At the cross the everlasting righteousness is found; human, yet divine: provided for man, and presented to him by God, for relief of conscience and justification of life. On the one word, "It is finished" as on a heavenly resting-place, weary souls sat down and were refreshed. The voice from the tree did not summon them to do, but to be satisfied with what was done. Millions of bruised consciences there found healing and peace. (Dr. Bonar wrote a hymn "By the Cross" that included these words in verse 1: By the cross of Jesus standing, Love our straitened souls expanding, Taste we now the peace and grace! Health from yonder tree is flowing, Heav'nly light is on it glowing, From the blessed Suff'rer's face.)The belief of that finished work brought the sinner into favor with God; and it did not leave him in uncertainty as to this. The justifying work of Calvary was God's way, not only of bringing pardon, but of securing certainty. It was the only perfect thing which had ever been presented to God in man's behalf; and so peculiar was this perfection, that it might be used by man in his transactions with God, as if it were his own.
About the Author: Horatius Bonar was born in 1808 in Edinburg, Scotland where his father was the Solicitor of Excise. His parents were James and Marjory Maitland Bonar. He was one of eleven children. When Horatius was twelve years old, his father died. His mother and his became the dominant influences of his life. The dominant influence outside of the family was T. S. Jones, the minister of Lady Glenorchy's Chapel, the church where they attended. He attended Edinburgh University after which he was licensed to preach. In college he was influenced by Thomas Chalmers and Edward Irving. Two of his brothers, the older John James and the younger Andrew, also become Scottish preachers. In 1837 Horatius Bonar became assistant to John Lewis, minister of St. James's, Leith. Later that year he was ordained minister of the North Parish, Kelso, on the 30th of November. He remained the minister of the North Church, Kelso, County Roxburgh until 1866. It was in Kelso that he met and married Jane Catherine Lundie, the daughter of the Kelso minister Robert Lundie in 1843. It was the same year as the Great Disruption. He and his wife had nine children. The Great Disruption of 1843 occurred when 450 ministers broke away from the established Church of Scotland, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State. The ministers formed the Free Church of Scotland which affected the Church and the civil life of Scotland. Horatius Bonar was one of those active in forming the Free Church of Scotland. In 1853 Horatius Bonar received his Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Aberdeen. In 1856, he undertook a long mission tour in Egypt and the Holy Land. This visit deepened his interest in mission work and biblical prophecy as it is so intimately connected with Palestine and the Middle East. In 1866, he became the minister of the Chalmers Memorial Church, Edinburgh, where he stayed until 1887 the year that he turned 80 years old. This church was named after his mentor, Thomas Chalmers of his Edinburg days and the church has been renamed St. Catherine's Argyle Church. He helped arrange meetings for the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody in Edinburg in 1873. In 1883 he was elected Moderator of Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. A year later, his wife died. By 1887 his health declined and that year he preached his last sermon. After a long illness, he died in 1889. He was buried in Canongate Cemetery, Edinburgh.