and to read so far as legible in the punishment, the sin for which it is sent. To this task with respect to the great evil that has so recently occurred, we now address ourselves.

1. The Pennsylvania Central Railroad Company, the chief sufferer by the riot, is chargeable with open and persistent violation of the law of God respecting the sanctity of the Sabbath. The substance of the divine enactment is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; in it thou shalt not do any work." In utter disregard of this command, from the beginning, trains were run on this road on the Sabbath, and consequently men employed in doing servile work on the day of rest. This was under no plea of necessity, but solely for the sake of gain. It was taking from God the time which he claims especially as his own, and using it for pleasure and profit. Let us see what are the sanctions by which God enforces the observance of his Sabbath. Ex. 31: 14, "Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death." Ver. 15, "Whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." Is. 58: 13, 14, "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own way, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." It is significant that the destruction of the railroad property took place on the Sabbath. From morning till night the flames pursued their destructive course along more than a mile of the road that was crowded with cars, and reached and burned the Union hotel at its lower terminus. The significance of the fact we are considering is heightened by alluding to the reason that God assigns for the seventy years' captivity of the Jews. Lev. 26:34, "Then shall the land enjoy her sabbath, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbath." 2 Chron. 36:21, "To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept her sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." To the Pennsylvania Railroad, that had every Sabbath since it was opened groaned under the burden of locomotives and cars, that Sabbath, July 22, was a day of rest. God evidently taught the violators of his law that, while he gave the road one Sabbath's cessation of business, he took from them by other agencies the profits of the hundreds of Sabbaths that they had desecrated for the sake of gain.

It should be noticed, too, that the company by running their trains on the Sabbath, prepared their employees for the work they performed. Men who rob God cannot be expected to be very scrupulous about the rights of men. The policy of the managers of the road excluded from their service all men who had the fear of God before their eyes. Nothing, it is well known, tends more to debauch the conscience and destroy all sense of right, than Sabbath desecration. How frequently

have criminals confessed that this was the beginning of their course of crime. Men who regarded the law and authority of God would not have been guilty of these riotous excesses. But such men could not be guilty of profaning the Sabbath in the service of a conscienceless rail

road company.

2. The Pennsylvania Central Railroad Company is chargeable with exercising a grasping power to secure to itself the control of the carrying business of the country. Monopolizing is a sin that the Scriptures condemn in strong terms. "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him." Prov. 11:26. "Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the earth. In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair without inhabitant." Is. 5: 8, 9. By getting the control of all the roads running west and north of Pittsburgh, this monster monopoly was able to fix the rates of freight to suit itself, and then discriminate most unjustly against business men in Pittsburgh, charging them more for freight to eastern cities than they charge from points farther west. This discrimination weakened the interest of those injured, in the road, and accounts in part for the seeming apathy of the citizens to the perils of the road when its property was in danger.

3. This company is chargeable with oppressing its employees in withholding from them a due compensation for their services. This was the immediate cause of the outbreak. It entered largely into the moral cause. It is known that the pay of many of them was reduced to the lowest sum at which it was supposed a man could subsist, and, in many instances, still lower. The falling off of the income of the road was the assigned reason, but the managers and officers of the road were living in ease and luxury. The mismanagement of the road by working it in the interest of the few, cut down the profits, and those who bore the burden of labor had also to bear the burden of the loss. Extortion is a sin of aggravated character in God's sight. Lev. 19: 13, "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him : the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night till the morning." Jer. 22: 13, "Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work." James 5: 4, "Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped have entered the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Men, without the fear of God to restrain them, washed down into the earth by oppression, are the fit agents of criminal deeds of the most appalling lawlessness. For wise purposes God suffers them to be the ministers of his vengeance on those who are equally regardless of his law and of the rights of humanity.

But the rioters themselves have contributed largely to provoke the Most High to inflict this terrible judgment. They voluntarily joined with the company in making the road a Sabbath-breaking road. Had there been no one found willing to work on the Sabbath, this great sin

would not have been committed. But greed of gain in the employees made them the ready accomplices of the employers in the crime. They disregarded the authority that said of the Sabbath, " In it thou shalt not do any work," and audaciously braved his power to enforce the penalty of his law. In place of making the Sabbath a day of rest and worship, they made it a day of toil in the service of Mammon. Could such a desecration of a divine institution escape unpunished? It was a just retribution when the accomplices in robbing God were allowed to mutually despoil one another. The employees, goaded to madness by brooding over their wrongs, real and imaginary, were prepared to inflict, with relentless fury, greater wrong on their oppressors. And while we stand appalled at the magnitude of the outrages, we cannot but wonder at the doings of him who makes the wrath of man to praise him, and restrains the remainder of wrath.

Their disregard of moral obligation is seen, moreover, in their preventing others who were willing to perform the work that they refused to do. They were like the dog in the manger, that would not let the ox eat the hay that he himself could not eat. This was oppression before which that which they suffered from the company dwarfs into insignificance. They were allowed to work for some remuneration, but they refused, and would not let those who were willing to accept the reduced wages. Their tyranny had not the color of law, and outraged all right. By this act they forfeited the sympathy that, in the beginning of the movement, they had excited. They created a new issue. It was now between the two classes of employees-those who were willing to work for the wages offered, and those who were not. This was an issue that appealed to might, not to right. And as the strikers outnumbered the others, they had everything in their own way. They thus placed themselves in opposition to law and order, and brought on the terrible result.

Allegheny County that, it is likely, will be required to indemnify for the property destroyed by the mob, has her share in contributing to the moral cause of the judgment. When the question was before the stockholders, Shall the road be allowed to run trains on the Sabbath? by her commissioners she voted in the affirmative, and her vote decided the question. It was a tie until her vote was given. She had subscribed largely to the stock of the road, and many of her best citizens made an effort to have her weight on the other side. There was disappointment at the result, and gloomy forebodings that she would be taught the sin and folly of her act when it would be too late to amend the evil done.

Will these lessons be improved? We fear not. We have no hope that the railroad company will change their course. We live in the times of which the prophet speaks, "The people turneth not unto him that smiteth him, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts." Is. 9: 13. Let them remember, however, that there must be repentance and reformation in order to escape severe judgments. Heedlessness of warnings is an aggravation of sin persisted in and repeated. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,

and that without remedy." Prov. 29: 1. "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times more for your sins." Lev. 26: 23, 24.

Let the church do her duty. It is time that she deals with those members that, by holding stock in Sabbath-breaking railroads, or employing them as means of conveyance on the Sabbath, or in any other way, are partakers in their crime. Let her cleanse her hands of these defiling sins that are hastening on the judgments of God.

T. S.

HISTORY OF THE SECOND REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY.

BY REV. DR. ANDREW STEVENSON.

THE Reformed Presbyterian Church in the city of New York had its origin in a praying society of two families who became acquainted in 1790. The society continued its meetings with some increase of members till December, 1797, when the congregation was organized. The sacrament of the Lord's supper was dispensed to Reformed Presbyterians in this city, first in August, 1798. There were twenty communicants, six of these were from a distance. In 1801 the number on the roll had increased to thirty, and in July, the same year, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Alexander McLeod was installed pastor of the united congregations of New York and Walkill, in Orange county. At the end of three years his whole time was given to New York. Soon after the ordination of the pastor, lots were obtained in Chambers street, east of Broadway, and in due time, by the liberality, self-denial and perseverance of the members, a commodious frame building was erected. In this the congregation worshipped till 1818, when the increase of their number made other arrangements necessary. The frame building was taken down, and a large and substantial brick building erected on the same site.

The church had great prosperity. It increased in numbers and in usefulness. In 1827, three hundred and sixty members were on the roll. A number of these resided in what was then Greenwich village, a long distance from Chambers street. To accommodate these, it was agreed to have preaching occasionally in that neighborhood. A building, owned by the Reformed Dutch Church, was purchased and moved from what is now Bleecker and West Tenth street to Waverly Place and Grove street, where it still remains. In February, 1828, it was opened as a Reformed Presbyterian house of worship, Dr. McLeod officiating. The design was in time to form a collegiate charge, of which Dr. McLeod should be senior pastor. This design was not accomplished. The up-town people soon manifested a desire for a separate organization. This was opposed by the down-town portion, a large majority. The result was great bitterness and strife, and for a time the whole community was thrown into perplexity and confusion. In the unsettled state of affairs, the pastor sailed for Europe, and during

his absence, the Presbytery in June, 1830, made a geographical division of the congregation. The members residing above a certain line, with the elders living in the same bounds, viz., Messrs. Andrew Gifford, John Brown and Thomas Cummings, were declared to be a new congregation. Those residing below said line, with their elders, were to be the First congregation. On Dr. McLeod's return from Europe in December, both branches presented him a call. He decided to remain with the church in Chambers street. During the winter a call was moderated in the up-town branch, now the Second congregation, for Rev. Robert Gibson, which was accepted, and on the 31st of May, 1831, he was installed pastor. He brought to his work qualifications of a high order, and great expectations were cherished. These expectations were not disappointed. Members were added to the church, yet both the pastor and the congregation were made to drink of the cup of affliction. About the time of his settlement both church and members and the church courts in this land were greatly agitated by what was afterwards known as the New Light Controversy. Mr. Gibson was a prominent member of the old Synod, and while he advocated ably the distinctive principles of the church, he particularly maintained her testimony. The New Light division took place in August, 1833. Mr. Gibson was as yet a comparative stranger in the city, and not long a pastor. On his return from Synod, he found the original elders, Gifford, Brown and Cummings, with their family connections, and nearly every member of worldly means or influence, in favor of the New Lights, and very hostile both to him and the congregation.. These elders, with their connections, soon left the communion, but the congregation was able to retain the church building. This was a severe trial. The members who remained were generally poor, strangers in the city, and not trained to giving, for religious purposes, according to their means. The pastor's salary was inadequate for his support. To obtain bread, he was under the necessity of opening a daily school. This increase of labor, together with the troubles of the church, affected his health, and he was soon unable either to teach or to preach. The congregation loved him and sympathized with him. Notwithstanding their deep poverty they assumed, on his behalf, a large debt, and, besides, furnished means, in 1837, to pay his expenses on a visit to Ireland. From the ministers and members of the church in Ireland, he received much kindness, but his health was not improved. He returned to New York in the fall, appeared once in public, it was sacrament day, he served one table, took his farewell of elders and people, went to his home and died on December 22d, after a sorely troubled pastorate of six years and nearly seven months.

The death of a pastor so loved was a severe blow to the young and struggling congregation, and the commercial distress of that year greatly aggravated the trial. Employment almost ceased in the cities, and many were driven to the country. By death and removals ninety members in that year disappeared from the congregational roll. The changes in the session had been frequent, a source of anxiety to the pastor and of weakness in the administration. In seven years thirteen