Doctrinal standards

The Declaration of Principles

Their Historic Context

In the 19th Century, the Anglican Communion experienced significant changes, particularly within the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. A liberal movement from the previous century prompted some to argue that the English Reformation was mistaken and that Anglicanism should return to Medieval Church practices. This represented a departure from historic Episcopalianism.

To protect the teachings of the English Reformation, concerned Anglicans sought to combat liberalism by proclaiming salvation through faith in Christ, maintaining Scripture’s integrity, and preserving Thomas Cranmer’s Prayer Book.

Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, an evangelical priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church, formulated statements addressing core evangelical issues in the 19th Century. These statements later became known as the Declaration of Principles within the Reformed Episcopal Church. Muhlenberg himself was a high church “Gospel Man” who worked ecumenically with the Old Catholic Church, though he never became a Reformed Episcopalian.

By the latter quarter of the 19th Century, some believed the Protestant Episcopal Church had changed so dramatically that preserving the original church required forming a separate denomination. In 1873, Rt. Rev. George David Cummins, Assistant Bishop of Kentucky, founded the Reformed Episcopal Church to maintain historic succession of orders. Bishop Cummins adopted Muhlenberg’s statements as the Declaration of Principles and sought to make Muhlenberg a bishop in the REC.

Key Clarifications

Scripture and Authority: The Declaration recognizes Scripture as primary but not exclusively authoritative. The ancient creeds, as interpreted through the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, are also authoritative.

Episcopacy: Drawing from Richard Hooker’s 16th-century Anglican theology, the statement endorses episcopal polity as rooted in Scripture and historically verified. However, following Hooker’s model, the REC affirms episcopacy for the church’s “well-being” rather than its “being,” avoiding the exclusion of non-episcopal Protestant denominations.

Prayer Book: The REC uses the 1785 American version of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, with permitted revisions including the 1928 and Australian versions, provided the Declaration of Principles appear in the Prayer Book’s front matter.

Sacraments: The fourth principle’s denials oppose doctrines suggesting sacraments convey salvation apart from faith. However, terminology like “priest,” “altar,” and “real presence” is not forbidden when used correctly:

  • “Priest” appears in the Articles describing a minister of Word and Sacrament, not someone providing unique atonement
  • “Table” and “altar” are used interchangeably in Scripture
  • The Articles affirm Christ’s real presence as “heavenly and spiritual”
  • Baptism represents “an outward sign of an inward grace,” with regeneration normally occurring at Baptism but not inseparably connected

The Declaration represents a return to historic Anglican beliefs and the English Reformers’ teachings rather than a departure from them. This commitment has maintained Reformed Episcopal orthodoxy without schism or doctrinal deviation for 123 years.

The Declaration of Principles of the Reformed Episcopal Church

Adopted, December 2, 1873

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, as 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

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