While it is thus true that Mr. Beecher and the church came forth triumphant, it was at heavy cost. No man could endure such a strain without showing the effects of it, and Mr. Beecher never recovered the old buoyancy. In many ways it became evident how keenly he felt the trial. The church showed the effect less. A few, very few, members left the church, but the number of dismissions was not larger than usual; indeed they were less than in the previous two years, and the church remained the more united. The admissions by letter were exceptionally large, as were also those by confession of their faith. More pertinent, however, than these evidences of life is the fact that the entire work of the church suffered no interruption. Prayer meetings, Sunday School, continued with usual vigour, and the general activities of the congregation were carried on as if there was nothing unusual taking place.
It was this that aroused the attention of the country at large and convinced many that the basis of the real power of Plymouth Church lay not so much in any oratorical gifts of its pastor, as in the substantial Christian life of its members. Those who could hold together under such a strain were not likely to fall apart under the pressure of any lesser difficulty. Undoubtedly there was a certain amount of _esprit de corps_, a realisation of the absolute necessity of mutual support, but to those who look back on those days it is still more evident that they felt that more than Mr. Beecher, or even Plymouth Church, was at stake; it was the ability of a company of Christian men and women to hold their faith, and the expression of their faith.
So far as their personal interest and faith in Mr. Beecher were concerned, nothing could illustrate it better than the action of the society in helping him to meet the extraordinary expense, and the visit to his home in Peekskill of the members of the three Sunday Schools. While Mr. Beecher had a most liberal salary, he was free and even reckless in expenditure. The result was that the cost of the trial went far beyond his resources. At its close, and even before he had had time to realise what that cost had been, the society which has charge of the finances of the church, met and voted that his salary for that year be one hundred thousand dollars. It was a great relief to him financially, but still more grateful as a taken of the love and confidence of the people. Not less touching to him was the tribute from the Sunday Schools.
