GLASGOW, 9th July 1891.
MY DEAR MR. INGLIS,--I have just been at Greenock, hearing the particulars of my brother John's last hours. He died really like one falling asleep 'in a good old age.' But you, dear brother, are mourning over a beloved daughter called away in her prime, and in the midst of her usefulness. 'His ways are in the sea, and His paths in the great waters.' We have tried to remember you and Mrs. Inglis, and I am sure the Lord Jesus has as much sympathy for you both as He had for Martha and Mary, and is saying to you as truly as to them, 'If you will believe (that is, "if you will only trust My word for it ") you shall see the glory of God in this sore trial.' Resurrection is coming soon, and He who is the Resurrection is coming, and 'will tell us all things.'
With true sympathy with all your house and bereaved ones.--Yours in tribulation, as well as in the faith of the Gospel,
ANDREW A. BONAR.
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ON THE DEATH OF MRS. INGLIS
GLASGOW, 16th Dec. 1891
MY DEAR MR. INGLIS,
-- 'He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men '--how much more unwilling He must be to afflict His own children. He must be purposing some special blessing to you by this stroke. Meanwhile, look within the veil (Rev. 7) and 'rejoice with them that do rejoice,' while at the same time you look forward and sing:
'The time draws near when from the clouds Christ shall with shouts descend.
'A few short years of evil past, We reach the happy shore Where death-divided friends at last Shall meet, to part no more.'
You will find that you are prayed for by very many at this time, and all these prayers cannot fail to bring you and yours what otherwise you could not have gained.--
Yours, my dear brother, in true sympathy, for I 'know the heart of a stranger, seeing I have been a stranger in the land of Egypt,'
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."