Article December 23, 1944 Issue

"Out of the mouth of babes"

HELENE M. HAUSER

The tender love which our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, manifested for little children, and the importance she placed upon the child thought approximates that of Christ Jesus, who said, "Suffer little children ... to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." She recognized, as he did, that their purity, guilelessness, and simplicity of thought were the qualities necessary for humanity's healing and redemption. Of them she writes in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 9), "Ah, children, you are the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race!" The child, not yet enmeshed with the snares of a false, material sense of existence and its mesmeric thralldom is more readily illumined by Truth, whereas those more mature in human thought often labor long to eradicate false knowledge and experience before reaching the humility, spontaneity, and buoyancy which are so important for healing and progress.

A young woman who was deeply troubled, struggled hard to separate herself from a problem in order to conquer it. This she knew she must do according to Christian Science teaching, but she felt quite inadequate and helpless. God seemed distant and unavailable and the future dark. The Psalmist's cry, "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. . . . Hear my voice," seemed to find constant utterance in her thought.

Her little son, about two years old, was happily playing with his toys in the opposite corner of the room, and she gave thanks that at least he need not be touched by the bitterness of her problem. While she was watching him and without any provocation on her part, the child suddenly turned from his toys and came over to her. Laying his hands on her knees and looking earnestly into her eyes, he said in baby lispings, and yet so reassuringly, "Mommie, God is Love." Then, without further ado, he went back to his toys and resumed his play.

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