Andrew Bonar's memoir tells the life and ministry of a young man who lived in the presence of God, and who brought an overwhelming sense of that presence to the people he preached to.

It is that rare kind of biography in which the subject is allowed to speak for himself in his own way, largely through his letters and journals, and M'Cheyne's often-quoted prayer - Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made - casts its breath over every page. He died at twenty-nine, and this book is the reason he is still read.