GLASGOW, 9th April 1883.
MY DEAR MISS MARY,
— Amidst our Communion services yesterday, we did not fail to remember 'a former member of the congregation now lingering in the valley of the shadow of death.' Nor did we forget yourself, watching by the sick while we were in the Sanctuary and at the Table. When reading at the beginning of the services Psalm 22., our attention was drawn to verse 15th, as well as 14th, the utter weakness of Christ on the Cross. 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd,' not even the faint appearance of moisture left. But even then see what He has! In verse 19th, He claims Jehovah as His strength! 'O my strength, haste Thee to help Me.' Will you tell your dear sister how well Jesus can sympathise with her in her feeling of absolute and utter weakness; but tell her also, how He at the same time whispers, 'Claim as I did, and cry as I did, Jehovah, My strength!'
One word, more especially for yourself, from Job 23:10: 'He knoweth the way that I take.' He who so often tells in Rev. 2. and 3., 'I know thy works,' is saying to you as really, 'I know the way I am leading you. I have made no mistake, nor has my loving-kindness failed. When I have tried thee, thou shalt come forth as gold.' —
Your affectionate pastor,
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."