us the choicest of his messages.
Mr. and Mrs. Murray in 1895
JUBILEE TO RETIREMENT (1898-1905)
The second week of May, 1898, was a jubilee week at Wellington. May 9 was Mr. Murray’s seventieth birthday, and the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a minister of the gospel, and the Wellington people remembered also his twenty-six years of faithful ministry to them. Over two hundred telegrams of congratulation came during that week from the governor and his staff and many friends in all parts of the country. Mr. Murray’s message on his birthday gives the secret of it all. A telegram to the Cape Times is as follows:—
“After a feeling acknowledgment of the many good wishes Mr. Murray said that the lesson of half a century of ministerial work to him was that God had for every man a sphere of work and a plan of work. The more unreservedly a man submitted to God’s will the more completely God’s work was wrought. He emphasized this by a reference to various periods of his own career at Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington in the ministry, in connection with education and in writing for the religious press. He urged that throughout his life any success was secured only by following God’s guidance.”
– Northfield Echoes, (East Northfield: MA, 1899), Vol. 6, 1899
In 1905, Mrs. Murray passed away…He also officially retired from his pastorate after 57 years of ordained ministry.
Echoing her husband, Mrs Murray had written:
“We are so prone to seek teaching from man and to be content with streams instead of going to the fountainhead. Therefore there is so much work, with so little result. If we waited more upon God, and followed more simply the teaching of His Holy Spirit, greater blessing would result, even if we were to do less; but this is the hardest lesson of all, the surrender of self…It must be a daily surrender of self and self-will and a pure desire that the will of God shall be done in all things in and by you” (AMM, 155).
Andrew Murray at 70
Andrew Murray’s Testimony at Keswick (1882)
Let me also sound a note of praise to the glory of our blessed Lord Jesus for what He has done for me here at Keswick. It is not that the teaching has been new to me. In the distant land in which I have been working, 6,000 miles away from here, I had some years ago learnt something of the blessed life of faith for myself, and been privileged to lead others to it. But there was still a longing for something more. And even of what I had experienced the freshness and power got lost, the anointing with fresh oil was wanting. There was not that life in the perfect liberty and the continual clear leading of the Spirit to which the rest of faith was meant to be but the entrance. Self, seeking to do God’s work, far more dangerous than refusing to obey, the flesh creeping in, learning spiritual truth, and doing spiritual work rendered it impossible for the life of God to reveal its full power in the soul.
Some two years ago it pleased the Lord to lay me aside from work by an affection of the throat. In His good Providence I was brought to England some six weeks ago, and led to the faith-healing home in London. I cannot say what a blessing my stay there has been to me. I was brought to see that while I only thought of healing as the first thing, and faith as the means to it, the Lord’s purpose was to make the healing the secondary thing, the means to lead on to fuller faith and fellowship with Himself. I was taught what an unspeakably solemn and blessed thing it was to ask the Lord to come and by His Holy Spirit to take possession of the body as its health and strength. I saw how this could not be without a searching out and casting out of self as I had never understood before, an acknowledgment of Christ’s claim to the body and an entire surrender of body, soul, and spirit to His service. Such a surrender was God’s purpose in the sickness, and it was only as such a surrender was made that the healing could be given, or faith rise to receive it. All this I was led to see and thank God for. And yet it was as if the surrender I had made, and the faith in which I had accepted Christ, not only as my Healer, but as the Power of an entirely new life was still wanting its divine seal. I was holding fast the promise, but without the joy and love which must in due time follow.
On Tuesday evening, at the after-meeting, I rose with others to testify my desire, but could not rise a second time with those who could testify that they had realized that Christ was to them what they had believed. It was as if I only felt how utterly helpless every effort to grasp the blessing is, and could do nothing but bow in emptiness before the Lord. On Wednesday evening I was again in the after-meeting, and it was there the Lord revealed Himself. And as the words of the simple chorus were sung— “wonderful cleansing, wonderful filling, wonderful keeping” —I saw it all, Jesus cleansing, Jesus filling, Jesus keeping.
I had for a year back been seeing what wonderful things God’s word says about the power of the blood of Christ. It was “through the blood” that the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. It was by His own blood He entered into the holy place. It was with the blood of the better sacrifice that the heavenly things themselves were purged. It was thus through the blood that the power of sin and death had been overcome; through the blood alone that Christ had obtained and could hold His place in heaven as our Mediator. The blood that had obtained such mighty victories in the kingdom of sin and hell, and in the kingdom of heaven, too. Surely that blood that could cleanse the soul is a power but too little known.
I believed and I received Jesus as my Cleanser. I look to Him to make the blood-sprinkling as glorious and effectual as the blood-shedding was. And I saw that the filling cannot but follow the cleansing. The vessel He hath cleansed He will not leave empty; the temple He hath cleansed, He will fill with His glory, as it is written, “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” And thus what He has cleansed and filled He cannot but keep, and certainly will use. It is far too precious in His sight. For what He does to souls He not only does because it is His work, given Him by the Father, but because He loves them as Himself. He not only gives a blessing in what He does. He gives Himself. And now, since I yesterday heard the words of that beautiful chorus, it is as if they are continually whispering within me—
“Precious, gentle, holy Jesus!
Blessed Bridegroom of my heart,
In Thy secret inner chamber,
Thou wilt show me what Thou art.”
I could say more, but this is enough just to give my grateful testimony to the love of our blessed Lord, and what He has done for me at Keswick. Let us all, my beloved brothers and sisters, seek to know and trust this blessed Jesus. Let Him— Jesus, cleansing, filling, keeping—be to us all in all, and let us have no desire but to live to the glory of His blessed Name. God grant that it may be so.
– The Life of Faith, Vol IV. (London: S. W. Partridge & Co., 1882), p. 221.
Reminisces of Andrew Murray by F. B. Meyer (1908)
“When Dr. Andrew Murray was ordained in 1848 the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church numbered 33, now in the sub-continent they amount to 239, with 83 Mission Churches, and 498,000 members and adherents. Obviously such a result is not entirely attributable to this one family; many godly men have been associated in the ministry and the Church Courts; but it must be remembered that for many years in succession Dr. Murray was the Moderator of his Church, and that these forward movements have been largely due to his wise prescience and strenuous leadership…
At three sessions each day we searched the Scriptures to apprehend the meaning of the Cross and the experiences of which it is the Gate; and probably none of us will ever forget the awe and wonder and joy as the Spirit of Truth took of the things of Christ and made them flash before our gaze. But the choicest moments were those in which Dr. A. Murray gathered up our experiences in a few closing words of prayer. Some fifty years ago he ministered in this Church for five years. Shortly after his settlement a Revival broke out, lit in part from the great movement associated with the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting, New York…
“It was much to see Dr. Murray in his home, to sit with him under his stoep, to eat at his table, pray in his study, and have his presence beside me at the meetings. More than eighty summers have passed over his head, leaving him ripe and mellow. His mind is alert and strong, his eye clear and penetrating, his natural force wonderfully vigorous when one takes into account the pain and lameness consequent on the accident of years ago, his voice strong and resonant. Retired from the pressure of Church work, in which he has ministered for thirty-five years, he is spending his last days carefully tended by his daughters and surrounded by the magnificent institutions he has founded, prolific in their teeming life, and their perennial yield of love and joy…
The missionary flame burns bright in the veteran’s heart. He is constantly looking out on the great heathen world and speaking of its needs. . . . “One hundred millions of heathen now in the dark, two-thirds of the world without Christ.” . . . “ God will be true to His part of the bargain, but we must be to ours. I will give power, but ye are to be witnesses.” . . “Suppose that Cape Town made a contract with a gas lighting company to light all the streets, and that in six months they lit only a few, whilst the bulk of the city remained in darkness, what would be said? There is only one city where that takes place-the city of God.” . . . “If you cannot go to the heathen, you can live for them.” Just before I reached Wellington he had inaugurated an important Layman’s Missionary movement, and, after my departure, was contemplating the holding of several missionary conferences, with the object of stirring up the Dutch Reformed Church to greater missionary efforts. Certainly her rapid advance in missionary enterprises during the last few years is perfectly marvellous.”
– From chapter 14 of “A Winter in South Africa” (1908)
Personal Reminisces (1917) Author Unknown
He had had arduous work at Northfield and Chicago, and was to open at Toronto on the Monday evening; he must have a quiet Sunday between. Night had closed in when he stepped from the ferry at the little pier on Lake Simcoe, and with painful steps—for he had contracted acute rheumatism in crossing the Atlantic—made his way up the avenue to the house. The Sunday was an ideal day, and the little tree-sheltered veranda that abutted on the lake was a choice spot for a long, long talk. The great verities of the spiritual life, problems in psychology and practical Christian duty, the state of Christendom, the call of the heathen—such were his themes. And that afternoon, in the airy, shaded drawing room, the children were clambering over his chair. There are those whose books have charmed, and the charm faded when one heard them on the platform; but to hear Andrew Murray was to find a new charm in his books ever after. There are those, again, whose platform presence has power, but the power is gone when one knows them personally. Andrew Murray stood on the platform with the dignity and authority of some ancient seer, and spoke God’s message with a power that made it search the heart amazingly; but to know him in private was, I think, best of all…
One little incident of that campaign comes to mind. We were at the evening meal preceding the last of the services, and the secretary of the local committee was seated next to the chief guest.
“And then, Mr. Murray,” he said, in discussing the programme, “you must allow ten minutes for one of us to say a few words as to how deeply we have been indebted to you and Dr. So-and-so.”
“My brother,” came the answer, with a depreciative hand on the secretary’s arm, “say all that to the Lord when I am gone.” It was a disclaimer of any vote of thanks, as inappropriate to such meetings, but so exquisitely, so delicately done…
His Prayer Life
One feature of those days will always be a hallowed memory—the little prayer times with Mr. and Mrs. Murray in their private sitting-room before the meetings and at other hours. He lived the life of prayer that he inculcated, and the special exercise of it came with the utmost naturalness and simplicity and power. There was reality in his praying—reality, and effectual fervor. One recalls how William Penn was struck with the “inwardness and weight” of George Fox’s spirit on similar occasions, the reverence and solemnity of his address, the fewness and fulness of his words. “The most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld,” he declares, “was his in prayer.” I think Andrew Murray was spiritually akin to George Fox.
The supreme importance of cultivating fellowship with God was the keynote all through that summer campaign, both in Britain and in America. In our conventions, he averred, too little time was allocated to direct waiting upon God. After the consecration meeting that brought one of the large New York gatherings to a close, I slipped quietly into the church parlors whither Mr. Murray had gone for a special gathering with ministers. Puzzlement and blank hopelessness were on some of the faces. One of them had been recalling the days of comparative leisure in country pastorates; but here in New York, with all their committees and societies and duties innumerable, how could a man find time for the culture of his own spiritual life? “But, my brother, you must find the time,” came the answer: “you must tell your people you will do less visiting or less of something else, but that you need to keep your soul in health if you are to be any help to them.”
Those were busy days. He was to sail for Europe on the Saturday, and reporters had sent for his revision the extended notes of all his addresses at Northfield, Chicago, and Toronto. So there was plenty to do between the meetings. It was a joy to be able to relieve him of some of this revision for the press. Busy days, but always, he took care, not so busy as to drive out prayer.
In His Later Years
After those sad days of the Boer War, in which his convictions placed him somewhat at variance with the majority of the British public, and after the nervous breakdown that supervened, he and Mrs. Murray were seated on the stoop of their house one evening. “We are getting too old to work any longer in the world,” said she: “I think we’d better go away home to heaven.” “You can go if you like, my dear,” he answered characteristically; “but I have a great deal of work to do yet before I go.”
Her decease came a fortnight, in the dawn of 1905. Her husband, left to work on yet awhile, preached her funeral sermon in the church at Wellington. Other eleven years have been left to him, bringing him to the ripe age of 88, and they have been full of his loved activities—development of educational institutions of a high religious character, books on the life of prayer, labours for the missionary cause. Just a week before news of his death came, one of the English weeklies told of his having been visited lately by a prominent Student’s Christian Association worker now in Britain; and there Dr. Murray is represented as saying regarding the present international conflict: “Oh, if you could only bring home to the people what it really means to pray! If only God’s people would unite in real prayer for a few minutes each day, what a difference it would make!”
– The Christian Workers Magazine, June 1917, 791-793.
Notice of Andrew Murray’s death in the “South African Pioneer” magazine
He was 88 years old