Hence it is, that Jesus touched infants, Matt, xviii. 2-6;
Mark x. 13-16; and that he healed the sick by the touch: and that those
who touched him were healed: hence also it is, that inaugurations into
the priesthood are at this day effected by the laying on of hands. From
these considerations it is evident, that the innocence of parents and
the innocence of infants meet each other by the touch, especially of the
hands, and thereby join themselves together as by kisses.
397. That innocence produces similar effects with beasts and birds as
with men, and that by contact, is well known: the reason of this is,
because all that proceeds from the Lord, in an instant pervades the
universe, as may be seen above, n. 388-390; and as it proceeds by
degrees, and by continual mediations, therefore it passes not only to
animals, but also to vegetables and minerals; see n. 389; it also passes
into the earth itself, which is the mother of all vegetables and
minerals; for the earth, in the spring, is in a prepared state for the
reception of seeds, as it were in the womb; and when it receives them,
it, as it were, conceives, cherishes them, bears, excludes, suckles,
nourishes, clothes, educates, guards, and, as it were, loves the
offspring derived from them, and so forth.
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