Letters to His Friends | Page 9

a Theological Tripos
he was generous, even prodigal, of help. The lesson over--and there are
many who know what a goodly thing a lesson from him on the New
Testament was--he would open a volume of Tennyson--"In Memoriam"
most likely--read a few stanzas, and begin to talk about them.
Gradually, it would seem, the things of the world would fade from him.
He forgot the hour and my presence as his thoughts poured out. I sat
and listened, generally silent, sometimes hazarding a question.
Presently--it was often late--I would rise to leave. Rapt from his
surroundings, he seemed scarcely conscious of my departure; and I
would go quietly out, almost as though I had been on holy ground,
where not once nor twice the dweller had seen God face to face.'
His power of helping men by silent sympathy is {24} referred to by one
who writes: 'The many words of kindness, but more particularly the
silent sympathy he conveyed in some mysterious manner, will ever
keep him present with us.'
Another, who had known him in his early days at Christ's, and again in
later years, writes: 'When I was up he was a nervous retiring man, at his
best when one found him alone in his own room. Even then he would
sometimes talk little. Since my return from South Africa I have found
him much more at home with men and much more ready to talk, but
retaining his old power of sympathy without words.' His own faith was
based rather upon intuitive perception of the Divine love than upon
argument. On one occasion, quite towards the end of his life, he said to
one with whom he was staying, 'Sometimes I sit and think, till I can
find no reason for the existence of God; and then there rises up in me
something which is stronger than the love I have for those who are dear
to me--and they are very dear--the love of God. It seems to smile at my
doubts.'

Several of his friends have referred to Forbes's influence as a power
which helped to develop their own sympathy towards others. Thus one
writes:
'I think perhaps it was my intercourse with him that first taught me to
look out for and appreciate the real goodness--or, better,
Christlikeness--of others from whom one differed in important matters
and with whom one seemed perhaps to have little in common.'
In some instances friendship between Forbes and an acquaintance
seems to have arisen where very {25} little direct intercourse had taken
place. One who was greatly his senior says of him, 'I have never known
any one with whom there was so strong a sense of intimacy founded on
so little positive intercourse.'
In July 1892--i.e. about nine months after his ordination as deacon--he
took part in a kind of peregrinating mission tour through part of South
Cornwall. Dressed simply in cassock and cape, and carrying a small
brown paper parcel containing necessary luggage, he and his brother
(the compiler of this book) walked from village to village, preaching
afternoon and evening in the open air. At the end of the evening service
an appeal was made to the people. It was explained to them that the
preachers had come without provision or money, and hoped to receive
hospitality from those to whom they ministered. Night after night
Forbes and his companion were taken in and entertained, often by very
poor people. A unique opportunity was thus afforded of getting to
know something of the home life as well as of the religious beliefs of
the poor. As a rule, those who acted as hosts were Nonconformists.
Forbes spoke once or twice each day to the people who gathered, and
his addresses, which were generally based on the words 'Our Father,'
were admirably suited to the comprehension and needs of the simple
country people.
For several months during 1895 he took charge of a small country
parish near Cambridge, called Toft. While staying at Toft he wrote to a
friend, 'I like living among country folk and talking with {26} and
visiting them. I want to get out of my life into their lives. This parish
work humiliates if it does not humble one. . . . The smallest parish is a

tremendous responsibility.'
The following are a few additional notes contributed by others who
knew Forbes at Christ's: 'His broad sympathies, his unfailing efforts to
find out the good in persons and systems--the rays of truth which each
possessed--combined with the rare faculty of going deep down beneath
vexed questions, and thus lifting controversies to a higher and serener
atmosphere: these were qualities in him which were known especially
by those privileged to have more intimate knowledge of him than that
vouchsafed by formal lectures or social gatherings.