It can be seen that children have no internal thought, for they
do not yet know what is good and what is evil, or what is true and
what is false, of which such thought consists. [2] Consequently they
have no prudence from what is their own, no purpose or deliberation,
thus no end that looks to evil; neither have they anything of their
own acquired from love of self and the world; they do not attribute
anything to themselves, regarding all that they have as received from
their parents; they are content with the few and paltry things
presented to them, and find delight in them; they have no solicitude
about food and clothing, and none about the future; they do not look
to the world and covet many things from it; they love their parents
and nurses and their child companions with whom they play in
innocence; they suffer themselves to be led; they give heed and obey.
[3] And being in this state they receive everything as a matter of
life; and therefore, without knowing why, they have becoming manners,
and also learn to talk, and have the beginning of memory and thought,
their state of innocence serving as a medium whereby these things are
received and implanted.
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