“Forsake me not, O Thou Thyself forsaken In that mysterious hour of agony, When from Thy soul Thy Father’s smile was taken Which had from everlasting dwelt on Thee: Oh by that depth of anguish which to know Passes man’s thought, By that last bitter cry, Incarnate God, Forsake me not!” But the storm passed, and was followed by “clear shining after rain.” The adversary meant it for harm, but God overruled it for good; and surely one of the secrets of Edward Hoare’s great power of helping troubled souls, for which he was so remarkable in after-life, lay in the fact that he had passed through the time of spiritual darkness, and had come out into the light. Autobiography (_continued_). After taking my degree at Cambridge I continued to reside there for a time, taking mathematical pupils and reading for a Trinity Fellowship; but not having succeeded in my first examination, and being anxious to be at work in the great calling of my life, I could not devote another year to the study of mathematics. So I threw my whole heart into immediate preparation for the ministry. In those days there was no Ridley or Wycliffe, and I was thrown upon my own resources for my study; but I worked hard and brought all my Cambridge habits to bear on the great subject of theology. If I had learnt nothing else at Cambridge, I had learnt never to be satisfied till I got a clear view of what I was about, and that habit of mine, acquired through mathematical study, has been of the greatest possible benefit throughout my life. During those important months, to use Cambridge language, I “got up” some of our best books, such as Butler, Pearson, and Hooker. What I learnt from the latter especially has been invaluable to me through life. Butler’s “Analogy” has again and again been helpful to me, when there has been a tendency to a shaking of the faith. But that which helped me most during that time of preparation was the study of great doctrinal truths from Scripture itself. I took up such subjects as _The Divinity of our Lord_, _Justification by Faith_, _Baptism_, _The Lord’s Supper_, _Election_, and _Final Perseverance_, one at a time; and I read the whole New Testament through with especial reference to the one subject which I was studying, carefully noting every passage referring to it. I then analysed and grouped those passages, keeping careful records of results. Having thus dealt with one subject, I went on to the second, then to the third, and so on. I have no words wherewith to convey the immense value these studies have been to me throughout life. They have told upon the whole of my ministry. After more than fifty-two years I am habitually using the results first obtained in that preparation period.