Cope  notes  that  "there  are  four  easily  distinguished  steps
of  progress  in  the  history  of  the  Sunday  School  in  this  second
period.  They  are :  First,  the  exploitation  of  the  idea  by  Eobert
Raikcs ;  second,  the  adoption  of  the  school  by  the  Church ;  third,
the  development  of  the  school  by  means  of  associational  organi-
zation, and,  fourth,  the  recognition  of  the  school  as  an  educa-
tional institution.
But  the  importance  of  the  work  of  Eobert  Eaikes  did  not
consist  in  the  inauguration  of  these  schools  in  Gloucester;  oth-
ers had  done  the  same  thing  elsewhere ;  its  value  lay  in  the  agi-
tation which  he  began  in  1783  for  the  establishment  of  such
schools  everywhere.  But  he  did  not  do  this  rashly;  he  worked
three  years  with  his  own  schools  before  he  published  an  account
of  them  in  his  paper,  The  Gloucester  Journal.  The  many
inquiries  he  then  received  led  to  the  publication  of  his  plans,
first  in  the  provincial  papers  and  then  in  some  London  maga-
zines. His  plan  was  widely  adopted.  The  schools  were  called
"charity  schools."     They   gave  their  attention   principally  to


472  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION

general  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  learning,  for  they  were
obliged  to  take  the  place  of  any  public  school  system.  Without
doubt  these  schools  gave  birth  to  the  modern  English  system  of
common  elementary  schools.  Many  of  his  type  of  "charity  Sun-
day Schools"'  still  exist  in  England;  there  are  Sunday  Schools,
especially  in  the  North,  where  adults  may  learn  to  read  and
write,  matters  concerning  which  they  would  know  nothing
without  these  schools.  The  English  people  have  never  entirely
overcome  the  notion  that  the  Sunday  School  is  for  the  desti-
tute classes  only.
