"The imagination of man's mind is evil continually"

Reading novels is regarded as one of the worst and most obvious pitfalls for the young, or for any members of the sect, because "the imagination of man's mind is evil continually" and "knowledge corrupts". Many works of non-fiction are also banned; especially those dealing with geology, evolution and sometimes astronomy, particularly Darwin's The Origin of the Species. (Or was it Dickens' Origin of the Species—as our Prime Minister would have it?) Only books published by the sect were to line the shelves of Exclusive homes. "A novel in the house corrupts the whole house," one Exclusive saying has it.

To prepare himself for a day 'in the world' at work, an Exclusive reads a passage from the Bible as soon as he rises and prays for help. To ensure that there is a daily message for the whole family, there is family reading, singing and praying each morning. This ritual is carried out before each meal. There is quite a large number of hymns, but these are carefully selected only from writings of Exclusives, past or present. Somehow William Cowper got in with "God moves in a mysterious way", on what grounds I am not quite sure.