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Horatius Bonar
Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889). Scottish Presbyterian minister, poet, and hymn-writer born in Edinburgh to a ministerial family. Educated at Edinburgh University, he was ordained in 1837, serving Kelso’s North Church for 30 years. Joining the Free Church of Scotland during the 1843 Disruption, he later pastored Chalmers Memorial Church in Edinburgh (1866-1889). Bonar wrote over 600 hymns, including “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” and authored books like The Everlasting Righteousness (1873), emphasizing justification by faith. A prolific evangelist, he edited The Quarterly Journal of Prophecy and published tracts reaching millions. Married to Jane Lundie in 1843, they had nine children, five surviving infancy. His devotional works, blending Calvinism and warmth, influenced global Christianity. Bonar’s hymns remain sung in churches worldwide, and his writings, notably God’s Way of Peace, endure in reprints. His poetic style enriched Victorian spirituality, inspiring figures like Charles Spurgeon. Despite personal losses, he preached hope and Christ’s return until his final years.
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Horatius Bonar emphasizes that our salvation is rooted in the perfect fulfillment of God's law, which was accomplished by Jesus Christ. He explains that Christ, though above the law, willingly became subject to it, fulfilling every requirement and enduring its penalties on our behalf. This act of vicarious law-keeping ensures that believers are redeemed from the curse of the law, highlighting that Christ is not merely a helper but the Savior who fully satisfies the demands of justice. Bonar reassures that through faith in Christ, we receive a holy and righteous salvation, free from the law's claims. Ultimately, he underscores that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe.
Faithful and Just to Forgive
It is by a perfect law that we are saved; else it would be an unholy salvation. It is by a perfect law fulfilled in "every jot and tittle" that we are saved; else it would be an unrighteous salvation. The Son of God has kept this law for us; He has magnified it and made it honorable; and thus we have a holy and righteous salvation. Though above law in Himself, He was made "under the law" for us; and by the vicarious law-keeping of His spotless life, as well as by endurance unto death of that law's awful penalties, we are redeemed from the curse of the law. "Christ is the end (the fulfilling and exhausting) of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth" (Romans 10:4). For Christ is not a helper, but He is the Saviour. He did not come to enable us to save ourselves by keeping a mitigated law, but to keep the unmitigated law in our room, that the law might have no claim for penalty upon any sinner in Christ.
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Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889). Scottish Presbyterian minister, poet, and hymn-writer born in Edinburgh to a ministerial family. Educated at Edinburgh University, he was ordained in 1837, serving Kelso’s North Church for 30 years. Joining the Free Church of Scotland during the 1843 Disruption, he later pastored Chalmers Memorial Church in Edinburgh (1866-1889). Bonar wrote over 600 hymns, including “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” and authored books like The Everlasting Righteousness (1873), emphasizing justification by faith. A prolific evangelist, he edited The Quarterly Journal of Prophecy and published tracts reaching millions. Married to Jane Lundie in 1843, they had nine children, five surviving infancy. His devotional works, blending Calvinism and warmth, influenced global Christianity. Bonar’s hymns remain sung in churches worldwide, and his writings, notably God’s Way of Peace, endure in reprints. His poetic style enriched Victorian spirituality, inspiring figures like Charles Spurgeon. Despite personal losses, he preached hope and Christ’s return until his final years.