The New York herald., 1879-03-10


called, and very properly. Mr.. Robinson. but Mr.
Bagehot tells us that called him anything
but "Old Crabb." You watched with interest ana
pleasure his singular gestures and his odd way OF
saying things. and muttered TO yourself. as IL 10
keep up the recollection, .And this is the man VINO
the friend of Goethe and is the friend of WORDS
worth" 'old Crabb" was famous for his break
fasts Just as he sitting down with his guests
he would find that he had forgotten to make the tea
then he could not find his keys. then he would ring
the bell have them searched for; but long before
the servant he had gone off into Schiller
Goethe" and could not remember what he wanted
The his guests to breakfast before
they came. He was great talker, and punctuated
his conversation with his chin pushing it out Just
at the point of story and then slowly drawing 1t III
again, so that you knew just where to laugh. There
is thoroughly enjoyable study in these vol
than that Of "Old Crabb." Wordsworth, Ten
nyson and Browning made the text for an essay
on the pure. ornate and grotesque art In poetry.
There is not page of Mr.. Bagehots studies that is
not filled with original thoughts exhibited in an
original manner. and while he writes like scholar
he amuses like man of the world
BISHOP CUMMINs, OF THE REFORMED EPIsco-
PAL CHURCH.
be regretted that the life of the Rev. George
David Cummins. ID. d.. first bishop of the Reformed
Episcopal Church Dodd, Mead Coz should
have been written by one biassed by such bond of
sympathy that of loving and devoted wife,
Such work should not be mere record of the local
commonpaces of clergymans domestic and pa
rochal life yet 1t is not too strong statement to
say that at least twothirds of the book devoted
to local matters OF little interest except to the
small circle of intimate family friends of the sub
ject. Born in 1922 in the town of Smyrna. DEL,
age of seventeen become a circuit rider at the
of twenty his early life have been uneventtu
until his two years of probation in the Methodist
Church circuit having expired. he decided to leave
his chosen sect to join the Protestant Episcopal
Church.
Beginning his work in tho Episcopal Church
assistant pastor of Christ Church, Baltimore, he
gradually rose after dgent service in the South and
West, to be ordained in 1866 Assistant Bishop of Ken
tucky 1t is not improbable that the elation excited
by this honor provsd a frebrand to the liberalism
smouldering latent within him. at that time.
for it was only few months afterward, at the
vention of the House of Bishops in New York. that
the newly elected Bishop startled his associates by
introducing uncalled for resolution concerning
the sending Of Protestant children to Romish
schools. Considering tho stand afterward taken by
Bishop Cummins this resolution should have been
printed connection with his reference to it, but
the author either designedy inadvertently. omits
quoting so important paper. which proved to be
the focal point of the departure finally consum
mated five years later
At the same time Bishop Cummins wrote in op-
posing ritualism :-"All that we can do is to plant
ourselves upon the Prayer Book as it is. for thus
any movement. Romeward or Greekward
by any changes in the Prayer Book" How the
author of these words who penned them after q
In, Tho Er,cr
found when his radical views had placed him without
the pale of his associates that he must unsay them,
is matter of record and, if he shared the fate Of
other noclasts in ccnsure from those who
disagreed with him, 1t is futile to attempt to gloss
by specious apologies the discrepancies that
exist between his theory and his after practice
These natural enough when it is considered that
the who uttered these sentiments in 1868 then
held prominent Office in the powerful Episcopal
Church, while in 1873 he had lost his influence and
position that he could command attention only
by advocating the most extreme and revolutionary
views.
Finding that his broad Interpretation Of the Prayer
Book had provoked the hostility of most of his
brother bishops. and that many Of his parshioners
passed him upon tho street with averted faces,
Bishop Cummns, weary of his hopeless battle for
reform within the Church. In letter, dated Novem-
Der TO- 1873. formally severed his relations with the
diocese of Kentucky. His principal reasons.
stated In his letter of resignation his repug.
nance to conducting services customary In
ritaistc churches in his diocese his belief in the
necessity of thorough revision of the Prayer Book
after the model of that recommended by the COM
mission appointed by royal authority in England In
l6s9 and finally his unwillingncss to surrender tho
right to join in the communion with clcrgymen Of
other evangelical sects.
After resigning his Office Bishop Cummins worked
with will to realize what to have been the
ambition Of his life. to be known the modern
Cranmer. He issued circular letter to his Episco-
pal brethren of the Church, calling q meeting to
ganize a new church the basis Of the Prayer Book
of 17S5. He writes:-
''The chief features Of that book, distinguished
from that generally used. were
IL The priest appear in the book aud
there is councnance whatever 10 the errors OF saccrd
~ The baptsma Offices Office the cntc
ehsm and The order 70, the mi m Of the Lords
generaIon the real presence OF the body snd blood OF
offered by priest in that sacred feast"
At the first meeting. where he elected to pre-
side over the organization, there but seven
clergymcn and about twenty laymen to form the
nucleus OF the church. In five years, by dill
gent and almost ncessant work, Bishop Cummins
had consccrated Ave other bishops and rallied
around him ninety cergymen and proportionatcly
increased number of laymen. He died in the midst
of his work. scarcely past the prime of his life. Tho
graphic pictures of his domestic life given portray
personal attributes of worth.
LIFE OF RICHARD FULLER, d. ID.
Sheldon Co. have published q biography Of
Southern clergyman prominently known in the
Baptist Church. written by j. ii. Cuthbcrt, d. D.,
pastor of the First Baptist Church, of Washington,
d. G. The biographcr states that Rev. DIR. Fuller
never kept diary any personal memoranda, as
did men like Chalmers, Guthrie and Frederick