Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889) was a Scottish churchman and poet.
The son of James Bonar, Solicitor of Exise for Scotland, he was born and educated in Edinburgh. He entered the Ministry of the Church of Scotland, and settled at Kelso. He joined the Free Church at the time of the "Disruption" in 1843, and in 1867 was moved to Edinburgh. In 1853 he was made D.D. of Aberdeen. He was a premillenarian and expressed his views in books, such as Prophetical Landmarks (London, 1847), and in the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, which he founded in 1849.
He was a voluminous and highly popular author, and in addition to many books and tracts wrote a number of hymns, many of which, e.g., "I heard the voice of Jesus say," and "What a friend we have in Jesus," became known all over the English-speaking world. A selection of these was published as Hymns of Faith and Hope (3 series). His last volume of poetry was My Old Letters.
His youngest brother Andrew Bonar was also a well-known Christian writer and minister of the Free Church of Scotland.
