129. Come, Lord, and tarry not
Horatius Bonar, 1808-89
A plaintive, sad hymn bordering almost on pessimism, by an able, pious author who held the doctrine of the premillenarian coming of Christ. All his life, Bonar’s mind was occupied with the subject of the second advent, an interest which inspired much of his writing.
Horatius Bonar, born in Edinburgh, was the prince of Scottish hymn writers. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he was ordained in 1837 and became a minister in the Established Church of Scotland at Kelso. At the Disruption in 1843, Bonar “came out” and was one of the founders of the Free Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). Leaving Kelso, he became the minister of Chalmer’s Memorial Church in Edinburgh, where he served, a greatly beloved man, until his death. He was known as a man of wide scholarship and culture. His mind was saturated with Scripture and his heart possessed by a broad and generous faith.
His son, Rev. H. N. Bonar, wrote his father’s Life which gives some interesting information concerning his hymn writing. Bonar carried notebooks with him in which he jotted thoughts, verses, and hymns as they came to his mind.
“These notebooks,” writes the son, “contain most of the better-known hymns, hastily written down in pencil in his spare moments. They are full of contractions, with an occasional word or phrase in shorthand; sometimes a line is struck out and another substituted, yet in nearly every case the complete hymn, almost as it was afterwards published, can be gleaned from this rough draft.”
MUSIC. SHIRLAND was composed by Samuel Stanley, 1767-1822, English composer and precentor of Carr’s Lane Congregational Chapel, in Birmingham. Through his skilled leadership the music of this church became famous. The hymn singing attracted attention and resulted in a great growth in the congregation.
For further comments on Stanley see [Hymn 20].
130. Lo, He comes, with clouds descending
John Cennick, 1718-55