GLASGOW, 16th Jan. 1884.
MY DEAR SISTERS,
—An old minister, whom you have had some knowledge of, wrote to his friend a salutation that I offer to you— 'Grace, mercy, and peace shall be with you.' He did not say, 'May grace, mercy, and peace be with you,' but he said, 'Grace shall be with you (see margin), mercy and peace.' He was sure of it; for he knew that the trees whose roots are in the waters cannot but be kept fresh and green. Have you been finding much of late in the 'Law of the Lord' ? You know that the Word is called 'the Oracles of God,' and this is just the description of the utterances of God from the Holy of Holies.
Read your Bibles, then, with the same reverence as filled the soul of the High Priest when he went into the very presence of the Holy One of Israel. You were studying the interviews of Paul with his Master, and you made out six, taking in the angel's visit to him as representing Christ. I made out a seventh visit—at the time of his trial and approach of his end, from 2 Tim. 4:17: 'The Lord stood by me and strengthened me.' Now, as the angel (Acts 27: 23) really stood by Paul in his cabin, so was not this a real standing-by in personal presence? The Lord Jesus came into his prison-cell, and just as the other angel in Gethsemane 'strengthened' the Master, probably by a message from the Father, so did Christ do to His servant there.
Are you learning some peculiar lessons at Bournemouth? Tell me some of them, for 'to communicate to him that teacheth' is a duty of every hearer (Gal. 6:6).
It often seems strange never to see your faces—nor hear your voices—never to be calling at your well-known house!
Sometimes pray for us, and that will be equivalent to a kind call from you, for speaking to the Lord about friends is as kind an act as speaking directly to friends.
—Believe me, ever yours truly in Him who loved the sisters at Bethany,
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."