It is now thirty-six years since these remarkable sermons were preached by the late Canon Hoare. Published at the time, they had a very large circulation and passed through several editions. An earnest desire having been manifested for their re-issue with the addition of some footnotes bringing them up to date, I have consented to undertake that simple office. With happy memories of work under the beloved Vicar long ago (1877–81) there is, to me, something indescribable in being permitted once more in this unexpected way to unite with one who now within the Veil walks not by faith but by sight and who instead of knowing but in part now knows even as also he is known.

It is a great tribute to the sagacity of the preacher, his deep knowledge of Scripture, and his keen prophetic instincts, that these sermons need no alteration, and only the necessary additions demanded by the history of passing years.The advance has been all along the exact lines which he as a diligent student of the prophetic Scriptures was able to lay down. “The wise shall understand” (Daniel xii. 10) is a promise which we see here strikingly fulfilled.

Could the venerable preacher have seen the extraordinary developments that have taken place in Jerusalem and the Holy Land during the last few years, or the amazing collapse of the Mohammedan power which Europe has witnessed in the past few months, how his heart would have rejoiced at the fulfilment of Scriptural predictions, and how earnestly would he have proclaimed afresh His Master’s Words—“When ye shall see these things, know that He is nigh, even at the doors.”

December, 1912.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE.

It is a source of pleasure to the Editor, the Publisher, and all those interested in the re-issue of this book, to know that a further edition is so soon called for, and to receive so many testimonies to its usefulness as a Guide to the Prophecies of Holy Writ.

April, 1913.