o-.; 



REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



the Diocese of Kentucky and elsewhere, that I should 

 stat* clearly the causes which nave led me to this 

 determination : 



1. Firat, than, you well know how heavy has been 

 the trial of having to exercise my office in certain 

 churches in the Diocese of Kentucky where the ser- 

 vices are conducted to as to symbolize and to teach 

 the people doctrines subversive of the " truth aa it 

 is in Jesus," and as it was maintained and defended 

 by the reformers of the sixteenth century. 



On each occasion that 1 have been called upon to 

 officiate in those churches I have been most painfully 

 impressed by the conviction that I was sanctioning 

 ana indorsing by my presence and official acta the 

 dangerous errors symbolized by the services custom- 

 ary in ritualistic cfiurchcs. 



I can no longer, by my participation in such ser- 

 vices, be "a partaker of other men's sins," and 

 must clear my own soul of all complicity in such 

 errors. 



8. I have lost all hope that this system of error 

 now prevailing so extensivelv in the Church of Eng- 

 land, and in the Protestant Episcopal Church in this 

 country, can bo or will be eradicated by any action 

 of the authorities of the Church Legislature or Execu- 

 tive. The only true remedy, in my judgment, is the 

 judicious yet thorough revision of the Prayer Book, 

 eliminating from it all that gives countenance, di- 

 rectly or indirectly, to the whole system of sacerdo- 

 talism and ritualism : a revision after the model of 

 that recommended by the commission appointed in 

 England under royal authority in 1639, and whose 

 work wan indorsed by the great names of Burnet, 

 Patrick, Tillotson, and Stillingfleet, and others of the. 

 Church of England blessed work, which failed, 

 alasl to receive the approval of Convocation, but 

 was taken up afterward by the fathers of the Protest- 

 ant Episcopal Church in the United States, and em- 

 bodied in the Prayer Book of 1786, which they set 

 forth and recommended for use in this country. 



I propose to return to that Prayer Book, sanctioned 

 bv William White, and to tread in the ateps of that 

 sa'mtlv man, as he acted from 1785 to 1789. 



S. One other reason for my present action remains 

 to be given. On the last day of the late conference of 

 Evangelical Alliance, 1 participated in the celebra- 

 tion of the Lord's Supper, by invitation, in the Rev. 

 John Hall's church, m the city of New York, and 

 united with Dr. Hall, l>r. Win. Amot, of Edinburgh, 

 and Prof. Dorner, of Berlin, in that precious feast. 

 It was a practical manifestation of the real unity of 

 "the blessed company of all faithful people" whom 

 God "hath knit together In one communion and 

 fellowship, in the mystical body of his Son Jesus 

 Christ." 



The result* of thnt participation have been such as 

 to prove to my mind that such a step cannot be taken 

 by one occupying the position I now hold without 

 sadly disturbing the peace and harmony of "this 

 Church," and without Impairing my influence for 

 good over a large portion of the same Church, very 

 many of whom are within our own diocese. 



As I cannot surrender the right and privilege thus 

 to meet my fellow-Christiana of other churches 

 around the table of our dear Lord, I must take my 

 place where I can do so without alienating those of 

 my own household of faith. 



I therefore Uars the communion in which I have 

 labored in the sacred ministry for over twenty-eight 

 ywr, snd transfer my work and office to another 

 sphere of labor. I have an earnest hope and eonfl- 

 dsnce that a basis for the union of all evangelical 

 Christendom can b found In a communion which 

 snail retain or restore a primitive episoopacv and a 

 purs Scriptural liturgy, with a fldelitv to the doctrine 

 of Jutiflosiion by faith only, Articvlut tantu td 



, a position toward which the Old 



Catholics la Europe are rapidly tending, and 

 has afrtadj taken a definite form In the " Church of 

 Jos'ta." in Ksxioo. 

 To this blssasd work I devote the remaining years 



of my life, content, if I can only see the dawn o' 

 that blessed day of the Lord. 

 I am, dear bishop, 



Faithfully yours in Christ, 



GEORGE DAVID CUMMINS. 



On the 15th of November Bishop Camming 

 circulated privately a call for a meeting to be 

 held on the 2d of December, at Association 

 Hull, in tlie city (if New York, for the purpose 

 of organizing an Episcopal Church on tlie ba- 

 sis of the Prayer Book of 1786, known as 

 Itishop White's Prayer Book." It was es- 

 pecinlly stated in the call that the meeting 

 would be for the purpose of organizing, not 

 of discussing the expediency of organizing. 

 A considerable number of laymen and minis- 

 ters, formerly connected with the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church, met at the appointed time 

 and place. Among those who were especially 

 named in tlie published reports as present, 

 were the Rev. Charles Edward Cheney, of 

 Chicago; the Rev. Mason (ialhighcr, of New 

 Jersey; the Rev. Marshall B. Smith, of New 

 Jersey; the Rev. Mr. Bourne, of New York; 

 Messrs. John 8. Dake, James L. Dawes, Freder- 

 ick A. Pell, Audley Brown, Frederick Wright, 

 Albert Crane, of Illinois ; Colonel B. Aycripg, 

 of New Jersey. The meeting was opened i>y 

 Bishop Cummins reading the circular letter in 

 response to which it was held. This letter set 

 forth the chief points which distinguish the 

 Prayer Book of 1785 from the one in use in 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the fol- 

 lowing words: 



1. The word "priest" docs not appcsr in the 

 book, and there is no countenance what. 

 errors of sacerdotalism. 2. The baptismal offices. 

 the confirmation office, the Catechism, and t!,. 



10 administration of the l.or.1 1 - nt.iin 



no sanction of the errors of Baptismal Regeneration, 

 the Real Presence of the Body and Hl..,,d of Christ 

 in the elements of the Communion, and of a sacrifice 

 by a priest in that sacred feast. 



The following resolution of organization and 

 declaration of principles having been referred 

 to a committee and reported back, were 

 adopted : 



Jktvhed, That we, whose names are appended to 



'! fr this meeting an presented bv the pre- 

 siding bishop, do hen- and now, in humble reliance 

 upon Almighty God. organize ourselves in 

 Church, t<> be known by tlie Myle and title of "The 

 Reformed Episcopal Church,"" in conformity with 

 the following Declaration of Principles, im.l with 

 the Right Ruv. George David Cummins, D. D., as 

 our presiding bishop. 



DECLAKATIOH o rmxcipi.ru. 



I. The Reformed Episcopal Church, holding flip 

 faith once delivered to the saints, declares it belief 

 in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments as the word of God, and the solo rule of faith 

 and practice; In the creed commmlv rail. .! the 

 Apostles' Creed; In the divine Institution of th- 

 sacraments of Baptism and the I."r.l\ Supper, and in 

 the doctrines of grace substantially " they arc set 

 forth in the Thirty-nine Articles of rellg! 



II. This Church recognizes and ndln-rfs to E 



. not as of divine right, but an a very an< 

 and desirable form of church politv. 



III. This Church, retaining a Liturgy which will 

 not bo imperative or repressive of freedom in prayer, 



