which our Reformers died? Shall we cling to the dear old Office Book, in which we have hundreds and thousands of times poured out our whole hearts before God? Shall we unite heart and soul as witnesses for Christ while we come to His Holy Table, and hold there communion with Him? or shall we begin by half-and-half retrograde measures until we go right back into the arms of Rome? My lord, I say no more; but I wish to thank Mr. Wood for having spoken out so plainly on this subject, and for thus having let us know this day what are the real intentions of the English Church Union.” CHAPTER XV _BLINDNESS AND SECOND ILLNESS_ The annual Confirmation times were looked upon by Canon Hoare as the most important occasions, and the ten or twelve weeks of preparation as a season whose value was simply inestimable. Large numbers were prepared by him personally every year, and it was beautiful to see the tender individual interest which he showed in every case. Before the day of Confirmation, at the private interview with each, he noted down in a special book his opinion of the case. He was once asked when he made this diagnosis. He replied: “As they walk from the door to the chair beside me, I get a view of their character and disposition; the conversation which I have with them afterwards gives me a further insight, and I hardly ever find the estimate wrong.” Many who read these lines will remember the earnest prayer, and then the fatherly grasp of the hand and loving blessing with which those interviews ended. All through the weeks and months of preparation the candidates were remembered at the weekly prayer-meeting in the Parish Room, and on the Sunday previous to Confirmation they were commended to the prayers of the congregation and a sermon was specially devoted to the subject. On the day itself there was an early prayer-meeting, to which all candidates came, and afterwards every arrangement was made to keep the newly confirmed free from outside influences that might too soon remove good impressions; the evening was spent, after tea in the Parish Room, in the singing of hymns and listening to various addresses. Every year his interest in the subject was fresh as ever, and at the age of eighty-one his sermon on Confirmation, which was afterwards printed and a copy sent by him to the present Archbishop of Canterbury (and acknowledged by him in one of the following letters), was so remarkable in its power and teaching as to receive a special notice in one of the Archbishop’s recent Charges—an honour most gratifying to the preacher and probably nearly unique. To one of his daughters:— “BALACHULISH, N.B., _September_ 13_th_, 1883.