John Cumming FRSE (10 November 1807[1] – 5 July 1881) was a Scottish clergyman and religious author.
He was born in Fintray in Aberdeenshire the eldest son of John Cumming (d.1835) and his wife, Anne Mutch of Foveran.[2] His mother died in 1827 giving birth to his youngest brother, Hercules Cumming. She is buried in St Nicholas Churchyard in Aberdeen.[3]
He attended Aberdeen Grammar School and then studied divinity at King's College in Aberdeen.[4]
In 1832, Cumming was appointed to the Crown Court Church (the Scottish National Church) in Covent Garden, London, a Church of Scotland congregation that catered for Scots living in London.[5] At the time, the congregation had approximately 80 members, but Cumming was able to grow his congregation to around 900, and he regularly preached to congregations of 500–600 on Sundays.
Cumming was a controversial figure in his day, George Eliot being the most prominent figure to criticize him for his anti-Catholicism, obsession with the End Times, and perceived intellectual dishonesty.[6]
In 1853 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was Sir John Archibald Murray.
Cumming retired in 1879. In total, he published approximately 180 books during his lifetime.
He died on 5 July 1881 in Chiswick near London and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.[4]
In 1833 he married Elizabeth Nicholson (d.1879), daughter of James Nicholson of London, in a ceremony by Rev Dr Gordon at a house at 5 Annandale Street in Edinburgh. They had several children: Lettice Anne (b.1834); John (b.1835); Fanny (b.1837); Louisa Finch (b.1838); Nicholson (b.1840)' Elizabeth (b.1842); Martin Luther Cumming (1843–1911); James (b.1844); Hugh McNeil (b.1845); Francis (1842–1908); Edward Bishop Elliott Cumming (b.1848 died aged 6 months).[3]
Elizabeth died in 1879.
Cumming was one of the most virulently anti-Catholic preachers of his day. Several of his books attacked Catholicism, including The Romish Church a Dumb Church (Arthur Hall, 1853) and Ritualism, the Highway to Rome (James Nisbet & Co., 1867). He gave public lectures denouncing Cardinals Nicholas Wiseman and John Henry Newman. The Times also frequently printed letters from Cumming in which he pointed to perceived misdeeds on the part of the Roman Catholic Church.
Cumming also took a deep interest in Christian eschatology, adhering to the Historicist school of Christian eschatology. He believed that historical events such as the French Revolution and the Great Famine of Ireland had fulfilled prophecies contained in the biblical Books of Daniel and Revelation. He preached that the sixth vial of judgment (discussed in Revelation 16) had been poured out in 1820. Cumming therefore taught that Judgment Day would occur some time between 1848 and 1867.
