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286 The Century of the Child
that every man is nearest neighbour to him-
self.
The eyes of children are here and in similar
cases, clear-sighted in their simplicity. At a
tender age they are able to observe whether
their surroundings are in living accord with
Christian teaching. From a four-year-old
child, with whom I was talking about Jesus*
commandment to love one another, I received
the reply, " If Jesus really said so, Papa is no
Christian." Before long the child gets into
conflict with his instructors and with the com-
mands of Christianity. A small child in a
Swedish city took the word of Jesus about
charity to heart. Not only his playthings, but
his clothes he gave to the poor; his parents
cured, by corporal punishment, this practical
type of Christianity. A teacher who was im-
pressing on a small girl in a Finnish city the
commandment to love one’s enemies, received
as an answer that this was impossible, for no
one in Finland could love Bobrikoif.
I know the sophism used in both cases to
overcome the invulnerable logic of the child;
but I also know how these sophisms make hy-
pocrisy so natural among Christians, that it
is now unconscious. It would take a new
Kirkegaard to shake up our consciences.
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