GLASGOW, 17th Feb.1886.
DEAR SISTERS 'in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ' !
Do you not hear the Master saying, as He points downwards to our earth and to your dwelling, 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth! but I am going to awaken him out of his sleep.' Your brother shall rise again, and that day is coming nearer and nearer. Very likely you may be ready to say in your mourning, 'Lord, if Thou hadst only shown us this or that, we might have been better prepared for the stroke!' Martha and Mary had each of them, her 'If Thou' —but Jesus quietly put that 'if ' aside, and turned their thoughts to their Lord's gracious purpose in it all. 'Said I not unto thee that, if thou wilt believe (for I do not ask thee to feel at present that nothing could be better than what has happened, but simply to believe it is so), thou shalt see the glory of God?
What a glorious morning will the Resurrection be! Not a tear, not a regret, nothing but joy and praise and thanksgiving as we meet one risen friend after another restored to us in everlasting health and holy beauty, with our Elder Brother in the midst smiling on us with infinite affection as He reminds us, 'Said I not unto thee that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God? '—Yours truly, with deepest sympathy,
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."