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_