UNPROFITABLE READING. Q49 selves. This is granted. - But is not every year which prolongs their precious innocence, a year gained? May not, within that period, the nascent libertinism be checked, the ardent imagination be fixed to other pursuits, the sentiment of virtue kindled, the taste for purity con- firmed, and the habit and love of prayer established ? And, above all, is it not a pity that they should be able hereafter to plead as an apology for their intimacy with such books, that they were intro- duced to them by a fond and careful parent ? May we not take the liberty to ask of worthy, but, in this instance, injudicious parents, is this practice quite consistent with the command given to fathers, even under a darker dispensation, that they should not limit the improvement of their children to any set hours, but that the \ should " teach them diligently, sitting in the house, and walking by the way, rising up, and lying down ?" im 5
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