Excerpt from A Plea for the Middle Classes A 2well-being Of the country depend upon the middle classes, and that by neglecting them you can neither have sound legislation, peaceable parishes, or the children of the poor successfully instructed, (notwithstanding the millions spent in national education, ) why then we are bound to make a grace of necessity, and seek to educate them, if we wish for peace and even national prosperity. Much as there is in this consideration, there is a good deal more behind; and that of a nature to move, it is hoped, the sympathies and affections of those who feel that the love Of god is the soul of exist ence to a rational creature, and that the best employment of a sincere Christian is, next to his love of god, that pure love Of our neighbour, which is exhibited in an unceasing effort to rescue souls from error, and to train them up in the truth. I think a very cold-hearted man might see the evils of leaving the middle classes - the strength of England - to their present uncertain mode Of gaining information, secular and religious; and might desire some plan for counteracting those evils; but the same evils pointed out to one imbued with Christian philanthropy could scarcely do less than engage him heart and soul in a diligent and never-tiring effort to remedy the innumerable evils of our present neglect. This is the design of my school: a design, as might have been expected, which has met with the hearty and substantial con currence of all to whom it has been mentioned. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.