Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-17
REPLIES TO DR.. M'K|M
William E. Curtis Writes Again
of Church of England.
COMMENT AND CORRECTION
Difficult to Agree. Even About Re-
ligious Matters.
AUTHORITY FOR STATISTICS
Exception to Statement That Former
Rector at Hever Was Executed
Threats to King.
FOR STATISTICS
ES WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

EY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and The Chicago Record
Herald.
The recent letter in answer to inquiries
about the Church of England has called
out a great deal of comment and correc-
ton. which illustrates how difficult it is
for good people to agree even about relg
ious matters but. nevertheless. several
Of the writer's have contributed interest
ing and valuable historical facts that are
We'll worth printing. No wise man will
dispute the opinion of the Rev. DR.. Ran
dolph Ii. Mckim, rector of the Church
of the Epiphany, Washington. d. c.,
whose learning and historical knowledge
are recognized by every one. and all of
the histories of England and encyclo-
pedias confirm his statements concerning
the early introduction OF Christianity into
England. There are legends that the
Gospel of Christ was preached in that
country in the first century. and ,Tertul-
liam. bout The year 200, speaks OF places
in Britain which although inaccessible
to the Romans, were subject to Christ.
Three British bishops from London.
York and Wales attended the council of
Aries in the year 31t. There were also
delegates from the Christian churches of
Britain at the ecclesiastic councils at
AGiSiith Ia bfi ciu dI III OBJ. 81
Adams, British monk. suffered martyr
dom during the prosecutions of Diocletian
about the close of the third century.
and. as DR.. Mckim says. there were
Christian temples OF worship in England
as early as tie second century. There
IS much historical evidence to prove that
the worship Of Christ was practiced in
Wales also two and three hundred years
before ST. Augustine was sent on his
mission from Rome by Pope Gregory the
tIredtI Nevertheless ST tuonSYipe is
commonly called the Apostle of England
and 1t is the general. if not almost uni
FerSal. rule of writer's on this subject to
date the Christian era in England with
his appearance at Canterbury. in the
year $50, because he was officially re-
ceived by King Ethelbert. and at that
time the government practically accepted
Christianity as the religion of the state.
Quotes From Auth orities.
Dr.. Mckim also complains that the sta
tlstics given in my letter misrepresent
the strength of the different denomna-
tons, but those statistics are taken from
the Statesman'S Year Book, and precisely
the same figures are given in Whittaker's
Almanac. the two highest authorities on
SUCH subjects that can be quoted. The
same complaint is made by Jewish
friend who insists that there must be
more than 196spb Jews in Great Brit aim
That is the number given by the States
mans Year Book. which we must assume
TO be correct. 1t may be. as DR.. Mckim
suggests. that the Roman Catholic Church
reports "all who have been baptized as
members OF that sect whereas the Eng
lish church statistics return only COM
munican,s as members. but no suchs eX-
PLANTATION is made in the statistical
tables.
All of the information contained in the
letter referred TO WAS taken from the
Statcsnans Year Book Whit akers Al
maniac and The Dictionary of the Church
of England by Rev. T.. l.. Cults. DID,.
published by the Society for Promoting
Christian knowledge, London. which is
under the supervision of the Established
Church.