I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say -- Horatius Bonar

What was it that this 38-year old Scotsman was doing that caused him to hear Jesus saying something? It was 1846, and Horatius Bonar wrote that “I (he) Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” several comforting things. Was he thinking of children or adults when he thought about the message he received from His God that day? Was it something that originally came to him as rather unclear, a vague idea that formed gradually and had no distinct theme, at least at first? He had a method of developing a song that was quite familiar later in his life, but just how well-developed were his methods at this time? If his scheme was set, perhaps he wasn’t all that troubled by the fuzziness of the message he was hearing; maybe he just allowed it to gestate at its own pace. See what you think.

Horatius Bonar was one of the most well-known hymn-writers of Scottish origin, with some 600 hymns to his credit. He’d been a minister for about 10 years in Kelso when he authored “I Heard the Voice…” in the mid-19^th Century. It’s said that he wrote for children, so that they would be certain to have teaching they could understand. He may have even gone about writing in the way a child might have, in what someone else might think was disjointed and undisciplined. Doodling was one way that he played with his prose, apparently, including on this occasion. He’d already written many poems put to music by 1846, so we can presume that he was already accustomed to hearing the Spirit speak to him in ways that others might have ignored when a song was being formed. He might have been walking in the countryside or riding aboard a train (see the sketch of one scene in Kelso here, as Bonar might have remembered it),

common venues for these episodes in Bonar’s compositional life. 1846 was also three years after Bonar had departed from the Church of Scotland during the “Disruption” and joined the Free Church of Scotland, one of the many difficult episodes in his life, some of which were yet to come. It was also three years after he had married Jane, with whom he would have several children, five of whom would die before reaching adulthood. So, here he was, a 38-year old, experiencing new life as a married man, and ministering in a church following a split that must have wrenched his spirit; and, perhaps he and Jane had already lost one or more children. This up-and-down pattern that he’d already experienced would continue over many successive years. Writing songs for children, with basic uncomplicated messages, must have been therapeutic for him, perhaps a manifestation of the serenity he sought on long walks or train rides.

Look at the doodles of Bonar, and hear a childlike message in the voice in his head in 1846. Come and rest, drink and be refreshed, and look at the light. How he responded to these directions is in his words too, summing up the verses he created. To me, doodling often looks like the product of someone whose attention has drifted, the evidence of an aimless boredom. But for Horatius Bonar, it must have been a rhythm that others could not feel. If I concentrate on what I struggle with, I most often feel frustrated, it seems. I become obsessed, trapped against my own mental wall. Perhaps Horatius can teach me something. Wander aimlessly, or take a ride somewhere, with just a notepad to scribble on. You never know what He’ll say to you.   

See more information on the song discussed above in The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.  Also, see Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

To see a 4^th verse of the song not often heard, see the following site: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/h/e/iheardvj.htm

A brief biography of composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatius_Bonar