From Archbishop Tait:—
“Stonehouse, St. Peter’s, Thanet.
“June 6th, 1873.“The Rev. Canon Hoare.
“My dear Mr. Hoare,—Your long and trying illness has made us feel much for you and your family. I trust that now our Heavenly Father is restoring you to health. May He long continue to you and to us the blessing of your preservation in health and usefulness amongst us; and may He in health and sickness give you every support from the Holy Spirit.
“Yours sincerely,
“A. C. Cantuar.”
To one of his daughters:—
“Hampstead, August 13th, 1873.
“You and I have had so little correspondence lately that you must almost forget the sight of my handwriting, and though, I am sorry to say, the want of practice has led to a great disinclination to exert myself or to take any trouble, I really must begin again.
“We are still here, and not at sea, as we proposed to be, for last night it was so stormy that the family in general and your uncle in particular decreed we should not go by ship. I do not think K— is sorry. So now we propose to go by train, which I always declared I would not do. But the pair of sons and daughters is more than any resolutions can withstand, so (D.V.) we go to York to-night and Newcastle to-morrow.
“On Sunday I hope I may hear Gurney preach: when shall I be doing it again myself? It seems sometimes as if I had forgotten how.
“Remember me very particularly to the Parrys. I have often thought of the Bishop’s [193] visits to me when I was ill, and sometimes regret that I did not invite more good ministers to visit me. But I doubt very much whether I was capable of receiving much good. Indeed I am humbled to find even now how little power of receiving I appear to have. I have been talking to people with a view to my own improvement, but I am very stupid. Some things I cannot understand at all, as, e.g., this new doctrine of ‘Perfection.’ I cannot criticise it, for I have not yet discovered what it is or what its advocates really mean. I have been talking to E—, A— G—, and Mc— about it, but I do not know that I understand much more in consequence; and I have been reading a very interesting American biography, but that has not helped me much more. So I begin to think I must be content with the old paths, those blessed paths in which so many saints of God have walked and followed Christ. Let me and my dear ones be found walking there in the new and living way, and we may well indeed be thankful. May nothing ever turn us to the right hand or to the left, but be taking a step forward! For what other purpose has this sickness been sent? Oh, thanks be to His Name!”
“Cromer, October 2nd, 1873.
“I do not suppose I shall reach home till Friday or Saturday. I am not surprised at your feelings about yourself, for we have all had a shake which must leave its loosenings. Besides which we are not going home as usual to full work and happy activity, and it is impossible not to feel the difference. But there is no reason why we should not be returning to a winter of peculiar enjoyment. There is a joy in work, but there is great peace in quiet, and if the Lord grant His presence we may be more happy together than if we were under the full pressure of the ministry. I believe that we shall all be of one mind in the Lord, as we have ever been in former times, and I am looking forward to very great enjoyment.
“It is delightful to me to hear how much God has blessed Mr. Money’s ministry, [195] and most pleasant to find how God has made my absence such a blessing to the people.
“I enclose you Robinson’s letter, as I think you will be interested by it. Certainly he has been a capital curate and friend, and I have to be most truly thankful for his help. The Lord sent him when He foresaw I should need him, and so He will always provide.”
It has been mentioned that, during Canon Hoare’s illness, the whole town was stirred with affectionate anxiety on his behalf. Prayer was offered up for his recovery in the churches and all the Nonconformist places of worship, and the common testimony to his character, in the conversation that was heard in the shop and the street, was that it was not his preaching nor his intellectual powers which appealed to their feelings so much as the sterling integrity and faithful consistency of his Christian life.
Towards the end of November Mr. Hoare preached for the first time after his recovery, and his friends rejoiced to see that few traces remained of his long and alarming illness. His sermon was entitled “The Best Teacher,” and in the course of it the preacher said: “I believe that lately God has been teaching us all. He teaches at different times and in different ways. His teaching is not always the same in form. Sometimes He gives His teaching by the voice of His teachers, and sometimes by their silence; sometimes by giving them power, and sometimes by taking it away. Now I believe that He has taught us all by His blessing on the ministry in this church during the twenty years we have worshipped together, for it was twenty years yesterday since I became incumbent of this parish. I thank God I believe He has taught many of you during that time by my own preaching, and I thank Him with my whole heart for the blessed results which He has given in His mercy. But I am not sure that this last year has not been the most teaching year of the twenty. I am not sure that He has not taught us all more by laying me on one side than He did by permitting me to preach. He has certainly taught us how He answers prayer, in a manner that no preaching could ever have done, and we meet this day with such an encouragement to pray as many of us never had before. But that is not the only lesson that God has been teaching us during the year. I know not how it has been with you, but for my own part I recognise many others which He has deeply impressed on my convictions. I do not mean to say that He has taught me new truths, but that He has made old truths, the grand old truths of the Gospel that I have loved for years, more precious than ever, and has filled my soul with an earnest desire, if it please Him to restore me to my ministry, to preach those truths as I have never done yet.”
After that sermon he never flagged, but steadily rose again in health, and in the years that followed many a one was known to say that, although his preaching had always been clear, powerful, and convincing, yet after his illness it had gained a special characteristic—now he always seemed to speak as one who had come from the Saviour’s presence and had heard His voice.
CHAPTER XIV
BOOKS AND SPEECHES
Canon Hoare never published any large theological work, but whenever any event “was in the air,” or some religious point was brought into special prominence, a small book on the subject was sure to appear, written with his masterful clearness and power, that just served the needed purpose and put into men’s hands the teaching which they sought.