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Horatius Bonar (19 December, 1808 – 31 May, 1889) was a Scottish churchman and poet.
The son of James Bonar, Solicitor of Excise for Scotland, he was born and educated in Edinburgh. He comes from a long line of ministers who have served a total of 364 years in the Church of Scotland. One of eleven children, his brothers John James and Andrew Alexander were also ministers of the Free Church of Scotland. He had married Jane Catherine Lundie in 1843 and five of their young children died in succession. Towards the end of their lives, one of their surviving daughters was left a widow with five small children and she returned to live with her parents. Bonar's wife, Jane, died in 1876. He is buried in the Canongate Kirkyard. In 1853 Bonar earned the Doctor of Divinity degree at the University of Aberdeen.
He entered the Ministry of the Church of Scotland. At first he was put in charge of mission work at St. John's parish in Leith and settled at Kelso. He joined the Free Church at the time of the Disruption of 1843, and in 1867 was moved to Edinburgh to take over the Chalmers Memorial Church (named after his teacher at college, Dr. Thomas Chalmers). In 1883, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.
Wow! I confess that I read this because it was short, but boy! Does it pack a punch. Written specifically for pastors, this book is profitable for anyone who seeks to have a fruitful ministry of teaching and discipling others. There is a wealth of admonitions and encouragements to consider snd pursue with the goal of producing a follower of Christ worthy of being imitated. This book ought to be read, re-read and read yet again.
Decent wee book by Horatius. Could go in more depth and I do think some of the minor details could be quibbled about. Nevertheless, a lot of use of the Puritans which I appreciate and direct challenges for those in ministry. Be earnest in your preaching and holy in your life.
Horatius Bonar has blessed us, pastors, with a pithy heart-wrenching book which ought to be read slowly, carefully, prayerfully and frequently... Oh, how nourishing! Oh, how convicting! Oh, how encouraging! Oh, what a privilege it is to be a minister of God–His slave.
Convicting Book. I view it as a must read. The only reason I rated it as anything less than 5 stars is that it takes incredible intentionality to overcome the older-style English of the book. I would encourage any learned man to pick up this book, and read.
I was recently gifted this book by a good pastor friend. I had no idea of the content when he gave it to me. I thought it was geared more towards average Christian outreach. It is not.
This book is written primary for the church leader. I am not suggesting that others cannot benefit from it - they most certainly can. However, if you are an elder in a church, this book will challenge you. Our generation simply doesn't dwell on the things of God as much as we should.
I highly recommend this read - extremely challenging.
At times the author quotes others who use extremely long sentences that require much concentration. I found myself going back to re-read a sentence to fully understand it. There is one chapter in particular that has a paragraph full of sentence fragments. As a nerd, I find that completely annoying.
As to the content, prepare yourself to be rebuked fiercely. There are no tulips being tippy toed through in this booklet. He unloads the proverbial both barrels in his pointed vocabulary as to the reason we are many times fruitless as ministers of the gospel. If you are looking to feel good, this is not your content. If you are looking to be changed, read with an open heart and be ready for some Holy Ghost conviction.
I began some years ago making a notation in my books and in Goodreads as to when and where I purchased or received a book. This book predates that practice. I don’t know when or where or even why I picked up this little book. I wish I did. I don’t know why it to me so long to finally pick it up. It has sat for years on the shelf. I regret that I didn’t read it earlier.
Fellow ministers, procure this book. Don’t neglect it. Bonar may be a bit severe at times, but it is exactly the kind of severity we need a good dose of.
Rousing, convicting and encouraging. The call to ministry is a serious call. It requires the pursuit of godliness, a resolved attitude to follow Christ in all facets of life, much prayer and a desire to see souls converted and fed.
This little book is a wonderful jolt of earnestness. I absolutely love it. In summary, Bonar, relying heavily upon Baxter, writes about the urgency the church leader must have in their life, teaching, and ministry. He shows how lukewarm and cold we have become, and how absurd it is. He is bold and radical, but only as much as the Bible and logic would lead us to be.
He talks about how we must walk with God. On this, he says, "Without this nothing else will avail. Neither orthodoxy, nor learning, nor eloquence, nor power of argument, nor zeal, nor fervor, will accomplish naught without this. It is this that gives power to our words and persuasiveness to our arguments, making them either as the balm of Gilead to the wounded spirit or as sharp arrows of the mighty to the conscience of the stouthearted rebel. From them that walk with Him in holy, happy intercourse, a virtue seems to go forth, a blessed fragrance seems to compass them whithersoever they go. Nearness to Him, intimacy with Him, assimilation to His character--these are the elements of a ministry of power...Our power in drawing men to Christ springs chiefly from the fullness of our personal joy in Him, and the nearness of our personal communion with Him" (12-13). Amen and amen. Convicting, and so true.
He continues by stressing how important it is to not be worldly therefore: "Oh, how much depends on the holiness of our life, the consistency of our character, the heavenliness of our walk and conservation!...We must either repel or attract--save or ruin souls! How loud, then, the call, how strong the motive, to spirituality of soul and circumspectness of life! How solemn the warning against worldly-mindedness and vanity, against levity and frivolity, against negligence, sloth and cold formality!" (14). And he then shows that the person who walks with God is not only the worlds light of truth, but the worlds fountain, pointing them to Christ. It is therefore important to walk in holiness.
From here, he stresses things like a personal time with God where we really spend time with God. He stresses being urgent about the salvation of others, and that "he who saved our souls has taught us to weep over the unsaved" (23). And more.
He then spends a whole chapter (the majority of the book) confessing how we have been unfaithful in leading. Talking about how we have become worldly and unspiritual in so many ways, he writes, "Hence our tastes have been vitiated, our consciences blunted, and that sensitive tenderness of feeling which, while it turns not back from suffering yet shrinks from the remotest contact with sin, has worn off and given place to an amount of callousness of which we once, in fresher days, believer ourselves incapable" (37). This is one of the most convicting paragraphs in the book for me. Another confession is that we have stopped living for self-sacrifice and self-denial, and instead have sought to please ourselves (38-39).
One of my favorite parts of the book was when he was describing how the preachers preached during the plagues in Europe. Many left and fled, but those who stayed preached with people dying every day, with seeing actual dead bodies all the time, and with knowing that they themselves might die any day. And Bonar describes the stories and how the preachers were unabashedly urgent and gospel-centered in their sermons. Then he says on the next page, "Truly they preaches as dying men to dying men. But the question is, Should it ever be otherwise. Should there ever be less fervor in preaching or less eagerness in hearing than there was then?" He then gives my favorite line of the book: "True, life was a little shorter then, but that was all" (56). A crazy thought. Sure, during these plagues, life was shorter. But Bonar is right. It was shorter, but only a little shorter. We should have the same urgency. He says it another way too, "We are a few steps farther from the shore of eternity; that is all" (56-57). And so he concludes, "Surely it is our unbelief that makes the difference!...It is unbelief that makes ministers handle eternal realities with such indifference" (57). This picture and application is spot on and convicting.
More could be said, but I will read the book over and over again as a spiritual refreshment and reorientation for my soul--toward the lost, toward those in the flock, toward prayer, and toward Bible reading.
A summary urgent call can be from page 53-54: "Many days may yet be, in the providence of God, before us. These must be days of strenuous, ceaseless, persevering, and, if God bless us, successful toil. We shall labor till we are worm out and laid to rest." Amen.
I would recommend it to anyone. Bonar is rightly oriented in his view of life, the gospel, and salvation. Urgency is not an option.
This is probably my favorite book on evangelism thus far. It is not a how-to manual, but emphasizes faith, holiness, and personal communion with God as the means to evangelistic zeal. Bonar recounts what made ministers slothful in the 16th-19th centuries and, thus, provides a wonderful guide to the church (especially ministers) in all ages for pursuing the lost and building up the church of Christ.
This is an extremely heart searching and convicting book aimed at stirring and warning pastors to take seriously the matter of eternity. This book will, if you allow it to, shake and move you.
As a lay member myself (if a particularly noisy one), I often wonder about the appropriateness of reading material like this that is obviously aimed at ordained ministers [1]. In this case, I have to say that this book is certainly the favorite by the author that I have read yet, especially because of the attitude of the book. It is one thing to read a Calvinist lambasting anxious people and blaming them for a lack of faith--that just comes off as unseemly bullying--but when a Calvinist hellfire and damnation speaker as this author certainly was comes out and hammers less passionate Calvinist ministers as a whole for lacking a commitment to win souls for Christ and set a godly example, that is the sort of condemnation I can easily get behind. Lest my ministerial friends and acquaintances view this as evidence of some sort of hostility to the ministry, this book qualifies as the sort of soul-searching call for repentance that is meant for an insider audience and that ought to apply to everyone (lay people like myself included) who speak from the pulpit on matters of faith.
This short tract of less than 50 pages is divided into five chapters. First, the author looks at the importance of a living ministry (1), making the claim that without having saved souls, a minister's preaching is of no value. I have some issues with this approach, as common as it is, I must admit. After this the author points out the importance of the minister's personal example as a key aspect of his ministry (2). After this comes what I think is the most worthwhile part of this message, the author's excoriation of the past defects of the ministry in being cold and focused too much on their own wealth and prestige rather than the serious task of preaching the gospel and preparing God's people (3). The author then provides a confession for ministers (4) and points to what factors could bring about the revival in the ministry (5) that people often talk about but that never seems to happen. Throughout the author is more interested it seems in quoting and referring to other Calvinist divines or historical clergy than talking about the Bible, but given the focus of this book on the ministry it makes sense that ministers should be the main examples for better and for worse--Ussher of the biblical chronology debates comes off particularly well in the author's estimation.
What is it that makes this book so much more enjoyable as a reader than the rest of his work that I have encountered so far? For the most part, my appreciation of this work comes from the fact that I agree with him that all too many ministers and clergy have been too interested in prestige and wealth rather than in taking the task of being a shepherd of God's flock seriously. I have known plenty of conscientious pastors, but all too many who knew the state of their golf game or how they were going to fill their deer or elk hunting tags better than the state of their congregations as well. That said, I do still have issues with this book. The sad state of spirituality cannot be blamed on the ministry alone, for there have been many faithful preachers of righteousness like Noah and Jeremiah whose effect on the spirituality of their societies was negligible. We cannot blame a nation's lack of faith on its spiritual leadership, although where this leadership is lacking in fervor and devotion to God's ways, this book's approach of scorching self-criticism is definitely a welcome one.
"How MUCH MORE would a few good and fervent men effect in the ministry than a multitude of lukewarm ones!"
So begins Horatius Bonar's little, (maybe even tiny), book "Words to the Winners of Souls." And it doesn't get any easier to digest from there. Bonar is a deep well of emotion and theology, who sees too frequently in peers a lukewarm ministry that reflects a lukewarm pastor. How can our preaching be so passionless and dull if eternal souls are at stake? How can "we see thousands perish around us and yet sleep undisturbed?" Bonar reminds us that "he that saveth our souls has taught us to weep over the unsaved," but do we who preach weep for the lost?
And how does this effect our preaching? Are we rash? Or worse, timid? (I fear I am!) Bonar believes that "Rash preaching disgusts, timid preaching leaves poor souls fast asleep, but bold preaching is the only preaching owned by God." May God grant to His church bold preachers who, "however learned and able, should yet be more distinguished by their spirituality, zeal, faith and love."
What a remarkably humbling and yet motivating little book. An easy 5 stars. Horatius Bonar has earned a seat at my "favorites" table.
Finally got around to reading this, after a friend gave it to me almost 10 years ago. I had been putting it off because I kept doubting that such a small book could really be as amazing as he (and also my cousin, later) said... Well, in true Scottish 1800's fashion, this book packed a punch! A strangely encouraging a spurring indictment of the slothfulness and idleness of our Christian lives, encouraging us to live with higher standards of devotion and self-discipline. Feels like one of those books which will have an enduring impact on my life.
I loved the first half of the book. I find the second half unrealistic and guilt-trippy. Pastors are not Jesus. Pastors are human beings with a high calling seeking to follow Jesus. Pastors should labor hard, seek holiness, and avoid hypocrisy. However, a life well-lived also includes leisure, laughter, enjoying good food, sex, ball games, playing with kids, etc. The picture Bonar paints of faithfulness in this text seems to include none of these things.
"Preaching against public sins, neither in such a way, nor for such an end, as we ought— for the gaining of souls and drawing men out of their sins; but rather because it is to our advantage to say something of these evils. Bitterness, instead of zeal in speaking against malignants, sectarians, and other scandalous persons; and unfaithfulness therein."
The book title is a little misleading, as I thought it was referring to evangelists, but it was actually directed to ministers and preachers specifically. Bonar covers the blessings received by the holy work, the temptations that arise, and confessions that ministers need to make in order to take that next step up in their journey as winners of souls.
The writing style requires strict attention to get the most out of it. Written. Mostly for ministers, laymen can certainly benefit. Be ready to be humbled by the contents.
Classic yet timely call to active ministry trusting the grace of Christ and preaching him woh urgency. More than that, serving his people with passion and care. For revival. And the renown of Jesus’s name.
Super convicting! This was written to pastors, but I think applies to all believers. It’s short, but powerful. I think I need to read it again already.
This book is written to pastors, but any Christian will find something to learn here. The last half of the book was particularly convicting, and will be good to go back to now and then.