The hymn below, by Horatius Bonar, was apparently first published in his Communion Hymns (London: James Nisbet & Company, 1881, pp. 74-75). It is titled “Christ For Us,” emphasizing our salvation through the merit of God’s Son, and none of our own – staking our whole eternity on “another’s life, another’s death.” The hymn consists of eight stanzas of 4 lines, in Long Meter. I have not seen it printed with music, though I feel surely it has been. I suggest that the tune Hebron by Lowell Mason might be a tune that will match it well.
1. On merit not my own I stand;
On doings which I have not done,
Merit beyond what I can claim,
Doings more perfect than my own.
2. Upon a life I have not lived,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another’s life, another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.
3. Not on the tears which I have shed:
Not on the sorrows I have known,
Another’s tears, another’s griefs,
On them I rest, on them alone.
4. Jesus, O Son of God, I build
On what Thy cross has done for me;
There both my death and life I read,
My guilt, my pardon there I see.
5. Lord, I believe; oh deal with me
As one who has Thy word believed;
I take the gift, Lord look on me
As one who has Thy gift received.
6. I taste the love the gift contains,
I clasp the pardon which it brings,
And pass up to the living source
Above, whence all this fullness springs.
Which life eternal to me seals,
Here in the bread and wine I read
The grace and peace Thy death reveals.
O wonders past all wondering!
Here in the hall of love and song,
We sing the praises of our King.
Horatius Bonar was born at Old Broughton, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1808, the son of James Bonar and Marjory Pyott Maitland. He was educated at the high school and university at Edinburgh. Bonar was ordained in the Church of Scotland in 1837, and in 1843 he joined the Free Church of Scotland. Bonar pastored 21 years in Kelso and 19 in Edinburgh. He authored many prose works and numerous works of poetry. Though an eminent minister and theological writer, he is probably best remembered today as a hymnwriter. Doubtless his best-known (and possibly best) hymn is “I heard the voice of Jesus say…”
Around 1845, Horatius Bonar married Jane Catherine Lundie, a daughter of the Scottish minister Robert Lundie. They had at least seven children. Bonar died at his home in Edinburgh on July 31, 1889. He and his wife are buried in the Canongate Churchyard in Edinburgh.
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