“Tunbridge Wells, February 24th, 1891.
“Dear Lettice,—I am very glad to hear that you are so happy and prosperous, and I often think what a happy arrangement it has been for your early education. I am sure we ought all to be very grateful to your uncle and aunt for their kindness in making it. How much kindness we meet with in life! I am sure there is kindness for the old, for I am receiving it every day, and I am equally sure there is kindness for the young, for I am constantly meeting with persons who are spending their whole lives in making them happy. But what are we to think of the lovingkindness of the Lord? David says it is better than life, and so I hope you will find it. You have a name that means joy, and I hope the joy may be, not in your name only, but in your heart. For the last two days I have had a great joy in my home, and I shall leave it to you to guess what it is. It is the visit of a lady for whom I feel a great affection. She has sons and daughters who are great friends of mine, so that I wish she had brought some of them with her. You must guess who it can be, and also find David’s words about lovingkindness (Psalm lxiii. 3).
“The loving old Grandfather,
“E. H.”
Extracts from letters to his married daughters:—
“Tunbridge Wells, November 11th, 1890.
“I have thought a great deal of you in your re-settlement at home, and I trust that you have returned for a happy, holy, and useful winter.
“I look back with the greatest pleasure to my pleasant visit when all the boys were at home, and I trust that the same happy, peaceful spirit may be the abiding characteristic of your family.
“. . . I often think of the promise, ‘They shall bring forth fruit in old age,’ and most earnestly do I desire that my old age may be a fruitful season, but I am inclined to regard anything I can do as little more than the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. I trust, however, that whatever is left may be diligently used for the glory of my Blessed Saviour.
“Give my dear love to Robert, and also to Chris. and Lettice.
“Your most affectionate Father,
“E. Hoare.”
“Tunbridge Wells, August 29th, 1891.
“I have very much enjoyed your letters, though I have been slow in acknowledging them, for I find typewriting to be both slow work and very tiring to the brain. But I am glad of it, as it makes me sometimes fancy that I am independent. But independence is not the gift for me just now, for I am dependent for everything, and have to be unspeakably thankful for such loving caretakers on whom I may depend.
“Above all, how ought my heart to overflow with gratitude to that loving Father on whom it is my joy to depend for everything! Daughters can do a great deal, and would do more if they could, but He can do everything and does supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
“I trust all the dear sons are prospering, and the tutor doing well. I wonder whether we shall meet anywhere this autumn. I do not feel much pluck in me for Norfolk; my home is so comfortable that I am not eager to leave it. But there is an idea in people’s minds that we ought to go out in the autumn, so I suppose I shall go somewhere, though I do not at present know where. I am very thankful for my two visits to the North. They helped me to realise better the great interests for which to be continually in prayer. I was very happy with you and your sons. May our gracious God bless you all!
“Your loving Father,
“E. H.
“Tunbridge Wells, December 27th, 1891.
“ . . . Most heartily do I respond to all your loving wishes for a rich Christmas blessing on our whole party. We have enjoyed a very happy Christmas together. We have had with us E— and his family, and very pleasant have they all been. We have thought continually of the homes of the absent, and many a time both by day and by night has my heart been lifted for you all. I have thought very much of you and all your boys, and cannot doubt that you have had a very merry party. God grant that they may all know the joy of the Lord! I am very sorry to hear of your disappointment. . . . I never forget the advice given me by my grandmother—never to act without seeking the guidance of the Lord, and after acting never to re-open the subject. She would have said that your great mistake is in distressing yourselves now about your decision made two years ago. So as you sought His guidance trust Him to have given it, and push away regrets.
“The Lord be with you all!
“Your loving Father,
“E. H.”
“Tenchley, Limpsfield, October 6th, 1892.
“My typewriter is none the better for its journey, so that I have been unable to write and thank you both for my very happy visit. I most thoroughly enjoyed it, and throughout the whole of my visitation tour there has been nothing on which I look back with more genuine pleasure than I do on those happy days at Chenies. I thought the village lovely. I was greatly pleased with the meeting of Communicants and with the Church Services. I delighted in the children, and am looking forward with the greatest pleasure to their visit; and I greatly enjoyed all my pleasant intercourse with you both, which I valued the more as I have seen less of R— lately than of you, so that I was glad to enjoy his thoughts on many points of interest.
“May the Lord bless you abundantly both in your home and in your parish! With dear love to the children,
“Your most loving Father,
“E. H.”
“Tenchley, Limpsfield, December 28th, 1892.
“We had a very happy day at home, lovely weather, the very perfection of a Christmas Day, and I trust a good deal of sunshine within. I preached to the people on the sacred Name of Jesus, and I gave them what was new to myself, and, if I mistake not, new also to most of them, so we had fresh thoughts on an old subject. What a remarkable feature this is in Scripture! It is full of old truths, but is always bringing them out in newness and freshness to those who will take the trouble to study it.
“Dear love to Robert and the boys.
“Your most loving Father,
“E. H.”
From the Archbishop of Canterbury:—
“Deal Castle, April 13th, 1893.
“To the Rev. Canon Hoare.
“My dear Canon Hoare,—It was very kind and thoughtful of you to send me your two sermons, in which I was sure to take a great interest. I have read them both with much satisfaction. I think the ‘Agnus Dei’ ought to be very useful. It puts that great hymn in its right position, and it shows the fallacy of certain deductions drawn from the fact that there were no legal grounds on which it could be decided that it was impossible for it to be used. I daresay you have noticed that Richard Baxter (not exactly a Ritualist) did not hesitate to make use of that same passage from St. John in his draft Communion Service.
“The sermon on Confirmation I think most serviceable; its instruction most clear, and the remarks on what the Gift is very impressive. I am glad you teach that that beautiful passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians refers to the event recorded in the Acts. And what a motive it supplies, and what a basis for the Christian life!
“Thank you very much; I think no one can read that sermon without feeling that Scripture and its true teaching leaves more and more to us, in spite of all fears of ‘Criticism.’
“Sincerely yours,
“E. Cantuar.”
The following letter was to a lady in the United States who had written gratefully about some of his prophetical books, and asked for guidance on various points, as well as for some larger work on the same subject written by him:—