Defeated in the councils of the church, low churchmen, still numerous, held many meetings to stay, if possible, the rising sacerdotal and sac ramental tide. They were constantly outmaneu vered by their more skillful adversaries. They were placed in the attitude of disobedient sons. The prayer book, which they had unsuspiciously accepted, was against them. They were bidden to obey or depart. Some, weary of controversy, con tended no more; some resigned their offices. The others, loving the mode of worship in which they had been reared, but troubled in conscience, were in perplexity, when the action of Bishop Cummins opened the way for such as had courage and self denial enough to follow him. J. D. W.
4. The Reformed Episcopal Church. The circumstances of Bishop Cummins' action will ap pear in the following extract from an article by Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, D. D., LL. D., of Chi cago, Ill.: (1) Bishop Cummins. The Rt. Rev. George David Cummins, D. D., who had been assistant bishop of Kentucky in the Protestant Episcopal Church. separated from it in a communication dated November to, 1873, to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Smith, its presiding bishop. To this step Bishop Cummins, who was a man of singular eloquence, elevated purity of character, marked organizing ability, and of unswerving devotion to evangelical truth, was, as he avers, most painfully but con scientiously led. Among the reasons which caused him to take the step of separation. he states the following, in his letter to Bishop Smith: "I have lost all hope that this system of error. now prevailing so extensively in the Church of England and in the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country, can be, or will be eradicated by any action of the authorities of the church, legis lative or executive. The only true remedy, in may judgment, is the judicious yet thorough re vision of the prayer book, eliminating from it all that gives countenance, directly or indirectly, to the whole system of sacerdotalism and ritualism; a revision after the model of that recommended by the commission appointed in England under royal authority in 1689, and whose work was in dorsed by the great names of Burnet, Patrick, Tillotson, and Stillingfleet, and others of the Church of England—a blessed work, which failed, alas! to receive the approval of Convocation, but was taken up afterwards by the fathers of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and embodied in the prayer book of 1785, which they set forth and recommended for use in this country.
"I propose to return to that prayer book sanc tioned by William White, and to tread in the steps of that saintly man as he acted from 1785 to 1789.
"One other reason for my present action re mains to be given. On the last day of the late conference of the Evangelical Alliance I partici pated in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, by invitation, in the Rev. Dr. John Hall's church. in the city of New York, and united with Dr. Hall, Dr. William Arnot of Edinburgh, and Professor 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 bath knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of his son Jesus Christ.' The results of that 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-Christians 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 leave the communion in which I have labored in the sacred ministry for over twenty-eight years, and transfer my work and office to another sphere of labor. I have an ear nest hope and confidence that a basis for the union of all evangelical Christendom can be found in a communion which shall retain or restore a primitive episcopacy and a pure scriptural liturgy, with a fidelity to the doctrine of justification by faith only—A rticulus stantis vcl cadentis &de sio." (2) Organization of Churches. The newly organized church was without a single place of worship, the Reformers by their action having lost legal claim upon their ecclesiastical property. Christ Church, Chicago, of which the Rev. Charles Edward Cheney, D. D., now Bishop Che ney, was rector, having been sold under foreclos ure of mortgage and purchased by a member of the new organization, its congregation passed un changed into the Reformed Episcopal Church. Elsewhere congregations were formed de novo, and houses of worship were erected. The churches which were organized in Canada united with those of the United States to form one ecclesias tical body. Attempts were made to incorporate in a similar way the Reformed Episcopal churches which sprang up in England, but the loss of time and the expense involved in sending delegates to councils, etc., have brought about a practical in dependence in legislative action.