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CHILDHOOD
"It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
—Matthew, XVIII, 14
Never could a man live,—certainly not as a human being,—unless he had in himself something vital, that is, some innocence, neighborly love, and mercy. This a man receives from the Lord in infancy and childhood. What he receives then is treasured up in him, and is called in the Word the remnant or remains, which are of the Lord alone with him, and they make it possible for him truly to be a man on reaching adult age. These states are the elements of his regeneration, and he is led into them; for the Lord works by means of them. These remains are also called "the living soul" in all flesh.
—Arcana Cœlestia, n. 1050
All states of innocence from infancy on, of love toward parents, brothers, teachers and friends; of charity to the neighbor, and also of mercy to the poor and needy; all states of goodness and truth, with their goods and truths, impressed on the memory, are preserved in man by the Lord, and are stored up unconsciously to himself in his internal man, and are carefully kept from evils and falsities. They are all so preserved by the Lord that not the smallest of them is lost. Every state from infancy even to extreme old
