Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 18:2 (Winter 2009)
Article: Horatius Bonar, Champion Of The Gospel
Author: John Y. May

EMJ 18:2 (Winter 2009) p. 217

Horatius Bonar, Champion Of The Gospel

John Y. May1

His Life And Writings

Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) is recognized as an outstanding Scottish author, minister, and exponent of the gospel. The son of an Edinburgh solicitor, Horatius was educated at Edinburgh University under the gifted Thomas Chalmers and where Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a fellow classmate. Licensed as a preacher in 1833, Bonar was appointed assistant to Rev. John Lewis at St. James parish in Leith, the port of Edinburgh. Ordained in 1837, he became a minister of the North Church in Kelso, a border town fifty-two miles southeast of Edinburgh. Under his ministry the church became what one visitor described as a center of “life and refreshing to all the district.”

He later joined the newly formed Free Church of Scotland as a result of the Disruption of 1843. In 1853 Aberdeen University conferred on him the D.D. degree. He was called in 1866 as pastor of the Chalmers Memorial Church, Edinburgh, where he served the rest of his life. Horatius was elected moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1883.

His preaching was very powerful and influential. Like his contemporary pulpit giant Charles H. Spurgeon, he had an unusual ability to express great truths in plain and understandable words. Two of his brothers, Andrew and John, were also well-known preachers.

Bonar wrote over six hundred hymns, of which some one hundred are still available. Among his more familiar hymn titles are: “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” “Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord,” “I Hear the Words of Love,” “Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face,” and “Go, Labor On: Spend and Be Spent.”

As an author, Bonar wrote extensively and edited several journals during his lifetime, including The Christian Treasury, a highly regarded periodical. Scholar-biographer Ian H. Murray maintains that Horatius was one of the finest writers Scotland ever produced. His numerous books were clearly written and often reflected either a devotional tone or an evangelistic thrust.

EMJ 18:2 (Winter 2009) p. 218

For the purpose of this essay, we depend heavily on four of his book titles: God’s Way of Holiness, The Everlasting Righteousness, God’s Way of Peace, and Christ is All.

Special mention needs to be made, however, of God’s Way of Holiness. In some respects, this is a mistitled work. While it does indeed deal with holiness, it is very much broader in scope. Regarded as a classic, it is a brilliant and substantive treatment of many biblical themes.

His chapter, for exampl...