"effect the objects of the above Society in the said "Deanery,

"Present (nearly every officiating Clergyman in the "Deanery, three of whom were members of the Special "Committee for the said Deanery.)

"....The following Resolutions were proposed to the (6 meeting, and unanimously agreed to:

"1st. That this meeting, convinced of the urgent neces"sity, in these times, of some system of general education "in the principles of the Established Church, have observed "with a lively interest the formation of a National So"ciety with that view, and approve highly of the en"larged and comprehensive scale on which it is formed."

P. 52-" In consequence of the above Resolutions, a "general and numerous Meeting of the Clergy and also of "the Laity of the Deanery, was subsequently held at the "same place, March 16th, when, after the principles on "which the National Society is founded had been stated

fully to this meeting, its objects particularly pointed out, " and the resolutions, by which it is constituted, as well "as the regulations by which it is to be conducted, read,—

"IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED, 1st. That such a "Society is, from the complexion of the times and the "circumstances of the poor, become particularly neces"sary in these kingdoms, as calculated to propagate and "maintain the scriptural doctrines and sound religion of our "Reformed Church amongst the now uninstructed part of "the community, to inculcate early habits of piety, decency, "sobriety, and virtue, upon the rising generation, and "thus to promote, in profession and practice, pure and "unadulterated Christianity."-[Pure and unadulterated Christianity!]

"3d. That in conformity to a Resolution of the said "District Society, of the 8th January last, this meeting do

6. As yet, for support of the exclusionary system nothing more has been seen than a series of general and theoretical declarations. The first exclusionary act, of which, in the proceeding inserted in this first Report, any trace is to be found, is an act, the mention of which comes in towards the close, viz. in p. 17: and of this the exclusionary nature is as yet disguised, not being visible to any eyes, but such, if any, by which a search shall have been made for it in the Appendix. In the body of the Report, all you see is a donation: a donation-made to a Benefit Society of School

now proceed to the nomination of a Sub-Committee for "this Deanery, to co-operate and communicate with the "General Committee at Colchester, on the points stated "in the said Resolution.

or,

"4th. That such Sub-Committee shall consist of all the "Clergy within the Deanery, and of two of the Laity, where necessary, a greater number, of each parish. P. 53-9th. "That in whatever way the said sub"scriptions may be applied, particular care shall be taken "that all the children reaping the benefit of this most "charitable Institution, shall without exception, be in"structed in the excellent Liturgy and Catechism of the "Church of England, shall constantly attend Divine Ser"vice in their Parish Church, or in some Chapel under “the Establishment, on the Lord's Day, unless such reason "for their non-attendance be given as shall be satisfactory "to the parochial Members of the Sub-Committee.

"(Signed by the Chairman.)”

masters, and without any condition that in this place is so much as hinted at. Turn to the article in the Appendix, (it stands in p. 66, is numbered No. XI. and forms the last number,) what you see to a certainty (for so in express terms it is declared) is—" These Schoolmasters must belong to the Established Church :" what you see to little less than a certainty is that it was at the suggestion and instance of the concealed doers of the great Society, that this little Society was formed,-that the prospect, of the advantage afforded to the exclusionary system, by loading the donation with this exclusionary condition, was the motive for this suggestion, and that the donation was the purchasemoney paid for that advantage.

Mark here the progress of the exclusionary system with the intolerance, and the corruption, by which it is characterized. In the infancy of the Society, before it had learnt to feel its strength, conformity on the part of Schoolmasters being to be secured by any means, bribery was the instrument employed: and on that occasion, in the body of the Report,-being that part, which, unless with some particular view, is all of it that any body reads, this instrument, it may have been seen as above, was kept compleatly out of sight. Free and unconditional was the liberality then and there displayed. This then was what was designed for the eyes of readers at large. But, to the Schoolmasters, at whose hands, compliance

with the terms of the donation was to be obtainedit was necessary that those terms should be made visible: accordingly, after notice given to persons of this description on the Table of Contents, that in the Appendix they will find something that will interest them, in the Appendix accordingly, the benefit held out to them is displayed, but with terms fastened on it.

Further than this, in the first year of the Society's age, it was not thought advisable to go: and, at that early stage, even this was kept hidden from as many eyes as, consistently with its purpose, it could be hidden from.

But, in the interval between the penning of the first and that of the second Report, success, as will be seen in so many other instances besides this, had given birth to boldness. Accordingly, in Report II. and not before, comes out the exclusionary regulation, (above brought to view in Part II. of this Introduction) by which, payment to Conformists for coming in not being sufficient, Nonconformists are inexorably shut out.

When the principles are disseminated, the trumpet is blown in Sion,-because it is by this trumpeting that men's passions are to be exerted, and prepared, as effectually as may be, for the endurance of the acts-these immoral and antichristian acts-without which such principles could not have been carried into effect. When of the acts themselves the necessity comes of making

the disclosure, the greater the number of eyes from which they could still be kept hidden, the less copious (it was seen) would be the torrent of that reproach, which is so justly due to the system. to which those acts was to give effect.

Of the measure, the mention of which, but in its purified state, as just explained, is slid in at so early a part of the Report, slight is the importance, in comparison of the importance of those other measures, the reference to which, obscured to such a degree, as to disclose nothing of their nature, may be seen reserved for the very last paragraph (p. 19.) of this same Report. The Rules of the Society, and terms of Union (it is there said) "are before the public " in the papers now published, as examples of the ⚫ mode in which they wish the plan to be carried "into effect."-Rules of the Society?-Good:-but what rules?-where are they to be found?-No reference. No where in the Appendix is any No. to be found, having for its title any such phrase, or for its contents any such Contents.-Terms of Union?-good: but these too where are they to be found? Again no reference. Search, however, (which without special motives adequate to the trouble you will not do)-search, however, into the Appendix, and there indeed, p. 27, No. III. you will find a paper having the words Plan of Union for its title. And here, but too truly, in the last of its eight unnumbered articles will you find, introduced as it is by an exclusionary preamble,