Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/50

44 it in your power or the power of language to convey to him an idea of your higher mental operations and spiritual states. You cannot reveal yourself to him as you really are interiorly—in your advanced stage of intellectual and spiritual development. And the simple reason is, that the child is incapable of receiving such revelation. He can form no conception of the knowledge or mental states you speak of. Your words are meaningless to him, for there is nothing within him to interpret their meaning. The receptacles for such knowledge are not opened in him yet. The attempt, therefore, to impart it to him, is like attempting to teach the beasts of the field moral philosophy; or like chanting sweet melodies in the ears of the deaf, or exhibiting lovely pictures to the eyes of the blind.

No: You can reveal to a child only so much of yourself as he is capable of receiving. You must bring your wisdom down to his state of comprehension before he can receive it. You must meet him on his own plane, and adapt yourself to his infantile capacities. You must enter feelingly and sympathetically into his little plans and pastimes. You must help him over his difficulties, and assist him in overcoming his fears which may be very many, and to you, no doubt, very foolish. As yet he has but little understanding; therefore he can receive but little