Edward Hoare, M.A Part 19

The autumn of 1893 was remarkable for the number of visits which Mr.

h.o.a.re paid among relatives in Norfolk and elsewhere. He spoke of it as one of the pleasantest holidays that he had ever spent.

Earlham, his mother's old home, a name so familiar to many through Mr.

Hare's recent volumes on the Gurney family, was revisited, and he delighted in pointing out places in the house that reminded him of childish romps and adventures. A week was spent at Cromer, where, as usual, a great gathering of the clans took place. Here he met his beloved sister-in-law Lady Parry, and, at the house of his favourite cousin, Lady Buxton, he gave a Bible-reading in her s.p.a.cious drawing-room to a gathering of some fifty or sixty friends and relatives.

An eye-witness has described this impressive scene. The old man, blind, but mighty in the Scriptures, took for his subject the prayers for "teaching" contained in the 119th Psalm, and those who listened felt that he had been taught of G.o.d, and that another prayer in the same Psalm had been answered in his case: G.o.d had opened his eyes and permitted him to see wondrous things in His law.

The Sunday following he preached in the grand old church at Cromer. Many remember that occasion; and when the writer paid a visit to that place a year later, he met an old man who spoke of this sermon with enthusiasm, and said that he thought it one of the best that he had ever heard from the aged preacher's lips.

No less than seven homes of his children and relatives were visited by him at this time, and it was from one of them, towards the close of this pleasant holiday, that the following letter to one of his daughters was written:-

"AYLSHAM, _September_ 21_st_, 1893.

"I am very glad to hear of your prosperous settlement at Lynton. It is the place where your dear mother and I spent our first Sunday after our marriage, and I preached in the church, to the great satisfaction of the Vicar, who, I think, was Mr. Pears, afterwards Master of Repton: you appear to have gone to the other church... .

Magee's sermons have been very interesting, though I doubt whether they would meet the wants of those who are hungering and thirsting for life; they aim too much at intellectual brilliancy, and it is not by excellency of speech that souls are won.

"We came yesterday to this beautiful home. Certainly the lines are fallen unto them in very pleasant places, and I trust they have a goodly heritage in many souls won to their Saviour. But they have their difficulties, and who has not? As long as human nature is what it is, we shall find them everywhere, though different in different places."

The following letter ill.u.s.trates the affectionate feelings between the pastor and his people so manifest in this parish:-

"THE VICARAGE, _December_ 13_th_, 1893.

"_My dearly beloved Friends_, _the Members of our Communicants'

Union_, _and other Communicants in our Church_,-

"I have been looking forward with the greatest possible pleasure to the prospect of our Advent gathering arranged for to-morrow, but it has pleased our Heavenly Father to take from me all hope of being present.

"I have greatly enjoyed those gatherings on former occasions, when it has pleased G.o.d to manifest Himself and His own grace in a peculiar manner to our souls. They have also been a source of especial pleasure, as they have given an opportunity for that loving, friendly intercourse which is so delightful amongst Christian friends, and so difficult of attainment in large parishes and large congregations.

"I cannot be with you to-morrow in bodily presence, but may I not thankfully adopt the first part of those words of St. Paul in Col.

ii. 57, 'For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ'? and may we not all accept this exhortation in the latter part, 'As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving'?

"You observe he does not address us as persons for the first time seeking to know Christ, but as those who have received Him, and are permitted to walk, or spend their lives, in union with Him. If this be the case with us, how should our thanksgivings abound in every possible effort for His glory!

"With much affection, and many prayers,

"From your faithful Friend and Vicar, "E. h.o.a.rE."

It was at this time, when his bodily health was so feeble, his step slow and head bowed, that a visitor who had never heard him preach came to Trinity Church.

Knowing his reputation, the stranger had great expectations, but at first sight his heart fell within him; as he afterwards acknowledged, "I could not _believe_ that old man in the pew was going to preach, but he got up into the pulpit with some difficulty, and _then_, it was the power of G.o.d!"

A clergyman friend who had known him intimately for forty years said of the aged preacher that "his ministry had grown in power up to the very end." The chief cause of this was doubtless the life of prayer in which he moved and had his being. All who knew him were aware of this, and certainly he who has been permitted to peruse the sacred pages of his journal can no longer feel surprised at the marvellous success which attended that prayer-steeped ministry.

While upon this subject it is worthy of record that he often told those whom he wanted to help in their preaching that he _prayed over his sermons more even than he prepared them_, and the latter part took several hours of his time. When blindness came upon him, and others had to read for him and take down his thoughts for the preparation of his sermons, it was his custom to stand up by his study table and say: "Here is my mind, Lord; take it and use it. Thou knowest who will be there; give me the right thoughts and words, that I may speak as Thy messenger, for Christ's sake!" And this prayer too was answered.

The following letters, written in the last few months of his life, show the clearness of his mind and width of his sympathy up to the end.

To the Rev. C. H. Dearsly, who asks, "How far is it Scriptural that female evangelists should address large mixed a.s.semblies-or men only?"

"_January_ 19_th_, 1894.

"Mrs. Fry used to draw a wide distinction between 'prophesying,' as in Acts ii. 17, and 'teaching,' as in 1 Tim. ii. 12, as she believed the former to be an appeal called forth in a special manner by the Holy Spirit, and so she justified her own ministry. I have often thought that there is some truth in her distinction, and I have never felt able to put a hindrance in the way of what may possibly be the movement of the Holy Spirit; so I have thought it safer to be pa.s.sive in the matter, and not to forbid even though I have felt unable to support."

To the late Dean of Canterbury on the death of his wife:-

"MY DEAR DEAN,-I trust the Lord is with you in your great trial, and will be with you unto the end. I believe that no one has the least idea of what the trial is, until they are called to pa.s.s through it.

Its depth is learned only by experience. There were two lessons taught me when it pleased my Heavenly Father to send it to me. I never had any idea of the magnitude of the trial, and what it was to lose one who had been for so many years a wise counsellor and a most loving wife and mother. But I never knew the extent to which a Heavenly Father could supply all my need 'according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' I look back upon the thirty years that have elapsed since my great bereavement, and am utterly unable to count up the tokens of His love and tender thoughtfulness during the whole of that period. And so, my dear friend, I am persuaded that you may trust Him entirely. You may trust Him for your eternity; you may trust Him also for the short remainder of your pilgrimage upon earth.

You may trust Him to do well for yourself and your daughters. You may trust Him as your faithful Friend and your most wise Counsellor; and so trusting you will never be disappointed, but He will be both with you and yours continually, guiding you with His counsel, and afterward receiving you to glory. Remember me very particularly to your daughters.

"Most faithfully yours, "E. h.o.a.rE."

To the Rev. H. E. Williamson, Hon. Sec. of the West Kent C.M.S. Union:-

"TUNBRIDGE WELLS, _April_ 11_th_, 1894.

"DEAR WILLIAMSON,-I am exceedingly sorry to be quite unable to attend the Union of Unions to-morrow at Canterbury. I have greatly enjoyed the meetings of our own Union in former times, and firmly believe that we have been favoured with the presence of that loving Redeemer whose Name we desire to make known throughout the world. I should also have greatly enjoyed the meeting with our dear brethren of East Kent under the presidency of our beloved Dean, in his n.o.ble Cathedral; but I cannot venture upon the undertaking, and must look forward to the gathering of that more perfect Union which I hope is shortly to take place, at the Coming of our Lord and Saviour.

Remember me to all the dear brethren, and believe me to be very faithfully yours,

"E. h.o.a.rE."

NOTES OF CONFIRMATION LECTURES.

These notes are intended to a.s.sist Candidates in preparing for the Cla.s.ses. Each of the Chapters mentioned contains a text on the subject of the Lecture.

LECTURE I.-_The Sinfulness of Man_.

Man is sinful.

,, 1. In nature: Psalm li.; Rom. viii.

,, 2. In heart: Matt. xv.; Jer. xvii.

,, 3. In thought: Gen. vi.

,, 4. In word: James iii.

,, 5. In act: Rom. iii.