DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES:
I. The Reformed Episcopal Church, holding 'the faith once delivered unto the saints,' declares its belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, and the sole Rule of Faith and Practice; in the Creed 'commonly called the Apostles' Creed;' in the divine institution 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 Religion.
II. This Church recognizes and adheres to Episcopacy, not as of divine right, but as a very ancient and desirable form of church polity.
III. This Church, retaining a Liturgy which shall not be imperative or repressive of freedom in prayer, accepts the Book of Common Prayer, as it was revised, proposed, and recommended for use by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, A.D. 1785, reserving full liberty to alter, abridge, enlarge, and amend the same, as may seem most conducive to the edification of the people, 'provided that the substance of the faith be kept entire.'
IV. This Church condemns and rejects the following erroneous and strange doctrines as contrary to God's Word:
First, That the Church of Christ exists only in one order or form of ecclesiastical polity.
Second, That Christian ministers are 'priests' in another sense than that in which all believers are 'a royal priesthood.'
Third, That the Lord's Table is an altar on which the oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ is offered anew to the Father.
Fourth, That the Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is a presence in the elements of Bread and Wine.
Fifth, That Regeneration is inseparably connected with Baptism.
The next work was the revision of the Liturgy on the basis of the 'Proposed Book' of 1785, by the Second Council, held at New York, 1874. The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed were retained, but the clause 'He descended into hell' was stricken out from the former. In the baptismal service, thanksgiving for the regeneration of the child was omitted. Throughout the book the words 'minister' and 'Lord's table' were substituted for 'priest' and 'altar'--a change which had been proposed long before by the English commission of 1689.
THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION.
A considerable number of the Western members of this new denomination were in favor of adopting simply the Apostles' Creed and the Nine Articles of the Evangelical Alliance. But the majority insisted on retaining the Thirty-nine Articles with a few changes. The revision was intrusted to a Committee of Doctrine and Worship, consisting of Rev. W. R. Nicholson, D.D. (since consecrated Bishop, March, 1876), Rev. B. B. Leacock, D.D., Rev. Joseph D. Wilson, and some laymen. The report of the committee was amended and adopted at the Third General Council, held in Chicago, May 12-18, 1875.
The Articles of Religion are thirty-five in number. They follow the order of the Thirty-nine Articles, and adhere to them in language and sentiment much more closely than the Twenty Articles of the 'Proposed Book' of 1785 and the Seventeen Articles of the Episcopal Convention of 1799. Articles 1 and 2, of the Trinity and Incarnation, are retained with slight verbal alterations. Art. 3, of the descent of Christ into Hades, is omitted. Art. 3, of the Resurrection 'and the Second Coming' of Christ, Art. 4, of the Holy Ghost, and Art. 5, of the Holy Scriptures, are enlarged. Art. 8, of the old series, concerning the three creeds, is omitted; but in Art. 22 the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed are acknowledged. The Articles of free-will, justification, and good works are retained, with some enlargements on justification by faith alone (which Bishop Cummins regards with Luther as the article of a standing or falling Church). Art. 18 is an abridgment of Art. 17, but affirms, together with predestination and election, also the doctrine of human freedom and responsibility, without attempting a reconciliation. The Articles of the Church and Church Authority are enlarged, but not altered in sense. Art. 24 wholly rejects the doctrine of 'Apostolic Succession' as 'unscriptural and productive of great mischief;' adding, 'This Church values its historic ministry, but recognizes and honors as equally valid the ministry of other Churches, even as God the Holy Ghost has accompanied their work with demonstration and power.' Baptism is declared to be only 'a sign of regeneration ' (not an instrument). Art. 27 rejects consubstantiation as well as transubstantiation, as 'equally productive of idolatrous errors and practices,' but otherwise agrees with Art. 28 of the old series. Arts. 31 and 32 reject purgatory, the worship of saints and images, confession for absolution, and other Romish practices. Art. 34, of the power of tie civil authority, is the same as Art. 37 of the Protestant Episcopal Church (retained from the draft of 1799), except that the words 'as well clergy as laity' are exchanged for 'as well ministers as people.'
[1291] In his letter of resignation to Bishop B. B. Smith, of Kentucky, dated Nov. 10, 1873, Cummins alludes to those solemn services, and adds: 'As I can not 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.'
[1292] There is, however, this material difference, that the Episcopal Church as a body has not altered her creed, nor added new dogmas, as the Roman Church has done in the Vatican Council.
[1293] Though a gentleman of unblemished moral character, he was publicly charged by one of his evangelical fellow-bishops with the threefold crime of breaking his ordination vows, creating a schism, and consecrating, single-handed, a deposed clergyman (Dr. Cheney, of Chicago) to the episcopate. The last act was considered the crowning offense; for thereby he destroyed the monopoly of the apostolic succession, which, in the estimation of many modern Episcopalians, is the article of a standing or falling Church.
[1294] It has since grown steadily, though by no means rapidly. It numbers now (1884) ten bishops, ninety-eight presbyters, and about as many congregations in the United States, Canada, British Columbia, Bermuda Islands, and England. The number of communicants is about 7000. See art. Episcopal Church, Reformed, by Rev. W. T. Sabine, in Schaff-Herzog Encycl.