ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, THE REV. WM. GRANT OF CAVERS.
COLLACE, Oct. 18th, 1853.
MY DEAR JEANIE,
— 'The heart knoweth its own bitterness.' You have felt this and have experienced how powerless are words, however well-meant and kind, to relieve such affliction as yours. It is only the Lord that can so speak to the heart as to comfort. Do you know (look at the margin) that such expressions as 'Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem' are 'speak to the heart of Jerusalem,' and who can do this but the Lord? One thing you will feel tempted to—not perhaps to think hard thoughts of the Lord, but to think so often of the trial as to overlook in part the design of it as to your personal feelings toward Jesus as a Saviour. When the Lord makes your portion of earth assume so wintry an aspect, it is in order to make you see the eternal summer sunshine in the heavenly places in Christ. Have you felt it profitable to go, not as a sorrowful one, not as one needing the Widow's Judge, but as a sinful one, a corrupt one, one whom God needs to try, one whose sin exposes her to chastisement, to go thus to the blood and righteousness of Jesus? Clothe yourself in His obedience, rest yourself on His satisfying death. There was no fault, no defect, in His obedience under suffering. That, then, is your covering, imputed to you, and under that robe look up to Him and ask Him to visit you with the consolations He felt as man when His reputed father Joseph died, when His much-loved friend the Baptist was removed—when He thought on bereaved Martha and Mary.—Believe me, dear Jeanie, your affectionate brother,
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."