While present days are not so strenuous as those early years, and modern conditions scarcely develop individual influence in church life of as great intensity as the times of conflict, Plymouth to-day has a large and influential company of men identified with its life. Among them General Horatio C. King, already spoken of, and Professor Rossiter W. Raymond, are some of the links connecting the present with the past. No one who has listened to Professor Raymond's explanations of Scriptures or heard his talks in the meetings fails to realise his power in the church life. "Deacon" Stephen V. White has long been a well-known member, as liberal as he is loyal; so too are John Arbuckle, the coffee merchant, Henry Hentz and Henry Chapin, Jr. Mr. Beecher is represented by his son, William C, and the Howard family is still well known in Plymouth. Mention of even a few would include Benjamin F. Blair, Walter L. Wellington, F. G. Corning, son of Rev. J. L. Corning, one of the early members, George W. Mabie, T. W. Lauterdale, Philip M. Knight, Geo. W. Bardwell, Elijah R. Kennedy, Frank M. Brooks, Horace D. Sherrill, Jas. A. Brodie, Chas. N. Judson, Terance Jacobson, Dr. Wm. Morris Butler, Chas. H. More, Clarence B. Wisner, Wm. Foster, Benjamin F. Webb, H. Edward Dreier, Amos D. Carver, Wm. E. Davenport, W. F. Osborne, H. A. Garthewait, A. K. Powell, Frederick W. Starr, Louis N. Chapin, Dwight Studwell, Henry Sanger Snow, A. Stanwood, Seabury N. Haley, Wm. Tupper, Frederick W. Heinrich, H. W. Wheeler, M. C. Ogden, John H. Jackson, George A. Price, W. P. Long, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Kenyon, Mr. Smith, Mr. Bingham, Mr. Ayers, Mr. Aderley, and many others. _BUYING A SLAVE GIRL_ It is impossible to understand accurately the early history of Plymouth Church, and realise the position it held in the country, as well as its influence over its members, without some knowledge of the general history of the times. It was a period of great political ferment. The slavery question was looming up as the "irrepressible conflict." The war with Mexico, at its height when the church was organised, precipitated the discussion as to the extension of slave territory. The discovery of gold in California (February, 1850) opened up possibilities of national growth undreamed of before, and which stirred the greatest ambitions, especially in the slave states. The passage of the fugitive slave law (September, 1850) was but fuel to the flame. Into the discussions of the time two Congregational ministers threw themselves with all the ardour of their natures, and exceptional ability--Henry Ward Beecher, of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, and Joseph P. Thompson, of Broadway Tabernacle, New York. Nor did they lack for hearty support by their churches. The men who stood behind them were equally in earnest with themselves. The pulpits--or rather platforms--of both were free for the presentation of the cause of justice and liberty, and many scenes in them have become historic.