George David Cummins (December 11, 1822 – June 26, 1876) was an American

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop and founder of the

Reformed Episcopal Church The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Episcopal Church (United States), Protestant Episcopal Church. The REC is a founding member of the ...

Life and career

He was born in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

on December 11, 1822. Cummins graduated from

Dickinson College Dickinson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1773 as Carlisle Grammar School, Dickinson was chartered on September 9, 1783, ...

, located in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...

, in 1841, and entered the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

ministry. In 1845, he took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church. After serving as rector of Episcopal parishes in

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, and

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, Cummins was appointed Assistant Bishop of Kentucky in 1866. A staunch

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

doctrine, Cummins opposed the influences of

Ritualism A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

and the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. In 1873, he was criticized for receiving communion with ministers outside of the Protestant Episcopal Church and resigned his position. He then founded the

, of which he was the first presiding bishop, in

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and where he founded the

First Reformed Episcopal Church The First Reformed Episcopal Church (formally Saint Alban's Anglican Church: The First Reformed Episcopal Church) is a congregation of the Reformed Episcopal Church in New York City. Incorporated by REC founder George David Cummins in March 1874, ...

."George David Cummins", in the ''

New International Encyclopedia ''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead & Co. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926. History ''The New Internatio ...

'', 1928, Vol. 6. A tremendous reference that gets no visibility or discussion and that details the Bishop's life, attitudes, beliefs, and career are given by his wife, Alexandrine, in the Memoirs.

Doctrine

Cummins' Evangelical theological persuasions led him to separate from the Episcopal Church, which had, in his mind, been poisoned by the ritualism of the Anglo-Catholic party. Before he left the Episcopal Church, Cummins as bishop engaged in a highly provocative Church service in which he presided alongside a Presbyterian clergyman, Dr. John Hall, over Holy Communion at Hall's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Cummins believed that if the pure Evangelical principles of the Reformation were to survive the sacramental and ecclesial theological complications and gaudy ornamentation of the Anglo-Catholic movement, Evangelicals of all denominations must unite. He sought "Evangelical Catholicity" based on the ideas of the "Muhlenberg Memorial," authored by the prestigious Evangelical Episcopalian,

William Augustus Muhlenberg William Augustus Muhlenberg (September 16, 1796April 8, 1877) was an Episcopal clergyman and educator. Muhlenberg is considered the father of church schools in the United States. An early exponent of the Social Gospel, he founded St. Luke's Hos ...

. "Strength to the Protestant cause," declared Muhlenberg, "is one of the objects of this movement .e., the Muhlenberg Memorial" Those, "who are true to the Reformation standards" needed to present "a united phalanx against Rome," Muhlenberg explained. Cummins embodied this charge. And when he could no longer in good conscience serve the Diocese of Kentucky due to Ritualistic advances, he left the Episcopal Church. Bishop Cummins left the Episcopal Church due to conflict with Anglo-Catholic theology, one facet of which is the insistence on Apostolical Succession for valid ordinations. Cummins felt that such a high view of Episcopacy injured the objectives of the new Re-formed Episcopal Church, which, now formed, sought to provide a unified Evangelical haven for all Reformational Christians in the spirit of "Evangelical catholicity". Ironically, Cummins, who preached against a high view of Apostolic Succession, was unwilling to part with it. When he left the Episcopal Church, and before he was deposed, he rushed to consecrate another bishop, the somewhat controversial Charles E. Cheney of Christ Church, Chicago, as the second bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Thereafter, the Reformed Episcopal Church's orders retained as episcopacy as "ancient and desirable," although other forms of church governments were not unchurched or belittled.

Death

Cummins died in

Lutherville, Maryland Lutherville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had a population of 6,504. Prior to 2010 the area was part of the Lutherv ...

, on June 26, 1876."George David Cummins"
''

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'' (via

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Life and career

Doctrine

Death

See also

References

Further reading