Andrew Alexander Bonar (1810-1892)
The years leading up to the Scottish Disruption and those immediately afterward produced some of the most remarkable servants of God in the history of the church. Andrew Bonar was a member of that galaxy of brilliant, Reformed Scots preachers, writers, and missionaries which included his brothers John, James, and Horatius, as well as Robert Murray McCheyne, William Chalmers Burns, John Milne, Alexander Moody Stuart, John Urquhart, Robert Nesbit, Alexander Somerville, Rabbi John Duncan, David Ewart, Alexander Duff, and William Sinclair Mackay. They were bound together by a common cause, in a common time, with a common vision, by a common love.
Together these men, all students and disciples of the great Thomas Chalmers, came to be known variously as the “Evangelical Prodigies,” the “Chalmers Bejants,” and the “School of the Saints.” Indeed, they would be responsible for an astonishing burst of Gospel energy, productivity, and profundity hardly ever matched before or since.
Bonar was the scion of a prominent and pious Presbyterian family. His parents were people of strong religious conviction, Calvinist in their theology, and keen that their children should grow up to view Christianity from that worldview perspective. But like most of the other members of that esteemed Disruption circle, he was most profoundly influenced by the life, work, and ministry of Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847). He grew up under the shadow of Chalmers, who was indisputably the greatest preacher, theologian, and reformer of the day—and according to Alister McGrath, “the virtual re-founder of Scots Presbyterianism.” He then studied under Chalmers at the University of Edinburgh, followed him through the difficult days of the Ten Years’ Conflict, stood with him during the Disruption, worked with him in the establishment of the Free Church, and continued his legacy in missions and parish renewal. Though his increasing fascination with Edward Irving and his peculiar brand of Premillennialism would ultimately cause him to abandon his mentor’s concern for social, political, and economic issues—indeed, cultural questions were not admitted to his pulpit at all in later years—yet, in every other way, he reflected the vision of Chalmers for a committed, godly parish clergy and an impassioned, strategic outreach to the lost.
Bonar’s twin emphases on personal piety and aggressive evangelism are evident on almost every page of his Diary and Life.
Thomas Chalmers, in his lectures on Moral Philosophy, regularly reminded his charges that, “In bygone days when God’s covenant people sought to strengthen their piety, to sharpen their effectual intercessions, and give passion to their supplications, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When intent upon seeking the Lord God’s guidance in difficult after-times, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they were wont to express grief—whether over the consequences of their own sins or the sins of others—they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they sought deliverance or protection in times of trouble, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they desired to express repentance, covenant renewal, and a return to the fold of faith, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. Such is the call upon all who would name the Name of Jesus. Such is the ordinary Christian life.”
Bonar took such teaching to heart, “His ambition was to know Christ, and this one aim simplified his life. His obedience in the smallest details was very striking. It was not so much that he did not do wrong, but he seemed always to do the things that pleased God. Those who lived with him cannot recall a single unworthy action in his life. Step by step he walked with God, doing everything as in his sight. ‘You are not very holy if you are not very kind,’ he used to say, and this spirit of love characterized his actions.”
Bonar not only attempted to live a righteous life marked by genuine sanctification, but his message was also marked by an uncompromising call to holiness. His books and sermons were filled with the theme—his Commentary on Leviticus was concerned with little else; his Memoirs of M’Cheyne focused most intently on that issue; his compilation of Samuel Rutherford’s Letters brought to light the great divine’s concern for piety far more than one might have expected of the author of Lex Rex; his work on the biography of Asahel Nettleton, co-authored with Bennet Tyler, aimed at accenting matters of sanctification; and his preaching would admit little else. He constantly commended the old Puritan and Covenanter discipline of self-examination as an essential check against the persistent and perpetual wiles of idolatry.
Of course, Bonar’s distinctive ministry was not merely rooted in an individualistic vision of pious introspection. For him, personal holiness was the foundation upon which a ministry within the covenant community and without, to the lost, was to be built. Identifying “idols for destruction” in his own life was merely a prelude for him to identify “altars for service unto the lives of others.”
As a result, Bonar came to have a passion for the souls of men. His manse in Collace and the chapel narthex of his parish church in Glasgow were both adorned with the Hebrew script reading, “He that winneth souls is wise.” It was his motto and his mission. It was his mindset and his motivation.
For all his spiritual achievement in the arenas of personal holiness and evangelism, Bonar remained remarkably humble throughout his life. Though he was not insensitive to the gracious appointments of blessing in his life, he was ever more alert to his vices than his virtues; he was all too aware of his idolatrous tendencies over and against his moral victories.
Thus, one evening in 1888 he would write, “I spent most of this day in reading Dr. Chalmers’ Life—two volumes. In the midst of my reading a man came in to ask me to go with him to settle a quarrel between him and his wife. The Lord does not use me, like his servant Dr. Chalmers, for great things, but my way of serving the Lord is walking three or four miles to quiet a family dispute! The Lord shows me that He wishes me to be one of the common Levites who carry the pins.”
Upon such holiness, such humility, such zeal for the work of the Kingdom is resistance and reformation built.