Horatius Bonar

Born:  December 19, 1808, Old Broughton, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Died:  July 31, 1889, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Buried:  Canongate churchyard.

    Bonar has been called “the prince of Scottish hymn writers.” After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was ordained in 1838, and became pastor of the North Parish, Kelso. He joined the Free Church of Scotland after the “Disruption” of 1843, and for a while edited the church’s The Border Watch. Bonar remained in Kelso for 28 years, after which he moved to the Chalmers Memorial church in Edinburgh, where he served the rest of his life. Bonar wrote more than 600 hymns. At a memorial service following his death, his friend, Rev. E. H. Lundie, said:

His hymns were written in very varied circumstances, sometimes timed by the tinkling brook that babbled near him; sometimes attuned to the ordered tramp of the ocean, whose crested waves broke on the beach by which he wandered; sometimes set to the rude music of the railway train that hurried him to the scene of duty; sometimes measured by the silent rhythm of the midnight stars that shone above him.

Bonar’s works include:

Hymns

  1. Almighty Comforter and Friend
  2. Angel Voices, Sweetly Singing
  3. Ascend, Beloved, to the Joy
  4. Be Brave, My Brother
  5. Be Still, My Soul, Jehovah Loveth Thee
  6. Bear Thou My Burden
  7. Beloved, Let Us Love
  8. Beyond the Smiling and the Weeping
  9. Blessed Be God, Our God
  10. Blessed Night, When First That Plain
  11. Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power
  12. Brethren, Arise, Let us Go Hence
  13. Bridegroom Comes, The
  14. By the Cross of Jesus Standing
  15. Christ Has Done the Mighty Work
  16. Church Has Waited Long, The
  17. Come, Lord, and Tarry Not
  18. Come, Mighty Spirit, Penetrate
  19. Cross, It Standeth Fast, The
  20. Deep Down Beneath the Unresting Surge
  21. Done Is the Work That Saves
  22. Everlasting Praises
  23. Far Down the Ages Now
  24. Father, Make Use of Me
  25. Father, Our Children Keep
  26. Fear Not the Foe, Thou Flock of God
  27. Few More Years Shall Roll, A
  28. Fill Thou My Life
  29. Finish Thy Work, the Time Is Short
  30. For Lack of Love I Languish
  31. For the Bread and for the Wine
  32. For Thee We Long and Pray
  33. Free One Makes You Free, The
  34. From the Cross the Blood Is Falling
  35. From This Bleak Hill of Storms
  36. Glory Be to God the Father
  37. Go, Labor On:  Spend, and Be Spent
  38. Go Up, Go Up, My Heart
  39. Great Ruler of the Land and Sea
  40. Hallelujah for the Cross!
  41. He Called Them, and They Left
  42. He Has Come, the Christ of God
  43. He is Near (I Know Not When the Lord Will Come)
  44. He Liveth Long Who Liveth Well
  45. Help Me, My God, to Speak
  46. Here, O My Lord, I See Thee
  47. Here Shall Death’s Triumph End
  48. Holy Father, Hear My Cry
  49. Holy Father, Mighty God
  50. Ho, Ye Thirsty, Parched and Fainting
  51. How Are My Troubles Multiplied
  52. How Sweetly Doth He Show His Face
  53. I Ask a Perfect Creed
  54. I Close My Heavy Eye
  55. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
  56. I Lay My Sins on Jesus
  57. I See the Crowd in Pilate’s Hall
  58. I Thought upon My Sins
  59. I Was a Wandering Sheep
  60. I Weep, but Do Not Yield
  61. Jesus, My Sorrow Lies Too Deep
  62. Jesus, Sun and Shield Art Thou
  63. Jesus the Christ of God
  64. Jesus, While This Rough Desert Soil
  65. Jesus, Whom Angel Hosts Adore
  66. Let There Be Light, Jehovah Said
  67. Lie Down, Frail Body, Here
  68. Light Hath Arisen, The
  69. Light of Life So Softly Shining
  70. Light of the World! Forever, Ever Shining
  71. Lo, God, Our God, Has Come
  72. Long, Long Deferred, Now Come at Last
  73. Lord, Give Me Light to Do Thy Work
  74. Make Haste, O Man, to Live
  75. Make Use of Me, My God
  76. Master's Touch, The
  77. Nay, ’Tis Not What We Fancied It
  78. No Blood, No Altar, Now
  79. No, Not Despairingly
  80. No Seas Again Shall Ever Sever
  81. No Shadows Yonder
  82. Not to Ourselves Again
  83. Not What I Am, O Lord
  84. Not What These Hands Have Done
  85. Not with the Light and Vain
  86. Now in Parting, Father, Bless Us
  87. O Light of Light, Shine In
  88. O Love Invisible, Yet Infinite
  89. O Love of God, How Strong and True
  90. O Love That Casts Out Fear
  91. O Strong to Save and Bless
  92. O This Soul, How Dark and Blind
  93. O ’Tis Not What We Fancied It
  94. On the Great Love of God I Lean
  95. On Thee, O Jesus, Strongly Leaning
  96. Oppressed with Noonday’s Scorching Heat
  97. Peace to the World
  98. Peace upon Peace, Like Wave on Wave
  99. Rejoice and Be Glad!
  100. Rest for the Toiling Hand
  101. Safe Across the Waters
  102. Shall This Life of Mine Be Wasted?
  103. Silent, like Men in Solemn Haste
  104. Sinful Man Am I, A
  105. Sing Them, My Children
  106. Soon Shall the Trump of God
  107. Sounds the Trumpet from Afar
  108. Sower Divine, Sow the Good Seed in Me
  109. Speak, Lips of Mine
  110. Speaketh the Sinner’s Sin within my Heart
  111. Spirit of Everlasting Grace
  112. Still One in Life and One in Death
  113. Surely, Yon Heaven, Where Angels See God’s Face
  114. That City with the Jeweled Crest
  115. That Clime Is Not Like This Dull Clime of Ours
  116. Thee in the Loving Bloom of Morn
  117. There Is a Morning Star, My Soul
  118. These Are the Crowns That We Shall Wear
  119. This Is Not My Place of Resting
  120. This Is the Day of Toil
  121. Through Good Report and Evil, Lord
  122. Thy Thoughts Are Here, My God
  123. Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord
  124. Till the Day Dawn
  125. Time’s Sun is Fast Setting
  126. To Him Who Spread the Skies
  127. To Jehovah, God of Might
  128. To the Name of God on High
  129. Trustingly, Trustingly
  130. Tomb Is Empty, The
  131. Unto th’Eternal Hills
  132. Upward Where the Stars are Burning
  133. We Take the Peace Which He Hath Won
  134. Weep, Pilgrim, Weep
  135. When the Weary, Seeking Rest
  136. Where the Faded Flower Shall Freshen
  137. Yes, for Me He Careth
  138. Yet There is Room