AFTER MRS. BONAR'S DEATH
GLASGOW, 17th Oct. 1864.
MY DEAR MR. YOUNG,
—This has been an awfully sudden and solemn stroke. All went well till the afternoon of Friday—nothing indeed to startle us till about six o'clock, and in three hours all was over. . . . During the three hours she was at last only half-conscious—no pain at all—but rapid breathing and restlessness. Not long before she passed away I said, 'I know you are leaning on Jesus.' She tried gently to speak, but in vain, and soon the breathing became lower and lower, till she sank, we believe, into the arms of Him who loved her more than any of us ever did, for He gave Himself for her. It is bewildering still—so sudden. . . . O how stunning the thought from time to time, 'Isabella gone!' What an awful blank! for there could not be a happier home than she made mine to be. But the Lord has said, 'Them that sleep in Jesus He will bring with Him.' O that the day were come! . . . I know how Mrs. Young will feel. It is the quenching of a long and happy friendship till it be relighted up in Glory. You will both pray for me and mine. We need it—for it would be bitterer still were we to suffer all this in vain. Will you ask that the children may know (and I also) what that means, 'When . . . mother leaves me the Lord will take me up,' —becoming Himself mother in every way, and Himself taking her place to do and to be all.—Yours truly, my dear Mr. Young,
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."