Children and receptivity

 It is wonderful to read of Mrs Eddy's healing of children's cases, and it is a pleasure to share here a few such healings which are recounted in the early chapters of Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer (expanded edition).

1. As a school girl, Mary "once stood up to a girl who was terrorizing the other children"( p. 32). As a result "the girl's nature was transformed" (ibid). (Corporeal punishment had failed to deal with the bad behaviour.)

2. As a young widow, for a period Mary taught school. She addressed the problem of one "persistently misbehaving boy" (p. 39) in a decisive manner. Recounting the "incident in later years" (ibid) she explained that she took "his hand" and told him she loved him but she "must make [him] suffer for bad conduct and its influence on [her] pupils" (ibid). As he kneeled next to her, she prayed for him, and despite his being convinced it would do no good, "soon he was sobbing and ...  imploring [her] to whip him and forgive him" (p. 40). His mother later reported that he was a changed boy.

3. Gaining a conviction of her God-impelled mission, and despite immense opposition--especially it seems from her sister Abigail, Mary soon had "an unlooked-for, imperative call for help". A young lad called Dorr Phillips was suffering greatly with a felon (a type of inflammation) on a finger. He agreed to let Mary treat him, promising not to look at his finger while the metaphysical treatment was underway.  Soon he had forgotten all about it because the finger no longer gave him any trouble (pp. 65, 66).

4. The fourth healing of a child is that of seven-year-old George Norton. This healing is beautifully recounted in a remarkable lecture given recently by Chet Manchester at the Lynn Museum ("Mary Baker Eddy - A Life of Discovery" https://talksthatchangelives.org/). Mary befriended the lad, who was noticeably lame, and was soon holding his hands and helping him to walk, guiding "his feet with her own" (p. 68).

Later, she was to write: 

Children are more tractable than adults, and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will make them happy and good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 236:25)

Furthermore, she offered this idea to her readers:

Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 323:32–2)

However, even in the face of complete unreceptivity, even hostility, Mary was able to help. A gentleman by the name of Wheeler was ready to have his finger amputated when Mary asked him if he would consent to her praying for him. His reply? "If you will be quick, I will" (p. 69)! Within a short time, the pain had ceased. No amputation was necessary. 

Seeing God at work on the human scene like this impelled Mary's untiring efforts over many years to discover and share how the healing work was done. The result was her book Science and Health, a perfect companion book to the Bible. A book loved by both adults and children. A book which repays the receptive thought.

Julie Swannell