REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



337 



Authorities. IT'.stort/ of t'te Reformed Cfiurch, vol. 1, by | him seemingly closer to the high church men. 

 Lewis Mayer, D. 1>. ; Ha.T\>&uh'aJJfeofSc/ilaUer; Fathers J Q t(le Jiggling,. o f tne <] ut i e8 o f ],i s new o fli e 



ler ; Historic Manual of the Jlrformfd Church in the United 

 Statrt, by Joseph Henry Dubbs, D. D. (J. a. D.) 



REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH. This 

 church was organized in the city of New York, Dec. 

 2, 1873. The history of this movement dates back to 

 the English Reformation. The antagonism of Henry 

 VIII. was with the papal supremacy. With the 

 Reformation he had no sympathy. Toward it his 

 opposition was open and intense. The real work of 

 church reform in England dated from the reign of 

 Edward VI. Then for the first time the errors of 

 the Church of Rome were assailed, and the recasting 

 of the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the English 

 church into a Protestant mould began. The work was, 

 however, arrested before completion by the early 

 death of Edward. His Prayer Book, set aside by 

 his successor, was restored by Elizabeth. Changes 

 were made, but not in the line of Cranmer's re- 

 vision. Their avowed object was the conciliation of 

 the Romish party. From that time on there have 

 been changes and additions in the English Prayer 

 Book in this same direction. The result has been 

 a divided church two parties, the one sympathizing 

 with Romish views and the other maintaining evan- 

 gelical doctrines. The daughter church in the United 

 States, the Protestant Episcopal, inherited the liturgy 

 and traditions of the mother church, and also its di- 

 vcmtiesof thought. After the Revolution, the Epis- 

 copal Church in thiscotintry needed to be reorganized, 

 and Bishop White sought to place it on an evangeli- 

 cal basis. To this end he revised the Prayer Hook ; 

 other influences, however, gained ascendency, and his 

 "Proposed Book" was rejected. Consequently the 

 same conflicts have continued to disturb the daughter 

 that had so long agitated the mother church. In 1835 

 a new infusion of life began in high church circles. 

 The so-called Tract* for the Times, emanating from 

 Oxford, were immensely popular. The writings nf 

 the Fathers ami mediaeval literature were brought into 

 prominence. The sacramentarian _ and sacerdotal 

 theories, and the divine right of Episcopacy, became 

 the standard of a new movement. The daughter 

 church in America felt the impulse. The high church 

 element fell into lino, and, cautiously at first, began 

 to teach and preach tlio advanced doctrines. The 

 evangelical clement took the alarm and rallied at once. 

 It was by far the dominant partv. Its leaders were 

 a lining the foremost men in tne church. No less than 

 three organizations were put in operation to resist the 

 inroads of these new tendencies. But steadily the in- 

 novations made headway. Those who advocated them 

 claimed that the Prayer Book was with them. The 

 Evangelicals had initiated the fight, confident in right 

 and in numerical strength. It was not long, how- 

 ever, before they were on the defensive. Their num- 

 bers decreased, while their opponents grew stronger 

 and more aggressive. At last the Evangelicals found 

 themselves reduced to that extremity that they could 

 no lunger fight, and were necessitated to become pe- 

 titioners. They asked for such changes in the Book of 

 Common Prayer as would enable them with a good 

 conscience to remain in the church. Their appeals 

 were unnoticed. < )n all occasions they were made to 

 understand that if they could not cotiform to high 

 church legislation and Prayer-Book interpretation, 

 they had Ix-lter leave. 



It was about this time that the Right Reverend 

 George David Cummins, D. D., Assistant Bishop of 

 Kentucky, began to show an interest in the ecclesiasti- 

 cal questions of the day. He had been consecrated 

 liislm|i in isf,fi. Up to this event and for several years 

 utter he was Hceiuiiigly indifferent to the Ktrujrirle 

 that was going on. His views hud ever lieen evan- 

 gelical, but his conservative tastes h:nl IMTH drawing 



It was 

 iffiee that his 



eyes were opened. There were practices in vogue in 

 his diocese that he could not approve. As assist- 

 ant bishop ho was powerless to command or even 

 rebuke. Remonstrance was all that was left him, and 

 this was met by appeals to the Prayer Book, which, it 

 was asserted, authorized what he condemned. This 

 claim drove him to a study of the questions that were 

 agitating the church, and he was not long in making 

 up his mind and taking his stand. He then became 

 bold and aggressive. In one respect he stood alone 

 among the evangelical bishops and leaders of the 

 party. Experience had taught him that the root of 

 the trouble was in the Prayer Book. Its language in 

 some instances taught, and in others shielded, the 

 priestly and sacramentarian theories, and as long as it 

 remained as it was he saw clearly that the Romanizers 

 would have the right of way in the church. He there- 

 fore called for a revision of the Prayer Book, and a 

 perfecting of the work that Cranmer had so well be- 

 gun, and that Bishop White had in vain attempted to 

 carry out. 



In _ October, 1873, the %rangelical Alliance assem- 

 bled in the city of New York. Bishop Cummins was 

 an interested and active worker. On October 12 the 

 members of the Alliance united in a communion ser- 

 vice. Bishop Cummins was present, making an ad- 

 dress and delivering the cup. From within his 

 church, rebuke, censure, threats of ecclesiastical disci- 

 pline, were unsparingly showered upon him. Not 

 only had he united with non-episcopally ordained 

 ministers in celebrating the Lord's Supper, but as a 

 bishop in the church he had compromised his office 

 by taking a subordinate place. So intense was the 

 hostility aroused by this unchurchly act on his part, 

 and so bitter was the manifestation both in public at- 

 tacks and in private communications, that he felt that 

 his usefulness in his church, and especially in his dio- 

 cese, was at an end. Prior to this the painful con- 

 clusion had forced itself upon him that Prayer Book 

 revision was hopeless within the church ; and without 

 such revision he felt assured that the evangelical ele- 

 ment must die out. Constrained by these considera- 

 tions he determined to withdraw from the church. 

 His resignation, addressed to the presiding bishop, is 

 dated October 30. On consultation with friends an 

 organization was determined upon, and a call issued. 

 The object was thus stated : " To organize an Episcopal 

 Church on the basis of the Praver Book of 1785 (the 

 Bishop White Prayer Book), a basis broad enough to 

 embrace all who hold the faith once delivered to the 

 saints, as that faith is maintained by the Reformed 

 chu-ches of Christendom ; with no exclusive and un- 

 cliurchng dogmas toward Christian brethren who 

 differ from them in their views of polity and church 

 order. ' ' 



Eight clergymen and nineteen laymen responded to 

 this call, and the Reformed Episcopal Church was or- 

 ganized. It claims to be the church of the Reforma- 

 tion the church that Edward VI. and Archbishop 

 Cranmer and Bishop White would have had, if the 

 times had permitted, and to the Anglican and Ameri- 

 can Episcopal Church it stands in the same relation 

 as these churches do to the churches of Rome and of 

 the East a Reformed Church. 



Doctrine. This church plants itself upon "the 

 Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as 

 the Word of God, and the sole rule of faith and prac- 

 tice." It " declares its belief . . . in the creed, com- 

 monly called the Apostles' Creed ; in the divine insti- 

 tution of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's 

 supper ; and in the doctrines of grace substantially as 

 they are set forth in the Thirty-nine Articles of reli- 

 gion." It is emphatic in its protest against those 

 errors that necessitated its organization. 



Wanliip. It is liturgical, but not exclusive/y so. 

 It retains the use of " a liturgy which shall not be im- 



