GLASGOW, 2nd Sept. 1859.
DEAR FOLLOWER OF THE LAMB,
-- He that believeth shall not make haste. Go on quietly resting in the grace of Jesus, for His grace is like a full well which you may draw from and yet no way exhaust. Sit beside this well, and when your soul is sad because of sin in you, drink of this free love again. Sit beside this well, and when your soul is sad because of sin around you, drink of this well again. Yes, sit there always, and when the coldness of backsliding ones grieves you, drink of this well of free love again! Is it not a cure for every evil? Does it not also put hope and expectation into your soul? Sit there and pray on. Sit there and praise!
Pray for us here. We have some drops from heaven on our pasture.--Yours in the Lord Jesus,
ANDREW A. BONAR.
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GLASGOW, 1st January 1875.
DEAR FRIEND,
--Thanks for your letter--it is always acceptable, and I try in return to pray for you as you desire. Is not this a word that we may use as Israel did: 'He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing' (Deut.2:7). All this is true, and oh, what a comfort is here, 'He knoweth!' for it tells us that He will see to our safety and will order all for our good. And soon now the wilderness will be over. 'Thine eyes (yes, your eyes) shall see the King in His beauty,' and that is the very heart of heaven.
I think Christ grows more and more precious every day--His person, His obedience, His blood, all, all in Him. O to know His heart of love, and to be able to love Him as He has loved us; I mean, to love Him with all our heart, as He loves us with all His heart.
. . . Let this be our watchword this year, 'Grow in grace!'
'The Lord is at hand!'
Yours truly in the Lord,
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."