Friday, December 19, 2025

It is the 19th of December 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A brief programing note- this is the last show of the year following the normal pattern of shows- starting with tomorrow’s weekend edition we will be doing some stuff to count down to Christmas and then we will be cleaning out the mailbag to get us into the new year- I always love your questions and they really help shape where this show goes- so keep sending them in to danv@1517.org.

Today we remember a man called the “prince of Scottish hymn writers,” which would likely be a story in and of itself- but this “prince” could, ironically, not sing his own hymns in many of the churches he pastored in the 1800s in Scotland. Let’s tell the story of Horatius Bonar- all-time name, btw, who was born on the 19th of December in 1808 in Edinburgh. Don’t feel bad for him that his birthday was too close to Christmas, because he came from a very august family of Scottish Presbyterians who would have nothing to do with that pagan winter holiday. There is a whole line of “Bonar’s” in Scottish church history- but this one, later (and with a cooler name) is likely the most famous.

He would attend the University of Edinburgh to study divinity. There he would meet a young Robert Murray McCheyne (the evangelist and author of a famous memoir and a popular bible reading plan). The two would study under Thomas Chalmers, one of the most popular evangelicals in the Scottish Church. Bonar’s evangelical zeal can be attributed, in part, to both men. At the “Great Disruption” of 1843, when the Free Church broke off the Church of Scotland, Bonar would leave his post at Kelso and join Chalmers in the new church body.

Bonar wrote numerous tracts on gospel subjects- a favorite topic of his was the “great exchange” or the swapping of one's sin and guilt for the righteousness of Christ. He was also consumed with bible prophecy- he founded and edited the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. What made him unique was his “pre-millennial” eschatology (or doctrine of the end times). Unlike many in his day who were optimistic about the spread of the Gospel and the ability for the church to usher in the millennium of peace, Bonar was… well, either pessimistic or realistic. He had gone to the early morning lectures of the eccentric Edward Irving and picked up the new doctrines.  His pessimism about the state of the world can be seen in his ironic poem “On the Great Exhibition,” where he doesn’t share the same awe and inspiration that others found in the 1851 World’s Exhibition.

But how did he garner the name “the Prince of Scottish Hymnwriters”? From his early position in Leith, he noticed that some of the younger children had a hard time singing the psalms- the Church of Scotland had held to “exclusive Psalmody”- in time it became a “church by church” decision, but “human hymns” as they were called were generally forbidden. But as Bonar began writing tunes for children to sing and learn, they became popular- just not in Bonar’s own church, where they were forbidden. Hymns like “I Lay My Sins on Jesus” and “Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face” were popular in other churches. Although the latter- a popular communion hymn- was permitted to be read at the conclusion of communion.

His hymns attracted the attention of Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey, who came to Scotland for evangelistic services, but were looked at with suspicion by some in the Scottish church. Here were these Yankees with their jaunty tunes and what they called a “kist o whistles”- translated to “a box full of whistles” this was Sankey’s portable organ, a veritable invention of the devil to some old-timers. Sankey would recall, in his diary, when Bonar welcomed him publicly at a meeting and proclaimed, “Well, Mr. Sankey, you sang the gospel tonight.” It validated their mission and contemporary songs to many skeptical Scots.

Besides the hymns, he is also known for his extensive collection of gospel tracts- “the Everlasting Righteousness,” subtitled “How Shall Man Be Just With God?” As well as the popular “The Night of Weeping: Help for the Suffering Family of God”. When he was dying, one of his requests was that no one would write a biography of him- he wanted his words, in song and tract, to define him. He would die in 1889- one record has the story that when one of his hymns was sung at his funeral, two of his church’s elders walked out… “human hymns” and all that. Born on this day in 1808, Horatius Bonar was 80 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and some more goodness from Galatians- this in chapter 4:

My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than those who are enslaved, though they are the owners of all the property, 2 but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. 3 So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir through God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 19th of December 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man wondering who will be brave enough to bring back Horatius as a name…  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who thinks we shouldn’t be too hard on the 1851 World's Fair- they had a barometer powered by leeches… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.