Throughout its work in the American colonies the S. P. G. met with various forms of opposition. The dissenters, Quakers, and others were often openly hostile through fear of the foundation of an established national church similar to that of England, and both sides displayed considerable sectarianism and bigotry. After 1750 the opposition to the society increased in bitterness and became more general, owing to the feeling that its agents were supporting the king against the colonists. Yet its patronage of schools was most philanthropic and important for American education in the eighteenth century. While it insisted upon the interpretation of Christianity adopted by the Church of England, it stood first and foremost for the extension of religion and education to the virgin soil of America. It carried on its labors with devoted interest and showed great generosity in the maintenance of schools, and the support of schools in the colonies by the S. P. G. must have exerted some influence toward universal education. [Sidenote: Organization,] [Sidenote: course, and] [Sidenote: disappearance of S. P. K. G. schools.] =Charity Schools among the Pennsylvania Germans.=--During the eighteenth century the efforts of the S. P. G. were supplemented by the formation of minor associations and the establishment of other charity schools in various colonies. Perhaps the most noteworthy instance was the organization in 1753 of ‘A Society for Propagating the Knowledge of God among the Germans,’ and the maintenance of schools among the sects of Pennsylvania. These schools were managed by a general colonial board of six trustees, who visited the schools annually and awarded prizes for English orations and attainments in civic and religious duties. The course of study included instruction in “both the English and German languages; likewise in writing, keeping of common accounts, singing of psalms, and the true principles of the holy Protestant religion.” Twenty-five schools were planned, but probably there were never more than half that number. The schools lasted only about a decade, as the Germans soon came to feel that this English schooling threatened their language, nationality, and institutions. [Sidenote: Foundation,] [Sidenote: opposition,] [Sidenote: advocacy, and spread.]