The Rev. C. A. Berry has addressed the following letter to the members of Plymouth Church and Society, Brooklyn, U S.A.: --
My Dear Friends, — You have already heard by cable the decision to which I have been led in respect of the invitation to the pastorate of Plymouth Church. That decision has been reached in full view of the many remarkable circumstances attending your overture, under a deep sense of the solemn issues depending, and after the most intense and continuous consideration of the contending claims urged upon me.
It is an honest and a devout decision, framed under what I judge to be the direction of Providence; and in giving effect to it I rest in the confidence that however much you may regret the failure of your hopes, and however far you may differ from my appraisement of claims, you will heartily approve my obedience to the sense of obligations as I feel it.
It is due to you, as well as to myself, that I place on record my sense of the great honour and usefulness attaching to the pastorate of Plymouth Church. Alike by its achievements, its traditions, its possibilities, and its prospects, Plymouth Church occupies a first place among the hopeful ministries of mankind.
I am confident that what it has been it will be, and more. The splendour which glorifies its sky is not the sunset gorgeousness of a day that has passed, but the prophetic radiance of a dawning still to be crowned. Had the circumstances and the claims which surround me here, permitted, I should have entered upon work with you assured that your heritage is not within the clasp of a vanished land, but is alive with a spirit renewed and revived from the dead; and I should have been drawn onward by my vision of the great future that is yours in the service of Christ and humanity. That I do not spring eagerly to such a post, especially when called to it with such manifestations of affection as yours, must show the force of my conviction that the less distinguished, though not less honourable, work which claims me here has commanded me by an authority which compels my obedience.
In the disappointment to which my answer must give rise you have the assurance of my deepest sympathy, and not of mine only, but that of thousands of English friends who cherish the memory of Henry Ward Beecher, and that God may guide you in the great and responsible task of choosing a fit leader is the prayer of multitudes on this tide the water, who love Plymouth Church.
I desire once more to thank you for the unexampled confidence and affection which you have given me. I love you. I can never forget you. I will ever pray for you. Let me have the assurance that in doing what seems to be my duty I have your approval and affection. May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon your great and advancing nation, granting to her a succession of godly leaders, peopling her with industrious and contented communities, stirring her sons with the holy ambitions of peaceful progress, and making her rich in fruitful services to mankind.
May the ties of America and England grow more close and numerous, and may God help the two lands of the one people so to work together in love as to hasten to its issue the travail of humanity.
The cable to which Mr. Berry here refers runs as follows: "Charles Albert Berry greets Plymouth. Appreciates its confidence; reciprocates its affection; prays for its prosperity, but cannot accept pastorate. Home claims inexorable. Duty here commands. Letter mailed. God bless and guide you."
It was read to the congregation on the Sunday morning by Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott. Dr. Abbott said that the church should not be dismayed by the failure of their hopes; they had shown their ability to agree, which was what no one had expected. The church must take heart and face the future manfully and Providence would direct them in a choice.
Mr. Shearman, who was recently in England, said he had had some idea that in the event of Mr. Berry declining they might get Dr. Clifford to take the pastorate, but he was now satisfied they would not be able to.
The Christian Union of New York says of Mr. Berry that "he left the impression of being a man of executive force, of individuality and independence of character, and a preacher of more than ordinary skill and attractiveness, a man who apprehends the drift of modem thought and life.'
Referring to a remark of Mr. Berry's that there is need of a broad, evangelical interpretation of the Gospel which shall be credible by a man's whole nature," the Union says: "Such a sentence, struck out in an informal conversation, indicates a largeness of view which never results except from both careful study and careful thinking.
The age need preeminently in its pulpit preachers, not lecturers; a gospel, not a philosophy; a message from heaven, not a scheme of thought earth-evolved; a message of hope, a glad-tidings, not a voice of condemnation and despair; and it needs this message broadly and rationally interpreted, so that it shall be accordant with the best modern thought, and credible by a man's whole nature. The dangers from half-belief is greater than from disbelief, because disbelief is at least honest, and half-belief is not.
The convictions of the Christian Church are weakened and its life impoverished by creeds that are not faiths, by beliefs that are exhibited on Sunday but not used on Monday, that are believed piously but are secularly disregarded if not despised.
The spirit of Mr. Berry's dictum will vanquish scepticism by giving it a candid welcome.