Andrew Bonar
1810 - 1892

      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."
      

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1.) 'The Value of a Thought'
      [The notes which form this chapter are taken, with additions and explanations, from a little book in which Dr. Bonar had jotted down a brief account of the origin of his model of the Tabernacle. It was one of the methods of preaching the Gospel which he made use of during the course of his ministry - a method which he loved, and which, as these not ...read more

2.) A sermon to children.
      'There were also with Him other little ships' Mark 4: 36 Some of the little things we do in our meetings with you are imitations of Christ's ways. When you are going away from a meeting we sometimes give you a tract ; so Jesus in sending the people away gave each of them a blessing. It was evening, and He was kept late as He thus spoke a part ...read more

3.) ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
      Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 There are many wonderful things in this epistle. Sometimes we are told to look up to the 'heavenly places;' sometimes to look back, past eternity; and again we are told to look far forward, into t ...read more

4.) Angel Workers
      What I write is not a vision, nor a dream; it is an allegory of its kind. You will follow me into another region, to a spot where angels are gathered together in quiet, happy converse. They are all ' ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation' (Heb. 1:14); but they are creatures, and so they need intervals ...read more

5.) Bless the Lord, O my soul!
      Psalm 103: 1-5 IN this psalm we find the Psalmist standing at the golden altar with his harp in his hand, recounting all his mercies. This psalm teaches us adoration. Adoration is not thanksgiving; it is silent wonder. I once saw a striking instance of this in a sick one, who said to me, 'I got such a sight of the Lord Jesus - His wonderful Perso ...read more

6.) Christ's Silence (1).
      'A time to keep silence and a time to speak' Eccles. 3:7 We can draw a great deal of instruction from Christ's silence. 'Let Christ's word and silence too Dwell in thy heart,' a Moravian hymn says. Silence as to things we would like to know about Christ is a different thing from Christ Himself keeping silence. Do we ever in the four Gos ...read more

7.) Christ's Silence (2).
      'Have I not held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? Isaiah 57:11 IT is, as we would say, an old custom of God's to keep silence when we would have expected Him to speak. Of old God's silence was meant to lead men to fear. We need not wonder that when Christ came He acted in the same way. I. Christ's silence in receiving sinners. ...read more

8.) Christ's Silence (3).
      Matthew 11:1-11 JOHN the Baptist lay in prison unnoticed, and we may say uncared for, for nearly a year. How mysterious! No wonder he sent to ask the Master if there was any explanation of this. 'Art Thou He that should come? Is this like the Messiah?' Christ's answer to the disciples of John was, 'Tell your master what I am doing, and have been ...read more

9.) Closing address on Communion Sabbath, January 27, 1889.
      'When He is come, He will tell us all things' John 4:25 You must have noticed some great and memorable sayings in the New Testament which were spoken unwittingly. 'This man receiveth sinners' (Luke 15:2); 'It is expedient that one man should die for the people' (John 11:50); 'He saved others, Himself He cannot save' (Matt. 27:42); 'This is the ...read more

10.) Coming to Christ.
      The natural man is exceedingly perverse, and Satan knows how to wield this perversity of the heart. We, in our day, are ready to excuse ourselves for slowness to believe in the Lord Jesus by saying, 'How much easier it would have been, had we seen Him in the flesh, and been with Him when he wrought His gracious works, and when He spoke His words th ...read more

11.) Development of Antichrist - Chapter 1. The Personality of Antichrist
      Christians are called to tread nowhere with greater circumspection than when dealing with unfulfilled prophecy, and it is owing to want of due caution here that so many a humble inquirer has been left, amidst the confusion that is within and ridicule without the Church, in painful uncertainty as to what his duty in regard to the prophetic portion o ...read more

12.) Development of Antichrist - Chapter 2. The Time of His Appearing
      Reference has been made to the declaration in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the day of Christ should not come until "the apostasy" as well as "the man of sin" had been seen. Also to Matthew 24, where the great tribulation, "such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be," is also to precede the same glorious event. It ...read more

13.) Development of Antichrist - Chapter 3. His Characteristics and Duration
      The very name of Antichrist implies a denial of Christ having come in the flesh as well as an assumption of His place and dignity; and so exactly does this description apply, that to deny Christ in any measure or shape is held to indicate the working of that spirit of Antichrist which was already in the world in the apostle's day (1 John 4:3). In o ...read more

14.) Development of Antichrist - Chapter 4. His Destruction and Its Consequences
      In saying so much of Antichrist, it was impossible not to anticipate to a certain extent, what ought in proper order to have fallen under this division of the subject. It was necessary to allude to some of its circumstances in establishing his personality, the time of his appearing, and his duration. But having proceeded so far, it may be objected ...read more

15.) Development of Antichrist - Conclusion
      There would be no conclusion to draw from all this were it true, as is so frequently insinuated, that prophecy is of no private interpretation as far as our own individual interests are concerned. There may undoubtedly be a risk not alone of neglecting, but also on the other hand of giving it an undue prominence. Nevertheless between these extremes ...read more

16.) Development of Antichrist - Preface
      The principle of interpreting the prophetic portions of Holy Scripture as literally as the historical is recognized throughout the following pages, and it is upon this ground alone that the writer builds his hope of escaping a charge of presumption in submitting them for consideration, as he has ventured to do. They are meant to be a protest agains ...read more

17.) EPAPHRAS
      'Always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God' Col. 4:12. Epaphras was a citizen of Colosse. Hence his deep interest in the Colossians. The Lord does not ask His people to give up their patriotism when they turn to Him. Epaphras had a particular desire that the Colossians should b ...read more

18.) First-fruits of the Resurrection.
      'The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.' Matt. 27: 50-53 This is a passage about which very little has been written. Commentators seem to pass it by as something very mysterious. But if the Holy Spirit be with us we will find that there is a lesson for us in this part of the Word. 'The rocks rent.' Wherever we r ...read more

19.) How faith receives Christ.
      NOTES OF AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE PERTH CONFERENCE, 1885 It is often best for us not to attempt to define Faith and its actings, but to show how the soul that has been awakened and is seeking a resting-place, may be gently led by the Spirit to meet Christ, in whom it finds all it desires, without an effort. Let us try this plan of illustrating ...read more