GLASGOW, 5th June 1891.
MY DEAR MRS. MUDIE,
—I was altogether taken by surprise when the news came, 'Mr. Mudie is gone!' —gone to the 'mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense till the Daybreak.' You do not know how many of Christ's friends here and elsewhere will miss him. All of us felt, when we were privileged to have his visits, that we had among us a man of God, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,—full of brotherly love also in no ordinary degree, and bright in spirit with the hope of soon meeting his Lord. But, dear sister, shall not you and yours lift up your heads and 'rejoice with them that do rejoice ;' rejoice with him who to-day sings before the Throne:
'His presence fills each heart with joy.'
And then the Day of our Gathering together in Christ, how near it may be! Samuel Rutherford would have reminded you as he reminded a dying friend: 'Ye will not sleep long in the dust before the Daybreak. It is a far shorter piece of the night to you than to Abraham and Moses.' Nor will the Comforter forget to bring you many a message from our sympathising High Priest who spoke that word at the grave of Lazarus, 'If thou wilt believe, thou shalt see the glory of God' in this bereavement. We will pray for you all, that your consolation may abound.
Meanwhile, believe me your companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Christ,
ANDREW A. BONAR.
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Andrew Bonar (1810 - 1892)
He was a well-known pastor in Scotland with the Free Church. His brother Horatius was another well-known minister who was contemporary with Robert Murray Mchyene and others in those days. They saw a move of revival in their churches where the Spirit brought many immediate conversations in a short period of time.He is best known for his work on compiling the life of the prophet of Dundee: Robert Murray Mchyene: "Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray McCheyne." One cannot read this volume and feel the sobriety of eternity and the fear of the Lord. He also wrote a wonderful volume on Leviticus.
Andrew Alexander Bonar was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and the youngest brother of Horatius Bonar.
He studied at Edinburgh; was minister at Collace, Perthshire, 1838 - 1856 (both in the Church of Scotland and the Free Church); and of Finnieston Free Church, Glasgow, 1856 till his death.
He was identified with evangelical and revival movements and adhered to the doctrine of premillennialism. With Robert Murray McCheyne he visited Palestine in 1839 to inquire into the condition of the Jews there. During the visit of Dwight L. Moody to Britain in 1874 and 1875, Moody was warmly welcomed by Bonar, despite the latter receiving considerable criticism from other Calvinist ministers in the Free Church.
Andrew Bonar preached from the whole Bible, the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. When one of his friends remarked on his originality in finding subjects for preaching, and wondered where he got all his texts, he just lifted up his Bible. He did not ignore any part of it, but explained it all. He did not shy away from any passages that might be seen as unpopular or unpleasant. Even the first chapters of Chronicles became 'God calling the roll of mankind.' He made it come alive as a history of men and women, living in their time, as we live in ours, accountable to God.
Christ and Him crucified was at the centre of all his preaching, in all parts of the Bible. He declared 'the whole counsel of God', and was deeply aware of his responsibility as a man of God. He spent hours every day in prayer and meditation of the Scriptures, and asking for the Holy Spirit to show the truth to him, so that he might pass it on to his flock. He wrote in a letter: "Persevering prayerfulness is harder for the flesh than preaching."
Above all, he was aware that his personal holiness would be of crucial importance to his preaching, as his remark shows: "Sins of teachers are teachers of sins."