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 wo