It seemed as if just the man was found in Rev. Charles A. Berry of Wolverhampton. A friend of Mr. Beecher, an earnest and very effective preacher, a man of great evangelistic power, he won the hearts of Plymouth people, and the recommendation of the committee was followed by a unanimous and most urgent call to him to become the pastor. How deeply he appreciated, not so much the honour, though such he esteemed it, as the token of affectionate confidence, was manifest both in his correspondence with the church and in the delay in announcing his answer. That he would have been glad to come is certain, equally so that he felt that duty to a work of peculiar quality and special need called him to stay with his own people. They were as dismayed at the possibility of losing him as Plymouth Church would have been had Mr. Beecher been called to another pulpit. Mr. Berry's declination of the call brought Plymouth Church face to to face with a most difficult situation, at least it seemed so to many. In truth it was not so difficult as it seemed. Dr. Abbott had filled the pulpit with acceptance and had conducted the affairs of the church with rare tact. The pastoral work, which had for some years been practically in the hands of Rev. S. B. Halliday, went on as usual. Now that Mr. Berry was not to come, who could so well meet the need as the one who had stood them in good stead in the time of stress? It was therefore perfectly natural that thoughts should turn to Dr. Abbott, and when they had once started equally natural that he should be called. Accordingly, in the spring of 1888 he was invited to be pastor. He accepted, and after a summer's rest in Europe commenced the active work of the pastorate in September. During the summer months the preaching services were omitted, but the prayer meetings and mission work were continued. The general condition of the church may be indicated by the impression made upon one who came in during the closing part of the interregnum to take up the pastoral work for a few months, dropped by Mr. Halliday, who had gone to build up a Beecher Memorial Church in the outskirts of Brooklyn. Coming fresh from foreign missionary service, with no experience in American church life, Rev. Edwin M. Bliss bears most earnest testimony to the vigour and power of the church life of Plymouth, even during those months when many were away. Repeatedly he told inquirers that those who imagined that Plymouth Church would go to pieces were absolutely mistaken; that there was evident a strong church on a firm foundation. Truly there could be no better testimony to the substantial quality of Mr. Beecher's leadership than the experience of that year and a half of church life under such radically different conditions. _CHURCH THOUGHT AND LIFE_