Horatius Bonar Books: A Guide to All 18 and Where to Start
Christian LifeHolinessBiography
Horatius Bonar (1808–1889) was a Free Church of Scotland minister in Kelso and Edinburgh, best known for his hymns. He was also a busy writer of books, and most of them have one aim: to bring a troubled person to rest in Christ. TheWay Library has eighteen of them, all free to read: short books on peace with God and holiness, two books of comfort for the grieving, a book for ministers, sermons, a study of Genesis, two books on the second coming, two journals of his travels through Sinai and the Holy Land, and three books about other men's lives and work. For his life story, see who was Horatius Bonar.
This guide sorts them so you can find the one you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Bonar, start with God's Way of Peace. It's short, it's written like a letter to one anxious reader, and it's the book he's best known for after his hymns.
After that, choose by what you want:
- For growth in holiness: God's Way of Holiness.
- For a new Christian: Follow the Lamb.
- In sorrow or grief: The Night of Weeping, then The Morning of Joy.
- For pastors: Words to Winners of Souls.
- To know Christ better: The Christ of God.
- To see the Bible lands: The Desert of Sinai, then The Land of Promise.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of Horatius Bonar quotes.
Peace with God and the gospel
God's Way of Peace (1870)
Twelve short chapters for seekers who want peace with God and can't find it. Bonar turns the reader away from his own feelings and efforts to God's character, the righteous grace shown at the cross, and the finished work of Christ the Substitute, and urges him to believe now, without waiting.
In all unbelief there are these two things, — a good opinion of one's self, and a bad opinion of God.
God's Way of Peace, chapter III, God's Character Our Resting-Place
The Blood of the Cross (1858)
A short book on the blood of Christ. Bonar shows how all who reject Christ share the guilt of His death, what God thinks of that blood, and how four kinds of people regard it: the careless sinner, the awakened sinner, the saint and the lost. It closes with the good news that the blood cleanses from all sin and is freely offered. Read The Blood of the Cross.
The Christ of God (1874)
A study of Jesus as "the Christ of God," from Peter's confession in Luke 9:20. Bonar traces God's eternal purpose in Christ, His names and offices, what follows if Jesus is the Christ, life through faith in Him and His coming glory. Each chapter closes with a prayer. Read The Christ of God.
Truth and Error (1851)
Ten letters to a friend unsettled by the doctrinal disputes of the day. Bonar defends the Reformed teaching on God's will and man's will, election, the work of Christ, faith and assurance, and the Spirit's work with the Word. Read Truth and Error.
Holiness and the Christian life
God's Way of Holiness
Bonar's book on how holiness actually grows. A holy life, he says, springs from the new life God gives and is rooted in peace with God through Christ's finished work, not in self-effort. He holds that Romans 7 describes a real believer's struggle, and warns against teaching that moves the ground of peace from a perfect Christ to a perfect self.
The cross makes us whole; not all at once indeed, but it does the work effectually.
God's Way of Holiness, chapter V, The Cross and Its Power
Read God's Way of Holiness, and see our list of the best Christian books on holiness.
Follow the Lamb; Or, Counsels to Converts
A short, warm word to new believers on what God expects of those who bear Christ's name: abiding in Him, taking up the cross, coming out from the world, humility and service. It ends with four of Bonar's hymns, including "Make use of me, my God." Read Follow the Lamb.
Comfort in sorrow
The Night of Weeping (1852)
A book of comfort for suffering Christians. Bonar shows believers as God's family under a Father's loving discipline, and names the purposes of trouble: to prove, to rebuke, to purify, to arouse and to warn. It ends with the consolations God gives and the fruit of present grief.
We have but one life, and it must be laid out for God.
The Night of Weeping, chapter XIV, The Consolation
The Morning of Joy (1854)
The sequel, from "joy cometh in the morning." Where the first book sits with the believer in the night, this one looks to the morning: Christ's resurrection, His return, victory over death, reunion with those gone before, and the presence of the Lord. Read the two together. See also our guide to the best Christian books on death and grief. Read The Morning of Joy.
For ministers
Words to Winners of Souls (1860)
A short, searching appeal to pastors about their own hearts. Bonar argues that a few fervent, holy ministers do more than many lukewarm ones, calls for secret prayer and nearness to Christ, and reprints the Church of Scotland's 1651 confession of ministers' sins. Read Words to Winners of Souls.
Sermons and Bible study
Family Sermons (1863)
About fifty gospel sermons, moving from Bethlehem through the sufferings, death and resurrection of Christ the Surety, to faith, the sincerity of God's invitation, the church waiting for her Lord and the new creation. Good for reading aloud at home. Read Family Sermons.
Earth's Morning; Or, Thoughts on Genesis (1875)
A verse-by-verse study of Genesis 1 to 6: creation, the Sabbath, the fall and the first promise of a Saviour, Cain and Abel, Enoch, and the world before the Flood. Bonar says plainly that he aims at exposition, not controversy, and he adds long notes on the Sabbath, Satan and "the sons of God." Read Earth's Morning.
The second coming
Bonar believed Christ will return before the thousand-year reign, and for twenty-five years he edited a journal on prophecy. For more books on the subject, see our guide to the best Christian books on the second coming.
Prophetical Landmarks
His case for Christ's return before the millennium, written to persuade rather than to argue: why study prophecy, God's purpose for Israel and the church, the present age as an interval, the advent, Antichrist and the signs. Read Prophetical Landmarks.
The Coming and Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ (1849)
A longer reply to David Brown's book defending the opposite view. Bonar lists where the two sides agree, where they differ, answers objections, then works through Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Gospels, 2 Thessalonians and Revelation 20. Read The Coming and Kingdom.
Travels in Bible lands
In the winter and spring of 1855 and 1856 Bonar traveled through Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. He kept a day-by-day journal and published it in two volumes. They are travel books, but a Bible reader's travel books: everywhere he goes he opens the Scriptures and reads the land against them.
The Desert of Sinai (1857)
The first volume, from Paris in December 1855 by Malta and Egypt, across the Sinai peninsula by camel to Mount Sinai, and north through the desert toward Beersheba. He describes the land, the Bedouin and the monks, and keeps Israel's exodus and wanderings in view. Most of it reads cleanly, but a few passages have lost the first letters of each printed line.
For in truth that mountain is too awful, both in itself and in its memories, to attract. It fills the soul with awe, but does not win the heart
The Desert of Sinai, chapter X
The Land of Promise (1858)
The second volume picks up at Beersheba and goes by Hebron to Jerusalem, where he stayed several weeks, then north through Samaria to Nazareth, Galilee and the Lebanon coast. Long appendices discuss the layout of ancient Jerusalem.
Every step we have taken seemed an illustration of some scene of Old Testament story.
The Land of Promise, chapter IV, Hebron
Biography and missions
Life of the Rev. John Milne of Perth (1869)
The life of Bonar's friend John Milne, minister in Perth, told largely through his letters and diaries: the revival of 1840 and 1841, his days of prayer, his tours, the deaths of his wife and children, his years in Calcutta and his death in 1868. Read Life of John Milne.
The White Fields of France (1879)
The story of the McAll mission in Paris, which from 1872 opened gospel halls among the working people of Belleville and spread across the city and to Lyons. Read The White Fields of France.
The Life and Work of the Rev. G. Theophilus Dodds (1884)
The life of Bonar's son-in-law, a young Scottish evangelist who worked in the McAll halls in Paris and other French cities and died in 1882 at thirty-two. It's built mostly from his letters. Read The Life and Work of G. Theophilus Dodds.
A note on these editions
Some of these books were restored from scans of the original printings and are still being proofread. Family Sermons has the most trouble: many sermons are split across two or three sections with the same title. Follow the Lamb, God's Way of Peace, The Coming and Kingdom, Life of John Milne and the Dodds biography also have misread words, especially at the start of chapters.
Why read Bonar today
Bonar writes for people who are tired of looking at themselves. He keeps pointing to what God has said and what Christ has done, and he does it with a pastor's warmth. Begin with God's Way of Peace, then go on to God's Way of Holiness. All eighteen books are on the Horatius Bonar author page.