This desire is
innate in spirits. But I noticed, each time, that the children
resisted, unwilling to talk in this way. This refusal and resistance,
which were accompanied by a kind of indignation, I have often
perceived; and when an opportunity to talk was given them they would
say nothing except that "It is not so." I have been taught that
little children are so tempted in order that they may get accustomed
to resisting, and may begin to resist falsity and evil, and also that
they may learn not to think, speak, and act, from another, and in
consequence may learn to permit themselves to be led by no one but
the Lord.
344. From what has been said it can be seen what child education is
in heaven, namely, that it is leading them by means of an
understanding of truth and the wisdom of good into the angelic life,
which is love to the Lord and mutual love, in which is innocence. But
how different in many cases is the education of children on the earth
can be seen from this example. I was in the street of a large city,
and saw little boys fighting with each other; a crowd flocked around
and looked on with much pleasure; and I was told that little boys are
incited to such fights by their own parents.
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