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Gentleman's Magazine 1828 part 1 p.600
[ex]cellents of the earth." The National Society for promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Church of England, which principles undoubtedly ought to be cherished and advanced, not only in every city and town, but also in every village through the kingdom, has examined and found the fountain pure; but the streams flowing therefrom, meeting with heterogeneous bodies on the way, have been, and are still sadly tainted. The work is begun, noble is the undertaking, to chrystalize the spring, so that no foreign matter can sully the transparency of its rills. To shew the necessity of further zeal and vigorous activity in such a cause, and that something on a wider scale can be done to forward the education of the poor in every corner of the island, a member of the Church of England offers the following considerations, which may be evident to every thinking man.
1. Though in several towns and some villages there are Charity Schools, yet Ignorance (the mother of Dissent) prevails among the lower classes, even in such places, for want of visitors, to see that the children of the poor attend properly, and are educated in the principles of the Established Church.
2. Such Charity Schools, being suppported by donation or bequest of an ancient date, no one knows by whom given or bequeathed, are generally reckoned and looked upon as things of no great consequence, like sinecures; so that any sort of master, if he can read and write, whether he be a man of learning, principles, or conscience, no matter, having friends to sign a testimonial, is appointed, and he finds himself firm and unmoveable, therefore acts as he pleases.
3. The want of a mode of education (say Dr. Bell's) conformable to the liturgy of the Church of England, is a prevailing evil in most, if not all, of these Charity Schools. The pupils are generally taught reading and writing, and sometimes arithmetic, but all in a very careless manner, without making them to understand what they read and write, and the use of arithmetical rules.
4. in most places where such Schools are, at a certain age the children are dismissed, or ordered to leave the School, perhaps not more learned than when they entered, only they can read a little, without emphasis or accent, not knowing the name and use of a point; and can write their names, but in such a slovenly way, that one cannot tell whether they have been at school a week, or two or three years.
5. Owing to such non-improvement, the parents, seeing their children spending their time in vain at such Schools, neglect to send them, and argue it is of very littele use; and say, they may as well help them in their respective callings, or exercise themselves as they please, playing about the streests, &c.
6. The masters of such Charity Schools neglect to take their pupils in order to church on Sundays and holidays, according to canon 79; and to see they behave well there during service, by attending on them in person, to shew them how to follow the clergyman in every part of the common prayer, &c.
7. Where deficiencies of this sort take place, very ready are those who dissent from the church to avail themselves of the opportunity of shewing more diligence in weaning the minds of youth from the doctrine of the Establishd Church, by enticing them to attend the preaching of laymen in their meeting-houses, and the private instructions they pretend to give them in the time of church service, when not only are the children deprived of the use of the liturgy, but also the pretended teachers in these conventicles are by such employment pleading for an excuse, that they are more religiously exercised than if they attended the service of the Established Church. This I can prove from facts, and it grieves me that I have been, and am now an eye-witness of such proceedings; for I anticipate the consequence, unless vigorous means of prevention are found and used. I need not myself say what, as a worthy magistrate in his letter, published some time ago in the Oxford Journal, has told us, that a "very leading member of a dissenting congregation in his neighbourhood put his hand on his heart, and solemnly said what the dissenters intend, the overthrow of the Church of England."
In order to forward the national design, in so laudable an undertaking as the education of the poor in the principles of the Established Church, I beg
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